This has been a relentless year of camera and imaging technology releases, with 2024 marked by the long-anticipated arrival of Canon’s flagship mirrorless camera, the EOS R1. Other companies focused on appealing to the ‘creator’ market, with products such as Fujifilm’s X-T50 and X-M5, Panasonic’s Lumix S9, DJI’s Osmo Pocket 3, Sony’s ZV-E10 II and Nikon’s Z6 III. Features including open gate, proxy recording, camera-2-cloud, frame markers and, of course, AI dominated every camera-related announcement this year.
AI has not only infiltrated camera hardware but has also taken over the software side. Adobe’s Creative Cloud suite and DaVinci Resolve are now AI-powered. Topaz is rapidly iterating its AI tools, and many new creative AI platforms launched and evolved in 2024. The focus on AI reflects a broader shift in imaging technology, especially as brands chase creator dollars, prioritizing video features in their cameras over traditional photography, even though photography is more popular now than it’s ever been.
The question is why are cameras increasingly being tilted toward video? There are several factors, including the competition between camera manufacturers and smartphone makers. Mobile photography has been nipping at the heels of dedicated cameras for a few years, but they’d hit a ceiling with 1-inch sensor devices and periscope lenses. Any sensor or lens combo much bigger than we’ve seen from Oppo, Samsung and Xiaomi would mean devices as thick as digital pocket cameras, destroying their aesthetic.
With space maxed out, things were becoming stagnant until we started to see how much better smartphone images and video could get when OEMs began incorporating dedicated image signal processors and neural processing units into their pipelines. Shooting in low light, capturing fast frame rates, as well as replicating natural details and realistic tones were areas where mobile devices struggled. But AI has closed that gap significantly.
Camera makers tried upping resolution until the tradeoff between cost and quality became asinine, then settled at around 20-26MP for most mid-level cameras. But with phones having double, triple and even quadruple camera setups, incorporating 50MP sensors, the megapixel race was lost.
This is why I feel that video and social sharing became the big focus of this year’s releases. Despite what Apple wants us to believe, mobile phones simply cannot hold a candle to a dedicated camera when it comes to producing high-quality video. In video, at least for now, sensor size is still king. Also, video recording has a lot to do with form factor and controls. To get a decent video shooting experience out of a smartphone, you have to rig it up like a dedicated camera, so what’s the point?
If cameras can take the fight to areas where smartphones struggle, such as video quality and user experience, along with making it easy for people to get their content from cameras to phones, they’re more likely to win customers.
This suggests we’ll see fewer camera releases in 2025. I also suspect another huge merger, buyout or collapse akin to Nikon’s acquisition of Red Digital or Olympus being reborn as OM System could be on the horizon.
I also believe we’ll see a big push on lenses – another area where dedicated cameras still outshine smartphones.
