Will the 'Point and Shoot' camera bubble ever pop?

maevery · Dec 23, 2021

Its getting to the point where even low-mid range point and shoots are costing more than a full on camera system.
If this is all kept up by instagram and influencers, surely all it would take would be them to move on and find something else

Nitroplait · Dec 23, 2021

They can keep their p&s’s to themselves for all I care. I got tired of shutter lag and focus errors in the 1990’s.

Chan Tran · Dec 23, 2021

So what does it matter if a P&S is worth a million bucks? Does that hurt you in any way? You wouldn't want those P&S any way even if they are free.

Auer · Dec 23, 2021

Supply is diminishing. No replacements made for those who break.

/shrug

Sirius Glass · Dec 23, 2021

Win a lottery. Start and build a point & shoot camera factory, go into business and make lots of money. Good luck with that.

Paul Howell · Dec 23, 2021

The bubble will end when younger folks understand that most P.S were consumer grade cameras, not all that well made, no parts or even service techs to fix one if you had a second body. The high end cameras are now over 30 years, very expensive and even with high build standards and lens, when I.Cs will fail and they have an expensive object de art.

Craig75 · Dec 23, 2021

For a while inthought it would burst as they break down but I'm of opposite view now

You can buy new spare lcd screens, new ribbon cables, and other parts for high end p&s and new repairers are coming onto the market so the life span of these cameras has suddenly increased massively imo.

Contax t3 might be cripplingly expensive but minolta tc1 nikon and ricoh gr21 (and a few more?) Contax tvs are all fixable and probably underpriced now because of that.

That better be true otherwise I'm stuck with a bricked tc1 and I think that is amazing camera. I love it to bits.

gone · Dec 23, 2021

Whatever brings people into photography, and especially film photography, is probably a good thing. We all have to start somewhere. My first camera came from a gum machine. You could actually win tiny zippo type lighters in those things in the 50's in the US. The camera was loaded w/ film, you sent the camera off in the mail and they sent it and the prints back, They weren't even thumbnail size.

Also had a $2 plastic 110 camera on a key-chain. I found some Kodak B&W film for it back in the 80's, brought it to a camera store on Market St in S.F. to get prints made, and a few days later they handed me some of the most beautiful hand size prints that you ever saw. You just never know.

CMoore · Dec 23, 2021

My Canon Sure Shot 80/Tele still works great.
It is fine for what i use it for.
SUPER Light.
I often carry just in case i want a shot of something in Color.

It is my only auto-focus camera.

I would be surprised if these models are worth anything. I always assumed...at this point... the battery is worth more than the camera.

Moose22 · Dec 23, 2021

Paul Howell said:
The bubble will end when younger folks understand that most P.S were consumer grade cameras, not all that well made, no parts or even service techs to fix one if you had a second body. The high end cameras are now over 30 years, very expensive and even with high build standards and lens, when I.Cs will fail and they have an expensive object de art.

This seems the thing to me. Was stopped last week by a young friend (she's 20) when she saw me using my F2. She desperately wants the contax, because her introduction to film is through friends and whatever those kids these days look at on the internets and the T3 and the G2 are suddenly SUPER trendy. She doesn't even know why it's good or bad, or the differences between cameras at all. Just that these are popular and all her friends want them, too.

One data point, so not exactly my finger on the pulse of the trendiest of young adults. But she's not the only young person who REALLY wants to shoot film and has more experience reading what instagrammarians say than actually shooting photographs.

Paul Howell · Dec 23, 2021

I was given a box of entry level point and shoots, 10 or more years ago, of that lot 3 have failed, 7 are still working, I've added a Konica Off Road with 28mm fixed lens, Konica Zup wide, and Pentax WR and Minolta weathermatic. All are working for now. My last purchase was a Chinon 35 Infrafocus with fixed 35mm 2.8, only found today that the flash is not working. Likely will be the last point and shoot I buy as prices are so high, I can buy a Minolta 3 or Pentax Z30 for less money.

Moose22 · Dec 23, 2021

Isn't that the thing though? Even 2 years ago, the P&S were cheap. You could get a lot of camera that you could drop in a coat pocket for very little money.

The Contax cameras that were $400 five years ago are $1500 now. And they're 5 years older, either sitting unused and poorly stored or used a BUNCH more.

I'd gamble on a $200 fun shooter, but if I'm going to drop over a grand I'll have to think twice about that.

Sirius Glass · Dec 23, 2021

Leicas, Rolleis and Hasselblads keep going up while others are missing the opportunities to buy now before the prices go up more.

Huss · Dec 23, 2021

Don't worry about the P&S craze. Those peeps move on to a Leica M6 a few months later.

Kodachromeguy · Dec 23, 2021

Sirius Glass said:
Leicas, Rolleis and Hasselblads keep going up while others are missing the opportunities to buy now before the prices go up more.

The Japanese ltm lenses from the 1950s and 1960s are also nuts in price (or at least the asking prices are). And recall, these were made in the millions.

Sirius Glass · Dec 23, 2021

Kodachromeguy said:
The Japanese ltm lenses from the 1950s and 1960s are also nuts in price (or at least the asking prices are). And recall, these were made in the millions.

No kidding. I looked to buy a Nikon or Canon range finder cameras a few years ago and there was more than a bit of sticker shock.

maevery · Dec 23, 2021

Chan Tran said:
So what does it matter if a P&S is worth a million bucks? Does that hurt you in any way? You wouldn't want those P&S any way even if they are free.

I just wonder how much of this explosion of interest in young people and on instagram is related to the extreme shortages of film, and subsequent extreme drive up of prices of cameras in general when they upgrade

Chan Tran · Dec 23, 2021

maevery said:
I just wonder how much of this explosion of interest in young people and on instagram is related to the extreme shortages of film, and subsequent extreme drive up of prices of cameras in general when they upgrade

Since real cameras are cheap right now you can stock up. So when those young people move on they would have to pay a stiff price getting them from you..

eli griggs · Dec 23, 2021

I have this Canon camera in my 'lender' collection of 35mm p&s cameras but have never used it myself.

I enjoy seeing YouTube videos on these cameras in the hands of skilled photographers and the results of their success and their failures.

CMoore said:
My Canon Sure Shot 80/Tele still works great.
It is fine for what i use it for.
SUPER Light.
I often carry just in case i want a shot of something in Color.

It is my only auto-focus camera.

I would be surprised if these models are worth anything. I always assumed...at this point... the battery is worth more than the camera.

eli griggs · Dec 23, 2021

I should add the best ever p&s colour film cameras I've ever seen and used, is the Yashica 35 line.

I might as well add b&w to that camera too it simply renders beautiful images and if asked for a durable, traditional p&s camera, this is the one, chrome or black body.

IMO.

250swb · Dec 24, 2021

maevery said:
I just wonder how much of this explosion of interest in young people and on instagram is related to the extreme shortages of film, and subsequent extreme drive up of prices of cameras in general when they upgrade

'extreme shortages of film', where is that? It's easier to buy film than it ever has been, you go to an online photography shop and press 'buy', you don't even need to move from the house. There are some brands or types of film that have gone out of existence, but on the other hand there are brands and types of film that you could never find before because camera shops only used to stock the big brands. It's a wonderful time to be a film photographer.

As for the increase in price of P&S cameras capitalism dictates that the 'exotic' brands are more revered, be it cameras, cars, or watches. But an Olympus RC35 will take as good a picture as a Contax T3, a family hatchback will travel as fast as a Ferrari at the local speed limit, and a digital Timex will tell the same time as a Rolex. The angst about prices is not about value but having missed out on getting a Contax (or whatever) beforehand when they were cheap, I mean how dare some young whippersnapper come along and skew the market that's always been there for 'real photographers'?

Chan Tran · Dec 24, 2021

maevery said:
I just wonder how much of this explosion of interest in young people and on instagram is related to the extreme shortages of film, and subsequent extreme drive up of prices of cameras in general when they upgrade

If anything it helps sells film and it helps having more film available. They can have the P&S and we can have our good cameras.

Huss · Dec 24, 2021

I love that kids are diggin' P&S cameras as their film gateway. Think about it - they are very easy to use and give good/great results. And that is what we want if we want new people to enter the film world.
If they got a complicated/hard to use expert camera, they pretty much would get awful results, not know how to use the camera, and be turned off film photography. Not something we'd want.

Sirius Glass · Dec 24, 2021

The 110 Fischer Price toy plastic camera worked forever and skied many mountains with the children. Never broke and never failed.

ic-racer · Dec 24, 2021

Its getting to the point where even low-mid range point and shoots are costing more than a full on camera system.

Have you looked on e-bay. Just checked and there are 23,000 35mm cameras under $50 listed. Statistic view shows a median price around $50 also.

Will the 'Point and Shoot' camera bubble ever pop?

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