Digital Cameras

With products like these, no wonder we’re termed as living

in the digital era. We’ve introduced digital cameras for the first time this

year, and the way things are going, it’s by no means the last. Currently, not

too many people own digital cameras. Among those who do, Sony holds the largest

base followed by Kodak and Canon.

Sony also remains as the most preferred brand in digital

cameras, thus making it the winner in this category. It leads the pack by a huge

margin. Canon and Kodak, however, seem to be locked in close competition with

each other.

Digital cameras are still a niche product, primarily due to

their high price. That being the case, it’s natural for buyers to expect the

best quality from them. Hence, price and quality appeared as the guiding

parameters in making a purchase decision on digital cameras. Today, prices start

at around Rs 20,000 for entry level, and can go beyond Rs 60,000 for high-end

cameras. Nevertheless, a lot of people want to own a digital camera in both

households as well as establishments. This demand is particularly strong among

households in the South, for all cameras. Corporate establishments in the West

also preferred Sony as their choice.

There’s been constant innovation happening in digital

cameras. For one, most of them come with removable memory called flash cards.

So, if one is full of pictures, and you haven’t had the time to transfer it to

your PC, you can use your spare flash card. Similarly, a lot of features that

were otherwise available in good old conventional cameras are now finding their

way into digital cameras. Manual focus and auto exposure are two most common

examples. Some others features which didn’t exist in conventional cameras, but

are available in their digital counterparts, include preview mode for

photographs, and changing the resolution, size, etc, of photographs.

Looking at these innovations, digital cameras definitely have

a bright future, and more players can be expected to enter the segment. This is

likely to bring down prices too. Let’s see what clicks next year.