Compact Cameras Are The Future

By: James Wilder

Ricoh GR III by Ricoh.

Compact cameras are dead. Long live compact cameras!

There are many articles that claim the smartphone killed off compact cameras, but that's not completely true. What they are really saying is smartphones killed low cost point-and-shoot cameras. Low cost point-and-shoot cameras are, well, pointless when every smartphone packs a camera.

However, smartphones will never kill off compact cameras because, compact cameras are the future.

The Compact Truth

There is a market for compact cameras designed specifically for the photography enthusiast and professional photographer.

Let's just leave that right there.

What Is a Compact Camera

There is a major difference between a device that HAS a camera and a device that IS a camera. Smartphones are general purpose computing and communication devices that have cameras. An iPad has a camera. Even doorbells have cameras. But they aren't cameras.

Compact cameras are designed to be cameras. They are portable and should be powerful. They are the cameras photography enthusiasts always take with them, wherever they go.

Compact is Not a Trend

There is much confusion in the compact camera segment, mostly caused by recent trends.

An old trend (mostly pushed by photography magazines) was to position the compact camera as a "travel" camera; small, light, with a zoom lens. As of today, travel has not gone away, but no one is really promoting compact cameras specifically for "travel." Smartphones proved that photography was an everyday thing.

The current trend for Camera manufacturers is stuffing cameras with video features to support vlogging and content creators. Because "everyone" is a "content creator." Completely lame corporate brain thinking. This will probably continue as they have no clue what's going on.

Another trend from "influencers" is nostalgia cameras and buying old point-and-shoots. That is a fad fueled by social media.

Camera companies are confused and they are confusing everyone by converting every camera into a video recorder.

Compact cameras do not need a trend.

Should You Care?

Should you care about compact cameras? Yes! All photography enthusiasts and professional photographers should care about compact cameras.

Photography enthusiasts demand camera first design with some of the modern features of smartphones. They want to use compact cameras for the joy of daily photography, but also have more control over settings, better image quality, and access to the Internet.

Modern Compact Cameras Don't Exist

The modern compact camera does not exist today. There have been several attempts, but have failed for a variety of reasons.

What are the best modern compact cameras? That's a good question, because it's ridiculously hard to find the answer, and the answer changes every year.

I bought a Ricoh GR III in 2021 because I wanted a truly pocketable compact camera that was designed for photography enthusiasts.

With the popularity of the Ricoh GR and even the Fujifilm X100 series, maybe camera companies will begin to see a photography "ecosystem" that includes an advanced compact camera for everyday use.

Then again, maybe we will just keep waiting until a serious disruptor enters the market.

But one thing is clear. Compact cameras are the future.

If you are wondering what compact cameras are available today, check out Everyday Carry Cameras.