A few days ago I heard Nikon had abandoned its AI system for the new Z system having dabbled with their 1 system and abandoning that in the same way they developed cameras and lenses for their APS system about 30 years ago. Having seen the noisy results from the 1 system, they were probably right to abandon in when they did. Now, with advances in technology they need to give it a second look. There is a market for small cameras.
Having said that, I write an awful lot - books and blogs. I include a lot of photographs with my books and blogs. This photo was probably on some blog or other of mine. The quality is decent enough for books, magazines and websites. It's not top notch but who really cares? It does its job.
Videography is heading the same way. Decades ago cameras of questionable quality cost thousands. Now their quality can be eclipsed in a simple cellphone. Indeed I shoot video for one of my sites. I shoot in 720p because that's the maximum the camera on the screen side of an old iPhone will do. It's good enough for the moment and well representative of what's new on YouTube anyway. Some videos go to 4K or even 8K but for viewing on a tablet, phone or computer screen, the extra expanse of pixels at high cost is not merited.
A year or two back I met a couple of people out with cameras. They had big gadget bags with just about everything under the sun inside. I had a camera on a strap around my neck, under my jacket, a longer lens in one pocket and a spare couple of batteries in the other. I was good. We chatted and then they noticed my small Olympus PM1 and asked how many megapixels. They were not impressed when I could not remember and why should I remember? It produces excellent images at all the sizes I am likely to want to use. I'm not going to buy a super duper camera just do that I can produce the biggest ever prints. That's just plain stupidity. In fact I think most cameras these days produce images way in excess of most people's needs or desires. All that does is clog up storage with bulky image files.
There were people who poo-poohed the smaller camera formats because the image quality "wasn't there". A photographer friend in Columbia commented that he had both the big Canon system and the little Olympus Micro four thirds system. His opinion was that while he could see a very slight advantage with the bigger sensor, it was so slight that it would be totally lost when it came to printing or displaying.
The world is getting smaller. Fewer people are buying big bulky camera systems because they are big and bulky for no real gain. The smaller systems seem the way to go. I'm very glad I jumped ship from Canon to Olympus and very glad I decided to stick with one camera and two lenses. Of those two lenses, I use the standard zoom the most as it covers 90% of what I want to do. The longer lens was a disappointment to be honest. A much longer lens would have cost so much more that it was not worth the money for the amount it would be used. The bigger lens I have is not used much either.
Looking back at the photos I've taken and used the most, over the past 3 years they have all been cellphone images. I recall many instances of people with expensive cameras poo-poohing everything taken with a smaller sensor but I see plenty photographs. I never wonder what camera was used now what lens nor even who the photographer was.
Cameras have become cheaper and more utilitarian just as photography has become cheaper and more utilitarian. I hear people claiming to be photographers claiming they charge hundreds if not thousands. That's simply laughable. Most product catalog pages on websites are taken with simple, small cameras like cell phones. Nobody deliberately goes all out on ultimate expense when cheap will do. Somebody criticized one of my images for being blurry and they could shoot it better. My answer - well go back in time do it and I might look at it.
It is not surprising that Nikon has gone for smaller cameras. What is surprising is that they are still making cameras given that they have become such a small niche market. 20 years ago even newspapers were turning away from cameras and going toward cellphones for photography. Perhaps the niche is now people making youtube videos who use the cameras for video making. While I have not ventured beyond a cellphone for making my YouTube videos, perhaps one day I will. Perhaps one day I will use a Raspberry Pi camera and software to record video onto USB memory stick.
As far as any dreams of people making money out of photography are concerned, they're dreams and that is all. Everybody and their dog has access to a perfectly adequate camera for videos and for stills that will produce a perfectly adequate resolution. Out of 100 wedding guests all taking pictures of the bride and groom, some will take really nice images that the couple will cherish and share them, free.
