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: digital SLR segment. This segment caters mainly to the prosumer (coined in 1979 by the futurist Alvin Toffler, the term these days often refers to users midway between consumers and professionals) market. This segment is small (15,000 a year, contributing just 10% to the total still digital camera sales) at the moment but, according to Singh, it is growing fast.

Such is the speed of migration from analogue to digital in the prosumer segment that within days of the launch of Nikon’s P-80 Cool Pix (Rs 22,950) it was a complete sell-out. Armed with 10.1 MP sensor and a whopping 18x zoom, P-80 is targeted at photo enthusiasts who want both sharp resolution and high speed. It clicks up to 13 frames in one second.

“Our target customer is 21 to 35 year old, who likes to travel, is active on social networking sites like Orkut and Facebook falling in SEC A, A+ demographic,” explains Singh. This customer is smitten, for instance, with Nikon’s S-550 model that comes with a smile mode feature wherein the camera clicks only when the subject smiles.

Currently, the grey market in India is big, almost as big as the official market. The duties and taxes in India are much higher than levies in countries like China, say analysts. The countervailing duty, for example, stands at 16% and value added tax at 12.5%. This means the prices of the products are, at times, 40% cheaper in the grey market.

However with “increasing personal computer penetration, availability of a wider range of budget cameras and printing possibilities at home, the official market is now on the upswing,” says Masaru Tamagawa, managing director for Sony India.

So while, after years of spectacular growth, the international market for digital still cameras has begun to level off, in India, photographers and camera-toting consumers are migrating from film to digital.

“Lifestyle migration, the need to see pictures instantly, affordability and the retail boom are also generating demand, besides increase in official camera use at medium and large business houses, government and defence sectors,” adds Tamagawa.

The camera-upgrade movement is focused on powerful image processors, faster analog-to-digital converters, wireless connections for transferring pictures, and, of course, high resolution image sensors.