Digital Imaging Statistics - The roving eye

PMA - Advanced amateur customers look toward photo retailers

According to the 2007 PMA U.S. Digital Imaging Survey, 20 percent of digital camera owners use their digital camera for artistic purposes, for moonlighting job, or to master photography skills. This segment of photo customers is called the advanced amateur or prosumer segment and has been generating much of the business at camera stores around the country for many years. Manay advanced amateurs are possible candidates looking to enter the studio photography business at some point, as well. Digital advanced amateur customers were 20 percent more likely to purchase a camera in 2006. They were also more likely to make that purchase at a camera store when compared to the typical consumer.

The advanced amateur market will be explore more in future "Data Watch" articles examining printing behavior and other characteristics of this group. One important thing to remember when servicing this segment is that they are different from Jennifer. They value top quality in equipment and printing, appreciate the advanced knowledge of photo retail employees, and speak in advanced terms. Finally, finding advanced amateur customers is not done through demographics. This segment is comprised of customers of all ages and household types. To reach advanced amateurs, retailers need to look into cross promotions, internet forums, competitions, and events.

Who is Jennifer? The most powerful photo imaging customer is the Generation X mom. A young parent aged 24-44 years old, Gen X moms are likely to maintain an active lifestyle that produces events and picture-taking opportunities. PMA is calling this powerful target market “Jennifer” to drive home the fact that these customers are living, breathing, buying consumers who care deeply about their photography.

The Semi-Pros - Why I take Digirtal Images

Where do Digital Images End Up?
Leaving pictures on the memory card was the second most popular method for storing pictures among digital camera owners in 2006. According to the 2007 PMA U.S. Digital Imaging Survey, 72 percent of digital camera owners transfer their images onto computer hard drives for storage and 53 percent burn CDs and DVDs. Still 54 percent of digital camera owners leave their images on their camera's memory card. Combined with the fact that almost a third of memory cards sold in 2006 were 1GB or larger, the needs for on-camera organization and better kiosk upload capacity is certain to intensify in the near future.

The trend of cheaper, larger memory cards becoming more readily available to consumers is not expected to stop or ease soon, either, especially in light of flash memory technology expanding into the laptop hard drive space.

Computer Hard-disk 72%
CD/DVD 53%
CD 47%
DVD 13%
Digital Camera Memory 54%
Prints 52%
Online 11%
Online FREE 10%
Online PAID 1%
Printer Memory 2%
Other 2%

PMA - Why I use digital imagery

Lastly, Digital Cameras verus Camera Phones...

Revenue from shipments of image sensors for mobile phones will grow to $5.9 bln by 2010, increasing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 27.4%, up from $1.7 bln in 2005. Unit shipments of image sensors to mobile phones will grow to 1.2 bln by 2010, increasing at a CAGR of 19.7%, up from 484 mln units in 2005. In 2005, 199 mln image sensors were sold for all other applications outside of mobile phones, including digital still cameras. By 2010, this disparity will grow more, with nearly 1.2 bln sensors shipped for mobile handsets and slightly less than 350 mln shipped for other applications.