Shoppers looking for great deals on cameras on Black Friday will find them. Some great cameras buys can be snagged early on Thanksgiving Day and also online. Can you imagine these deals from Kmart? A Kodak C143 for $69.99 with 3x zoom and a 4-gig memory card. Last year shoppers paid as much as $175 for the bundle.
Then on down from the mall at Target there is the ultra zoom Canon which sold before at $300. Now you can put it in the red cart for $129. Digital competition is huge this year according to such analysts as Chris Chute at Internet Data Corporation (IDC). Smartphones which point, shoot, correct images, morph into something freaky and send have upped the ante and lowered the prices of their camera forbearers’. The new loosely called phones have added new aps and features that are forcing a rethink on camera accessories like instant videoing with HD, computer and phone connectivity, storage and printing deals.
2010 will see a half million more cameras sold than 2009 says IDC. The recession clouds have lifted enough to see a silver lining and everyone wants a picture of it to add to Facebook or Twitter. Just fewer than 36 million new cameras have passed from retailers to consumers this year.
How about Nikon’s coolpix S80? Say cheese and the ‘Smile Timer’ will click. It is ‘blink proof’ as well; takes two shots at once if you want it to and keeps the one with the most opened eyes.
3-D is all the rage at the movies and at Sony which came out with a Sony 3-D TV this year. A companion piece is the Sony WX5 at $299. Move it around and ten images are recorded at once. The WX5 can sew them together as a panoramic or it magically becomes 3-D on the Sony 3-D TV.
Have you discovered Geocashing yet? It is the latest global rage using GPS technology. Casio’s EX-H20G has GPS built in. It tracks the taker’s movements, remembers them and associates the coordinates with the snaps. Buy it at $349.
Wish you were closer than the average picture taker who has a point and shoot standard 3x zoom and don’t want to ad the weight of a bar bell to your shoulder? Canon PowerShot SD4500 IS has 10X zoom in the same size body as before.
Someway sound really makes it come alive if only it could be added to the video in the point and shoot. Canon, Sony and Nikon have you covered so watch what you say under your breath when it is on – Canon PowerShot SD4500, Sony TS9 at $349 and Nikon Coolpix S8100 at $299. These are 1080p full HD video.
The next wave for 2011 is predicted to be mirrorless SLR according to IDC’s Chute. Sony NEX, Panasonic G, Olympus Pen all are major players but Nikon and Canon are in the hunt as well. These cameras are easier to carry around and are a step above point and shoot as SLR has always been. The lens remain interchangeable. These do not have optical viewfinders and the video viewfinders aren’t as clear as optical. Though the professional photographer may still have an image to uphold with all of the cameras hanging around his neck, the masses will enjoy the weigh lifted from their shoulders by SLR mirrorless once “Consumers… understand the value of the lighter, smaller design”, according to Chute.