I think there are two separate hobbies involved. "Taking photos" and "Buying the latest gear." And this website tends to lean heavily on the later hobby. After all, this is a camera review site, designed to help you select your next new camera.
"Taking photos" is alive and well, thanks to the smartphone. It has become the imaging device of choice for the masses for taking snapshots, vacation photos, and holiday photos. The smartphone has effectively replaced all cameras except those at the very high end.
The high end market is still there, but it is much smaller than it once was, because those new cameras are so expensive that this market is limited to professionals and well heeled high end enthusiasts. And a lot of amateurs were buying them in the past, because it was stylish to show up with a DSLR, and smartphones weren't invented yet.
When I say they have gotten very expensive, I am not exaggerating. So far this year only ten cameras were announced according to the DPR Camera Timeline. And nine of them were MILC cameras and one was a Rangefinder ILC. There were absolutely no compact cameras, rugged cameras, superzooms, travel zooms, or anything for people of modest means. And the average list price for these ten cameras was around $3,400.
But to be fair, they don't make those cameras anymore because not very many people would buy them. They have smartphones now, that seem to take perfectly good photos. At least for their needs.
Obviously, if people would BUY cheaper cameras, someone would make them. But they aren't buying them because their smartphones are good enough for their needs. So the industry has no other option than to move up market and cater to those with deeper pockets.
Now at this point someone will say "inflation makes these new cameras so expensive" or "you don't have to spend a lot if you buy one Nikon Z30 and one lens."
And I say, yes inflation has driven up prices, but not that much as those MSRPs seem to indicate. The manufacturers have clearly abandoned the entry level and intermediate market because they had no other choice.
And while that Z30 is certainly a nice camera, and you can still take photos with one lens, people like want multiple cameras and multiple lenses. And there aren't many people like me around today. I consider myself an "advanced amateur" and I have a fairly modest M4/3 kit, because I am not wealthy. But even at that, I have spent over $10,000 on various cameras and lenses BEFORE the current wave of inflation set in. And my newest camera is six years old!
Buying the latest cameras is no longer a poor man's hobby. So the folks you see here are people just like you and me. Those who can afford things they really don't need.
DPR started out 24 years ago helping advise the mass market what to buy next. Today, their audience has been reduced to high end users, professionals, and people who also collect Rolex and Omega wrist watches.
