Are extended warranties on cameras still available ?

[ancient_mariner]

Most likely the superzoom compact is now a minor interest camera selling into a small market even compared to 5 years ago. In order to make it profitable they've improved the feature set and doubled the price.

 

[ecoleman]

Most likely the superzoom compact is now a minor interest camera selling into a small market even compared to 5 years ago. In order to make it profitable they've improved the feature set and doubled the price.

Exactly this. Supply and demand.

The less you make of something the more expensive it becomes.

For example dust in the lens, you could argue that if the camera was designed well it wouldn't get dust in the lens or indeed on the sensor.

You can get such cameras if you're willing to pay for a fully weather sealed camera and lens. If you've bought a camera and lens that is not fully weather sealed then you can't complain when you get a bit of dust in it. You need to accept that it's not weather sealed and don't take it out in the rain or dusty conditions. Therefore the answer to your question is it's not a design fault, you just bought a cheap camera.


The same when dropping a camera. My £4000 camera and £2500 lens may withstand a drop from a higher height due to the materials they are made of. Your chap plastic camera will break a lot quicker. Again, it's not a design fault. It's a cheaper camera that you dropped. No cameras are designed to be dropped although some may hold up better than others if dropped.

 

[Justin Smith]

You can get such cameras if you're willing to pay for a fully weather sealed camera and lens. If you've bought a camera and lens that is not fully weather sealed then you can't complain when you get a bit of dust in it. You need to accept that it's not weather sealed and don't take it out in the rain or dusty conditions. Therefore the answer to your question is it's not a design fault, you just bought a cheap camera.

So how do you account for the fact the TZ-18 was so much worse (for dust in the sensor etc) that all the other TZs I have had ?

 

[Justin Smith]

Most likely the superzoom compact is now a minor interest camera selling into a small market even compared to 5 years ago. In order to make it profitable they've improved the feature set and doubled the price.

Does anyone have any sales figures for this ?
Why would sales of superzoom compacts have fallen off so much, bearing in mind Mobile phones have not got much zoom capability ?
I would have thought the sales of low zoom cameras would have fallen off more, yet Argos are selling an Agfa 8X zoom for £55.
Interestingly they also stock the Canon SX740 40X zoom, and that's £430, i.e. £40 less than the TZ-99.
It may be that Panasonic have taken the decision to go for more profit per camera and accept less volume.

 

[ecoleman]

Why would sales of superzoom compacts have fallen off so much, bearing in mind Mobile phones have not got much zoom capability

Most people don't care about super zoom. They want to take photos of friends and family in front of them and their phone is good enough if not better than most compact cameras used to be.

But, here you go

The Rise and Crash of the Camera Industry in One Chart

A pretty dramatic visual.

petapixel.com

 

[ecoleman]

So how do you account for the fact the TZ-18 was so much worse (for dust in the sensor etc) that all the other TZs I have had ?

As you pointed out that the TZ-18 was a 2012 model and cost less than £200. They got better and the price went up.

 

[Justin Smith]

Most people don't care about super zoom. They want to take photos of friends and family in front of them and their phone is good enough if not better than most compact cameras used to be.

But, here you go

The Rise and Crash of the Camera Industry in One Chart

A pretty dramatic visual.

petapixel.com

I readily accept that mobile phones have decimated the sales of digital cameras, but not so much that of super zoom compacts. I would have thought so anyway.

 

[ecoleman]

I would have thought the sales of low zoom cameras would have fallen off more, yet Argos are selling an Agfa 8X zoom for £55.

That camera is 8X digital zoom. Nothing more than cropping in post. No fancy glass, elements moving around and probably take worse pictures than you 10 year old iphone

 

[Justin Smith]

That camera is 8X digital zoom. Nothing more than cropping in post. No fancy glass, elements moving around and probably take worse pictures than you 10 year old iphone

That's naughty selling it as an 8X zoom, when it's just digital cropping.

 

[Justin Smith]

In the end I bought the TZ-99 from John Lewis, and paid the extra £30 for the extended warranty so at least I have peace of mind for two years !

The TZ-99 slightly bigger (thicker) than the TZ-70 and heavier, mainly due to the fold up screen which I am in two minds about because I am concerned it is a weak point.
It's also got a load of extra feature, too many, which I am not really interested in and make it more complicated to use, plus lacks the "panoramic" function which I did find useful at times.
Lastly it definitely does NOT take the same batteries as a TZ-60 / TZ-70 which is somewhat inconvenient !

Of interest is that Premier Electronic Services quoted £70 for a replacement secondhand display, or £110 for a new one. The thing that put me off is the camera also was exhibiting symptoms of dust in the lens, which was an expensive fault to repair (complete lens strip down £100 to £120, or a new lens at £148).

Later Addition - With experience of the TZ99 I preferred the TZ70.... Not only was it significantly cheaper, it is also a bit smaller, it is simpler (The TZ99 is too complicated with far too many esoteric functions), it had the "Panoramic" function and it had a bit of internal memory (which caught me out the other month when I forgot to put the SD card back in ! ).