On Sat, 11 Mar 2000, Tom Scales wrote:
|I've actually read that the 35mm SLR has been adversly affected by the rise
|in the use of computers. It seems that the demographics of the people whose
|hobby is photography matches that of those that enjoy computers, and that
|they have diverted their spending towards computers. Probably true in my
|case (well, except for the last 2 months).
That is certainly a factor. If money is diverted to other products,
there is less to spend on camera-ware. However, what some of the
other posters have listed below has merit too.
I use to sell state of the art Japanese cameras and stereo goods a
couple decades ago. Many folks would come in and purchase top of the
line Nikons or Canons because they "heard they were the best." At the
completion of purchase, it was not unusual to see some of these
customers remove the camera & lens from the box, then trash both the
box and the instructions. They would ask the salesman for the most
basic instruction on how to take shots, then walk out of the store
with their megabuck status symbols around their neck. It never
bothered them that they didn't know 800f what the camera could do.
I am pretty sure these spender-types were the primary source of many
returned used cameras.
With the rise of the P&S species, these casual megabuck spenders can
throw away their money on "simpler" P&S-ware now.
Some folks are serious about photography. This is the smallest
segment of the camera-buying population. Others just want the
occassional family-type shots. Still others see cameras as a status
symbol which shows off their "wealth", whether that wealth is real or
a facade. Unfortunately, these latter two represent the predominant
slice of the photo purchase pie and the group the photo manufacturers
cater too. :-(
|> On Fri, 10 Mar 2000, Samuel Morales wrote:
|>
|> > Now the used cameras stop coming in and profit margins go down. You are
|> > right about competition. But isn't that what competition is all about,
|> > putting the other guy out of business. ( I am kidding)
|> >
|> > I am just making conversation and opinion and wondered what everyone
|else
|> > thought.
|>
|> The number of camera stores seemed to have started declining long before
|> e-Bay came out, IMO. The P&S / dept. store market did to camera stores
|> what they have done to Mom & Pop Fishing stores. :-(
|>
|> *= Doris Fang =*
|>
|>
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