The Point and Shoot Camera Is Fading

I have been a camera/photography hobbyist for over half a century. I have, in that time, owned many cameras, some compact, some much larger, some SLR, and in the last two decades, mostly point-and-shoot (POS) digital compact cameras.  In the last 7 or so years, some of those have been truly pocket sized. Now the Wall Street Journal ran a story today that the POS camera is in a long slide. Sales are down a great deal due to the higher quality cameras now in smart phones.

Well, my smart phone camera (iPhone 5) is excellent (much of the time).  But I don’t think it competes with a pocket sized Canon POS for important work or fun shots.  I upgrade the POS in my camera inventory every few years, and now is the time.  So, I was surprised to see Best Buy had a 2 day sale last weekend on a Canon A-4000 IS.   This is a $179 street-price camera, (who knows the list?  $200 or more?) often sold on Amazon for $104.  Best Buy price was $79 – with free shipping or buy in store.  Considering its 16 MP, and many other features, 8 X optical zoom (vs. 0 optical zoom on a smart phone),  an excellent flash, and much more it was a real bargain.  Pocket sized and convenient, the A 4000 has excellent results (so said several on-line reviews).  I should have purchased it, but, alas, I didn’t.  Now it is back to $104.  But the point is, watch for big sales on POS cameras as sales are sure to keep faulting.  Then, after the manufacturers quit making them, prices will go up.  That’s my opinion for the day. Good shopping !  Comments welcome.