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Thursday, 06 June 2024

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I’m writing this note as I have a few minutes to spare after I just loaded a couple dozen prints into my vehicle to run to my local branch library where they’ll exhibit my pics now through the end of July. My county library system also recently hired me to give a talk on getting the most out of any camera (iphiones included) where we had a full house, and my audience even took notes! People are seriously interested in better photos. BTW, support your local Camera Store! If you have one, that is.

I keep getting more "nice camera" comments in the past year, but it's more like "what a curiosity". Most seem somewhat envious but they don't know why. I do see fewer "camera carriers" on every trip as phones improve. The tide is obviously going out, but I'm used to being considered weird...
I am impressed by the phone images, but I find them terrible tools to use as cameras. Apparently they were designed for talking or something? It's an Internet terminal for me. As a camera, the ergonomics suck and the screen gets washed out. I've bought accessories (ShutterGrip) but it's a kludge. But why worry - I used 4 "cameras" on my last trip. Just grab something and shoot!

In the theatre last week and as the performance was about to begin, the ushers held up boards with icons of cameras and mobile phones crossed out indicating no photography and switch off your phone. Man in the row behind passed a comment regarding the camera icon saying “Do people actually have cameras anymore?”

I resisted the temptation to mention that I’d just splashed a frankly ludicrous amount of money on a Q3.

He wouldn’t have understood…

The Best Buy in San Francisco has a ton of the latest cameras + some lenses in stock.

The West Los Angeles Best Buy stocks less real cameras than they used to, but still has from 2 to 4 models each from Canon, Fuji, Sony, and Nikon on display. If Best Buy were smart---and they have to be to survive---they would craftily adjust the stock based on local buying habits and trends.

I live in a sleepy little town in the middle of Texas but we are still able to take advantage of three (or more) fully dedicated camera stores. I read your post this morning after having been to our biggest camera shop, Precision Camera, yesterday afternoon. In addition to full lines of Canon, Nikon and Sony cameras were healthy inventories of Leica gear, Hasselblad cameras and lenses and medium format Fuji stuff. The refrigerated cases at the rear of the store still stock FILM. Not just 35mm color neg. but also transparency films --- and in medium format sizes as well. The biggest draw on many days are cases with about sixty linear feet of recent, used digital cameras and lenses. On the other side of the store is lighting. Lots and lots of lighting as well as a nicely set up demo area for playing with cool stuff. Like a wide range of Profoto stuff.

My purchase for the day was minimal. Just some lens cleaning stuff....Oh, and a nice 35mm Zeiss lens for the M cameras.

I expect the pessimists here will chime in and ask if anyone was in the store.... And I would have to respond that even customers who've shopped there for 38 years had to "take a number" and wait their turn. The place was packed with a range of photographers from 18 years old on up. I might have been the oldest one there. It felt like business was brisk and profitable. Expensive cameras and lenses were flying off the shelf.

I just have one question: What possessed you to camera shop at a Walmart?

Cameras are still alive and well in Austin, Texas. No question.

I bet over the years they sold many generations of cameras that were never used and just sat in dresser drawers. Maybe people were always more interested in buying new toys than in using them.

I guess phones appeal because they really are quite easy to use. There's one button to press and you don't have to do anything to upload the file onto a computer, it's already on one. And for most people, that's the end of it. I dislike my phone and the notion of being accessible 24/7 seems insane to me, but obviously I'm an exception.

As for cameras, are sales of all "hobby" devices decreasing? I wonder if this is a general trend.

I don't know. CameraMall, my excellent local camera store here in Ann Arbor, is very well stocked with all the new cameras/lenses/accessories and is almost always busy whenever I go there. They seem to be thriving. They match BH and Amazon prices, have great helpful staff, and run frequent educational events. I think BestBuy benefited for a long time from the death of local camera stores, but in my town, where they have a great camera store, those who want to buy "real" cameras have moved over to the place with great service and selection.

As an additional data-point, the Eau Claire, WI Best Buy has a nice selection of Nikon & Canon & Sony. Don't remember about Walmart, though they did stock Fuji C41 film the last time I was there (a couple of months ago) at reasonable prices.

Hi Mike,

A few weeks ago I was in the local Best Buy looking to buy a small camera bag. They only had three bags on display. I walked over to where there used to be a large table with dozens of cameras models on display. The table is gone now, only a few camera were to be seen.

I live in a town where there used to be a few camera stores. They're all closed now.

I think the writing is on the wall about digital cameras as we've known it. About five or six years ago, cameras started to disappears from familly gathering and parties. And I rarely see someone with a camera on the street these days.

Recently, I've been trying to sell used photo equipment. Not even an inquiry. It used to be that everything would be sold within a week or two. Something's going on...

Your experience might also reflect online versus in-store buying preferences for today’s customers. Both Walmart and Best Buy offer fairly generous online purchase options for digital cameras. Big Box stores are generally moving toward smaller retail footprints. The Pandemic speeded up this ongoing shift.

https://www.inc.com/bruce-crumley/best-buy-target-macys-other-big-box-chains-shift-to-small-retail-formats.html#:~:text=Consumer%20goods%20retailer%20Best%20Buy,in%20post%2Dpandemic%20consumer%20habits.

The Best Buy in Henrietta has a great selection of cameras and lenses. Of course, it’s near RIT, which still has a pretty good photography program.

Mike, I apologize for misreading your blog for Best Buy instead of Walmart. I was in line at a Blue Beacon truck wash, in Salt Lake City, trying to get my rig washed. The point is that I was reading your blog, trying to respond while researching the SLC Best Buy, talking to my dispatcher, and keeping the truck moving in line. Also, I wasn’t situated at the Best Buy in SLC, just Salt Lake City in general. Egads!

Well, yes, it is no doubt a sign of the times that your local Walmart has only a few serious cameras for sale where it used to have a dedicated aisle, BUT, per the commenters, the times that it's a sign of may not be so easy to grasp. I guess vloggers shop at Best Buy? Seriously, I think it's time for me to give up trying to understand the camera industry and retail stores and think about other things instead.

Walmart also (apparently) stopped selling alarm clocks because "people use their phones and no one uses an alarm clock," at least according to what the clerk told me when I was looking for an alarm clock last month. It never crossed my mind to look for cameras at Walmart (or Target), and I haven't been to a Best Buy in several years, but there are two camera stores here in the Seattle area (that I know of) and al least the one I've patronized seems to be doing just fine, with an excellent collection of used and new gear. On the other hand, good luck finding a selection of music cds anywhere but online these days.

Hi Mike,

The same language but different.
The British meaning of "to chat someone up" is loaded with sexual connotations.
Example, Bill saw a beautiful girl in the shop (store), he tried to chat her up but she wasn't interested.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/chat-up

Wow! Fun to know that Austin, Texas is now a "national hub for creatives.."

Oh. Now I remember. That's why we live here. :-)

Actually fir the upcoming malta trip, other than my z9 24-400, I will bring a fuji instant camera (sdcard plus instant film) and a 360 x4 (kind of action camera) plus my iphone. Hence except for that z9 odd ball (try downgrade but the viewfinder is just not there), this is not too bad as a sign of the time.

How long has it been since you could get a camera REPAIRED? I have a Nikon FG that will never shoot again, because the parts don't exist, assuming everyone who could work on them isn't dead.

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