PMA 2010: Camera and video trends in 2010…and beyond

At a lengthy seminar this morning, the marketing research firm, InfoTrends, presented a number of intriguing trends on digital camera and other digital imaging devices based on their research, polls, and interviews. Here's some of what they were predicting:

• As tech companies continue to reinvent imaging chips, the chips will get smaller and smaller. Some innovative designs will emerge, such as stacking thin wafers made up of many lenses (instead of just one big lens) over imaging wafers, which will in turn be read and decoded by internal software. This should result in very small cameras, which might fit in to cell phones. The analyst said these wouldn't be high-megapixel cameras, but more like 3 megapixels.

• Connectivity will continue to develop: cameras will include more WiFi, GPS and other features, such as DLNA, that let them interact with TVs and other devices. Although printing should level off, it won't drop. Connected, social-media style image viewing and uploading will continue to expand.

• HD Video in SLRs and Micro Four-thirds style cameras will continue to be very important. In InfoTrends research, nearly 50 percent of those polled said that HD video was either very important or somewhat important in their next camera purchase.

• Optical viewfinders on cameras have almost ceased to exist, with only one manufacturer including them in a camera line. Currently, only the Canon PowerShot A1100IS, SD1200IS, and SD780IS have viewfinders. But this trend doesn't have the consumer in mind: About 25 percent of the people they interviewed said they still compose their photos using only the optical viewfinder. And 50 percent of those polled use both the optical viewfinder and LCD to compose shots.

• Photo frames and printers will become more connected, with frames including more WiFi, and some cellular, while printers add more downloadable apps or widgets.

—Terry Sullivan