Who or what is a prosumer - and have you ever met one?

[nico_morris]

<p>Firstly, I am not aware of any company themselves calling a camera a "prosumer" one. It seems to be a tag for review sites and possibly even retail sites and award bodies. Please give an example if I've missed something, I'm actually interested.<br /> Secondly, it reflects a price bracket more than anything else. If an entry-level SLR body is $500, and a professional workhorse is $5000, expect the difference to be split somewhere in the middle for the "prosumer" body.<br /> Thirdly, in practice these cameras are generally built to provide a high potential image quality subject to certain provisos that the controls are less convenient for constant use or the item needs to be "babied". A focus ring on a video recorder may not be broad and on the lens where it's most natural, or the body composition might not stand regular knocks in use.</p>

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<p>The funny thing is that what is pro today is toy tomorrow. So pros of today cannot use their present gear to make pro pictures tomorrow. How did they "dislearn" their capability?<br /> (Btw: Dimage A2 was promoted as a prosumer camera when it was introduced. It had everything a DSLR had except a mirror and a lens mount. Who would call it prosumer today? The A2 was my first digital camera, back in 2004.)</p>

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<p><br /> The Dimage A2 from 2004 needs to be understood in the context of the time. It was 8 megapixels released before the professional SLR the 8 megapixel Canon 1D Mark II and the A2 had a lot of serious-looking dials and buttons and a body grip available. Now we look on it as amateurish because it was cheaper to make the electronic viewfinder, the sensor was small and the lens was not interchangeable. But at the time it won an award for its professional results from DIWA and TIPA. Who probably existed for the benefit of the industry, admittedly...</p>

[dan_south]

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<p>Prosumer falls in the middle somewhere. Nikon D800 or D7100, Canon 5D etc. </p>

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<p> <br>

This is precisely the sort of statement that confuses me.<br>

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The Canon 5D series is used widely by pros for several types of still photography (and by video pros, as well). For the past six years or so, 5D models have featured the highest-rated sensors of any Canon body. (I think that Art Wolfe uses one, for instance.) If such a body is considered "prosumer", what is the distinction for "professional?" A $40,000 Hasselblad? A $60,000 Phase One?<br>

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The Nikon D800 family features the highest rated sensors ever put into a small format camera. Is the term "prosumer" synonymous with "best performance ever engineered?" It doesn't seem to be used that way.<br>

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The Nikon D7100 is a far less impressive body than the D800 family or the 5D2 or 3. I'm not sure why it was lumped in with the other examples.<br>

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On my last visit to London a few years ago, I walked past the Palace of Westminster on a day when some important business was going on. In the press corps, I saw several examples of each of the following camera bodies: D3, D700, 5D Mark II. These were professional photojournalists, not tourists trying the photograph Big Ben. I doubt that any of those gents referred to their gear as "prosumer."</p>

[q.g._de_bakker]

Consumer = cheap (though not really)<br>Prosumer = rather expensive, though not the most expensive<br>Professional = the most expensive of the lot.<br><br>Professional: because when the thing is a thing you absolutely need, they can ask just about anything for it. <br>Consumer: cheap and "the thing of the moment" is all that is required. (Though tiny differences in features between models are designed to lure the buyer away from the very cheapest towards the model that initially was too expensive to be considered, yet is the one that gets bought.)<br>Prosumer: cheap enough to be considered by those who would want to have but cannot afford the most expensive.<br><br>What a professional absolutely needs is a machine that does the job well enough. That is often not the top of the line machine. And only rather foolhearted professionals pay more than they have to. So that "professional" tagged equipment is in reality mostly part of the prosumer segment, as the thing the prosumer aspires to have.