Page 31 - NyghtVision Magazine Volume 3 #2

Falcon: More. JD's estimate was twenty per-
cent. From what I saw, I agree that this is a
reasonable estimate. The total number of ven-
dors was down significantly as well. Olympus
wasn't there. Pentax was present, but their
booth was so small we nearly missed it. Leica
wasn't there this year either. Usually, the ex-
hibit halls are jammed. That was not the case
this year. We noticed a lot of unoccupied space
in each of the halls.
Francois: I would have thought that with a
better economy—
Falcon: “Better” is relative.
Francois: In what way? Please explain.
Falcon: Well, downward pressure continues.
I was in a large retail store a few days ago and
noted a long wall of Canon and Nikon camer-
as—all Rebel class and lower. The higher end
cameras weren’t there because they aren’t sell-
ing. Not only does this over-dominant pres-
ence of inexpensive cameras continue to lower
the barrier to entry into the photography in-
dustry, but it will also continue to cause down-
ward pressure in the market place. The ques-
tion is no longer how good photographers are
at their craft, but how cheap they should be be-
cause a camera doesn’t cost much. If a camera
doesn’t cost much, the implication is that our
work should be cheap as well. Well, there is a
huge difference between a “kit” consisting of a
lens and a DSLR that costs $700 and a camera
body and lens that together cost $7300.
Francois: But it’s the perception—not the re-
ality—that’s driving the market?
Falcon: It comes down to this: I received a
call from a prospective seminar student a few
weeks ago and she said to me, "I just purchased
my first professional camera." Well, I was im-
pressed by this. She mentioned that she had
always used Canon cameras, and so I assumed
that she was using a 5D at the very least.
"So," I probed, "what camera did you get?"
"Oh, I got a Rebel ti 2—my first camera with
changeable lenses."

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