<p>There's mounting evidence that the tendency to favour smartphones over standalone cameras isn't just tanking compact camera sales it's affecting DSLR and interchangeable lens cameras, too. A new WSJ report claims that DSLR camera shipments could fall 9.1 percent by the end of 2013, versus 2012, according to research firm IDC. It's a sign that going retro might not be the only thing required to save standalone cameras from going extinct.</p><p>Canon and Nikon, the two leading DSLR camera makers, both lowered their forecasts for the fiscal year in the past month, the WSJ notes, which means that the market is likely hurting as a whole. While those companies see this as a temporary setback due to global economic conditions, it looks a lot like what's been happening to the PC market over the past few years another phenomenon initially blamed on economic weakness, but more likely tied to the rise of smartphones and tablets as alternate computing platforms.</p><p>Smartphones likely are probably a culprit when it comes to the declining fortunes of the DSLR market. Image quality from mobile devices is on the rise, and the convenience of those devices is a very compelling argument for consumers who might otherwise buy a standalone camera as hobbyists or for use while traveling. And image quality/convenience isn't the only factor here: there's also the fact that far fewer people are printing photos than would've done in the past, preferring instead to trust their images to digital album services like those offered by Apple and Google.</p><p>While DSLR makers have been building features into their devices that approximate those employed by smartphones, including Wi-Fi radios, geotagging and social sharing, I'd argue they haven't gone far enough. The reason DSLRs are attractive to their existing audience is that they're tricky, to some extent, so it makes sense to want to keep the manual controls and exhaustive menus in place. But the reason more and more users are satisfied with their smartphones is that they're increasingly making it easy to take great photos with a minimum of user input.</p><p><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/09/to-save-itself-the-dslr-market-should-look-to-smartphones-and-revalue-each-press-of-the-shutter/">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.universityherald.com/articles/5479/20131109/smartphones-and-instagram-ruining-sales-of-high-end-dslr-cameras.htm">Smartphones and Instagram Ruining Sales of High-End DSLR Cameras</a> (University Herald)</p><p><a href="http://www.associatednews.com/headlines/nikon-released-new-nikon-df-dslr-camera-specs-and-price/5050">Nikon released new Nikon DF DSLR camera Specs and price</a> (Associated News)</p><p><a href="http://www.geeksugar.com/Retro-Nikon-DSLR-Camera-32370380">Is Nikon's Retro Camera Worth Its Steep Price Tag?</a> (GeekSugar.com)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=d9UuWQKz2xiIJXM8lAsuG1n-G5LYM&ned=us">34 additional articles.</a></p>
