Cameras, digital cameras? Really? Does anyone still use these devices?
Well, yes, and surprisingly there’s been a bit of a resurgence in both interest in photography with devices other than cell phones, and specifically in photography with old-school point-and-shoot cameras.
We’ve been writing an annual cameras column in this space for more than 20 years. So, once again, then, here is a summary of my annual survey of digital cameras for sale in the Vancouver area, something we’ve been doing in this space since 2002, and, in a slightly simpler form, going all the way back to 1996 when a sub-megapixel camera went for around $1,000.
To go along with this column I have once again updated my Vandigicams.ca website to provide a listing of most of the digital camera models available in the Metro Vancouver area. Generating the site data requires extensive searching through the online listings of camera retailers in the area. I no longer include Best Buy or Walmart in my survey, as many of their listings are re-directs to third-party resellers. Sadly, many errors, intentional or otherwise, surface in this third-party space. Unless you know what you are doing, it may be better to stick with dedicated camera specialists.
As this column goes to press, our site has 182 cameras and packages listed in the usual format. This is an uptick from last year, after several years of declining listings. While updating this year’s list, I was surprised that most of last year’s lineup remains current. This may be the year with the smallest number of new additions to the list.
In the Metro Vancouver marketplace, the main camera retailers are Kerrisdale Cameras (KC), London Drugs (LD), Henry’s (H), and Broadway Camera (BC). Labels in parentheses indicate how these retailers are identified on Vandigicams.ca. All have detailed websites, the KC site being the most comprehensive and user-friendly. The Broadway Camera site has been improved; in the past, it was very slow to search.
On the not-so-good news front, and likely not a surprise, prices are up almost across the board for the identical camera or package, year over year, in some instances by as much as 30 per cent.
Individual cameras, and camera packages, in the survey are allocated a single line on the https://vandigicams.ca site. Each listing is hyperlinked to the corresponding manufacturer’s website for that camera’s full specifications. Along with the camera sensor megapixel rating, there is an optical zoom value, an overview of around half a dozen features, and “street” pricing from up to three local retailers.
Dominating this year’s survey once again is the 24-megapixel sensor class, mostly with units from Canon, Fuji, Nikon, and Sony, representing around 47 per cent of the cameras, followed far back by the slightly lower-resolution 20-megapixel units with around 19 per cent. These two classes together account for two-thirds of all the cameras in the survey. The remaining 35 per cent or so of the survey is fragmented across classes spanning from 10 all the way up to an impressive 100 megapixels.
Sony leads the way with 20 per cent of the listings, followed by Canon, Nikon, and Fuji, each with around 17 per cent. Divvying up the remaining almost 30 per cent are the likes of Panasonic, Olympus, Hasselblad, Leica, Ricoh, and Pentax.
As for formats, 75 per cent of the list is in the Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera (MILC) format, leaving the venerable and once-dominant DSLR (Digital Single-lens Reflex) far back at just 10 per cent. The remaining 15 per cent is made up of various fixed-lens and point-and-shoot models, ranging from old-school units such as Canon’s ELPH 360 at around $470 to Leica’s Q3 43 at over $10,000.
Hasselblad tops out this year’s survey with two 100-pixel unit packages for its X2D 100C model, priced at close to $20,000. This model topped Japanese sales charts in November to become the country’s best-selling MILC-format camera. Last year’s H6D 400C, priced at over $60,000, is not to be found this season.
This year’s site includes holdover favourites and best-buy recommendations from the last few years. Examples include the waterproof, shockproof, crushproof Olympus “tough” TG-7 (Ricoh and Pentax are also in this space), the impressive 83-times-zoom Nikon P950, and Sony’s ZV-1 unit, popular with vloggers. Interestingly, Nikon chose to retire last year’s zoom champion, the P1000 (125-times zoom), and replace it with the nearly identical P1100, making only a few subtle changes such as a USB-C port and a few new scene modes.
Consider the Canon SX740, a point-and-shoot camera which first appeared on our survey back in 2018. This year, it has even topped some bestseller lists. Why, after 7 years? Because of its impressive optics and 40-times optical zoom, something smartphones simply can’t match, and it’s small enough to drop into a pocket.
Do check out this year’s survey list at https://vandigicams.ca. You’ll find top-of-the-line flagship cameras from all the manufacturers, and cameras at every price point, from a few hundred dollars all the way up into the 10s of 1000s of dollars. In between, you’ll find cameras equipped with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, OLED variable-angle touchscreens, and numerous other features and technologies. Yes, as we wrote last year, standalone digital cameras are indeed still a thing.
Follow me on Twitter/X (@PeterVogel) or on Bluesky (petervogel.bsky.social).
