Ron Leach

Most of you are familiar with the concept of “wearable cameras”—particularly as pertains to the so-called digital “POV” models used by action sports enthusiasts to document their exploits with still images and/or video while skiing, ballooning, cycling, surfing and other such activities. These cameras can be attached to helmets, body harnesses or even the sports equipment itself. There have also been a few not-so-successful attempts to market small wearable devices designed to capture low-res images as people go about their daily lives.

For the past year or so some industry analysts have been ringing the death knell for digital point-and-shoot cameras and their larger and more sophisticated cousins—the interchangeable-lens mirrorless cameras. The narrative goes like this: As camera phones become more and more advanced, and offer a wider array of photocentric accessories, compact cameras and mirrorless models will fall by the wayside. Professionals and “serious” photographs will stick with full-size “system” DSLRs, while everyone else will grab a smartphone when they wish to take a photograph.

The New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust recently discovered and restored a treasure-trove of century-old cellulose nitrate negatives left behind by the ill-fated Ross Sea party when they were rescued after spending three years struggling to survive on Ross Island after their ship broke loose from it’s moorings and blew out to sea. The small box of 22 unprocessed negatives were part of more than 10,000 objects conserved at Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s hut and brought back to New Zealand by the Trust and painstakingly restored.

I just read an amusing piece by a tech blogger and self-proclaimed photography expert who worried about an impending demise of the interchangeable lens digital SLR camera. I say “amusing” because the basis for his concern was a recent Wall Street Journal report indicating that DSLR shipments could fall 9% by the end of this year as compared to a year ago. From this, the prognosticator made the cognitive leap that “smartphones are likely the culprit when it comes to the declining fortunes of the DSLR market.”