Phones are getting closer. Look up the results from a Nokia 808 Pureview with a 41MP sensor and Carl Zeiss folded optics. Crappy phone operating system, but I understand Nokia is bringing the camera technology to their more popular Lumia Windows Phone family. One of the phone's primary appeals is it's portability and ubiquity. The barkeep doesn't care when I whip out my Android, but if I start clicking away with an SLR, you can bet your bippy I'll have him, the floor manager and potentially the bouncer in my face faster than a 1/16000 shutter speed.

This is why I invested in a side system with mirrorless. The Nikon 1 and Micro-4/3rds aren't pocketable, but they're convenient to carry and much less conspicuous than even my smallest-of-the bunch D3100 and 35mm f1.8. People think it's a crappy compact and shrug. I know better.

You also have to look at trends in what is considered acceptable photo quality these days. IQ becomes less relevant because of the predominance of web publication use. Photos don't need to be that large and quite frankly, the way people "Instagram" every photo they take, who can say afterwards what quality aspects were because of a small sensor versus deliberate over-processing by the application?

As for the rest of it, most camera makers still don't get it. The next generation of consumer-photographers - the ones who will have the future earning potential to be their customer base (they're in their teens and 20s now) want to share *immediately.* The smartphone, for all it's disparity of image quality with dedicated cameras, has one thing that others don't - the ability to instantly put that photo out on as many channels as possible - web, social media, e-mail, heck even sharing with other devices through BlueTooth and other ad-hoc network connectivity. I, being an older generation, don't have such a compelling desire to immediately share, but the manufacturers had better start smartening up because that's what their future customers want.

"Toodle-loo from Covey22!"

-Armando
Nikonians Team
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My Plan:

Get out of the car.
Get closer to the subject.
Pick the right mid-tone this time.

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