For Marketing Perspective --- Digital Imaging Service

Digital Cameras: Between Competition and Market Opportunities

E.A. Joseph Renyut Contributor Jakarta

Technology, particularly the technology of photography, has undergone a very rapid progress, especially recently, with the presence of digital cameras in the market.

In the past, a camera was the size of a sewing machine could produce pictures that were not very sharp. Today, a wallet-sized digital camera can take pictures with a very great resolution and in a size as big as a newspaper.

Following the era of computerization, the era of digitalization is here and will stay until some time in future. As a result, cameras are also digitalized, a fact that has also transformed people's mindset. The way people keep printed photographs, film negatives and the use of expensive equipment for photography will soon be history.

When a digital camera was first introduced, many professional photographers showed their unfavorable response. This was understandable given the limitations of the digital camera technology then introduced. Today, however, many of these professional photographers show their warm welcome to sophisticated digital cameras. As you may be aware, digital cameras have now shown increasing sophistication and popularity while the prices have become increasingly more affordable as well.

The development of the sales of digital cameras has shown a fantastic jump all over the world, including Indonesia, of course. The role of film negatives in a camera has been replaced by a medium to store a photo file like XD-cards, for example. Pictures recorded by the sensor of a digital camera will be directly transferred to this medium and can be erased or stored for a certain period of time, depending on the material of which this medium is made.

A research conducted by Info Trends/CAP Ventures shows that the sales of digital cameras in the world in 2004 were worth around US$ 24 billion, and are expected to rise to some $ 31 billion in 2009. The big three regions on the list of countries recording the highest sales volume were Europe, the United States and Japan. At present the market leaders in the digital camera business are Canon, Sony, Olympus, Kodak and Fuji.

Meanwhile, the digital camera market in Asia and the rest of the world has also shown an outstanding development. The market share of these regions in the world was around 10 percent in 2004 and is expected to rise to 33 percent in 2009.

Sensor resolution, which is considered the yardstick for the advances in digital camera technology, has developed even further. Usually, the bigger the megapixel of a camera, the price will also be higher although megapixel of a big size does not guarantee a good quality. In addition, other things to consider in a digital camera are its zooming optical function, an auxiliary facility for low light, which will be helpful when you take a picture in a place with poor lighting, and the memory storage capacity. A number of digital camera manufacturers are developing a digital camera with 7 - 8 megapixels this year.

Indeed, manufacturers of these and other brands of digital cameras are now competing to develop their products. The technology continues to be improved while the features expanded. Also, these cameras are provided with various facilities to expedite their operation. Take, Kodak, for example. After successfully marketing its cameras for beginners with a resolution of between 2 and 6.1 megapixels, it is now eyeing a more premium market. Casio, a newcomer in the digital camera world, has also launched new products, which are dubbed stylish and speedy. Olympus has marketed its SLR (Single Lens Reflection) Pro E-1 Series, intended for professionals. Meanwhile, Sony boasts the superiority of its DSC-HI series, which integrate high resolution and ultra zooming.

What about Fuji? This Japanese manufacturer has brought out its FinePixF700 digital cameras produced with the fourth- generation CCD (charge couple device) technology, better known as 4th Generation Super CCD SR. Last year this type earned a citation from Digital Imaging Marketing Association in Germany as an innovative product. This Super CCD SR technology enables the production of a perfect picture, the printing of which will show every detail of the object captured by the camera.

When PT Modern Photo Tbk sees a market opportunity opening up for the digital cameras, it has, through its subsidiary, PT Honoris Industry, produced its own digital cameras, which are called MPix Kamera digital 3 megapixels and sold at Rp 670,000. Its initial production of 10,000 digital cameras, introduced in February 2005, sold out right after they were launched.

Some people believe that the quality of an object that you capture with your digital camera and that can be viewed on the LCD screen of your digital camera or on your computer monitor shows the quality of the end result of a photograph-taking session. In fact, many people - including me - are of the opinion that the end result of a photograph-taking session cannot be judged until you have the pictures printed on photo paper, using the right photo printer, not a computer printer.

The quality of a photograph taken with a camera digital does not depend on the camera alone but also on the digital photo printer used, the photo paper on which the pictures are printed and the chemicals used. As for photo printers of good quality, they are, among others, Fuji of frontier 340 or 350 type.

That's why, realizing that the result of photo printing must be as good in quality as the result of photo recording made with a digital camera, Fuji Photo Film has provided the best solution by introducing what is called a "Total Solution Provider." This particular provider makes and supplies digital cameras with all necessary equipment, along with the photo printer, the photo paper and the chemicals for photo printing purposes. In this way, Fuji Photo Film believes that the quality of the pictures printed will be the same as that of the recording of the objects made with a digital camera.

The question worth posing now is whether digital cameras, which are more sophisticated, more easily operated and cheaper than conventional or analog cameras, will replace these analog cameras. The answer must obviously be in the affirmative. Slowly but surely, conventional cameras will give way to digital ones. I personally believe, however, that in the case of Indonesia, conventional cameras will still be quite popular in the market until the next decade.

The purchasing power of most Indonesians is still low. Digital cameras are still too expensive to them. At present Modern still produces Fuji conventional cameras priced at Rp 120,000 along with 2 rolls of ASA 400 36-expose film negatives and batteries. Meanwhile, to many Indonesians, a digital camera is still too complicated to operate. Another reason why the conventional cameras will still enjoy a good place in the market is that conventional or analog photo printing services are found almost everywhere across the country. Modern, for example, operates about 2,000 analog photo printing machines across the archipelago.

Meanwhile, in their pursuit of a good quality and an excellent artistic aspect, many professional photographers stick to their conventional cameras. It is true that technologically speaking, digital cameras still have their weaknesses, for example, in terms of their resolution, "their depth" is not sufficient and the recording pause process is less speedy than that of conventional cameras.

-The writer is Chief of Modern Group Public Relations