'The market price of old compact digital cameras has increased 20-fold in one year.'

[Karim Ghantous]

 

Quote

It is unclear how long the boom will last, but its momentum does not seem to be slowing down, with cameras that were selling for 1,000 or 2,000 yen two or three years ago now selling for around 20,000 yen.

https://photorumors.com/2024/11/05/is-the-compact-camera-dead-the-market-price-of-old-compact-digital-cameras-has-increased-20-fold-in-one-year/

[Ken Katz]

I still have my brother's Canon Powershot SD1100 IS (charger, leather case, box) and they seem to be going for about 20,000 yen on Ebay ($130).  Real stupid money for a camera that is outperformed by any smartphone produced in the last few years.  Might have some other valuable old digital compacts lying around if I look real good.

May have to charge it up and see if it still works, though it looks to be in mint condition.  Big money!

[Karim Ghantous]

On 11/12/2024 at 2:42 PM, Ken Katz said:

I still have my brother's Canon Powershot SD1100 IS (charger, leather case, box) and they seem to be going for about 20,000 yen on Ebay ($130).  Real stupid money for a camera that is outperformed by any smartphone produced in the last few years.  Might have some other valuable old digital compacts lying around if I look real good.

May have to charge it up and see if it still works, though it looks to be in mint condition.  Big money!

The big zoom cameras make a lot of sense. I have a Lumix TZ80 and I think it's the bee's knees. But if a camera has a short zoom, I can't see how that can be better than a modern phone camera.

[c_watson1]

Funny but I don't see this nano-trend widely reported elsewhere. Guess it's a step up from toy film cameras, right?

Reality check: good luck getting these repaired...

[ilkka_nissila]

Maybe it's because it allows the user to escape the overprocessed, "HDR" tone mapped, heavily noise-reduced images that smartphones put out.

[Ken Katz]

On 11/15/2024 at 6:59 AM, ilkka_nissila said:

Maybe it's because it allows the user to escape the overprocessed, "HDR" tone mapped, heavily noise-reduced images that smartphones put out.

So they get the blown out highlights, grainy shadows, missed focused, low resolution, and blurry indoor images (or images shot with a tiny direct flash) from theses small, 15+ year old compact cameras, with tiny CCD sensors.  New smartphone's main camera have BSI CMOS sensors that are much larger than most compact cameras not using the Sony 1" sensor. 

I suppose you could output unprocessed RAW images from your top of line iPhone if you don't want HDR or Deep Fusion processed files.

[za33photo]

13 hours ago, Ken Katz said:

So they get the blown out highlights, grainy shadows, missed focused, low resolution, and blurry indoor images (or images shot with a tiny direct flash) from theses small, 15+ year old compact cameras, with tiny CCD sensors.  New smartphone's main camera have BSI CMOS sensors that are much larger than most compact cameras not using the Sony 1" sensor. 

I suppose you could output unprocessed RAW images from your top of line iPhone if you don't want HDR or Deep Fusion processed files.

Aaah , gotta be perfect , every time , all the time .

 

[ilkka_nissila]

23 hours ago, Ken Katz said:

So they get the blown out highlights, grainy shadows, missed focused, low resolution, and blurry indoor images (or images shot with a tiny direct flash) from theses small, 15+ year old compact cameras, with tiny CCD sensors.  New smartphone's main camera have BSI CMOS sensors that are much larger than most compact cameras not using the Sony 1" sensor. 

I suppose you could output unprocessed RAW images from your top of line iPhone if you don't want HDR or Deep Fusion processed files.

A top-of-the-line iPhone probably costs 30x of what these old point and shoots cost today. And then you need to edit the raw files. I generally don't like to use phone cameras apart from copying documents because the phone spends a lot of time in the pocket with keys, sand etc. and the lens is largely unprotected. It also gets dropped all the time. Wouldn't want to do that with an expensive device, so I use the smallest and cheapest model for communication. 

 

Vintage looks come into fashion from time to time, and this probably includes the way the camera looks and not just the pictures.

 

Edited November 24 by ilkka_nissila

[Ken Katz]

On 11/24/2024 at 11:35 AM, ilkka_nissila said:

A top-of-the-line iPhone probably costs 30x of what these old point and shoots cost today

FYI, just sold my Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS on eBay for $150 + shipping (less eBay sales charges of course).  You can get an refurbished Iphone 12 Pro for under $300, and I can guarantee you that the Iphone 12 Pro takes much better photos.  It cost more but you can also use it for email, text, Google Maps, social media, finding a restaurant, getting cheaper gas, and of course the occasional phone call.

I hope the buyer will be happy, but I am still mystified as to the appeal of a 15 year old small sensor point and shoot camera.  I used my Olympus EM-5iii and 30mm macro lens, plus Olympus flash unit to take really nice photos of the items, and tested the camera before putting up it up of sale.