World market aimed at 35mm cameras

Press, 23 July 1986, Page 21

World market aimed at 35mm cameras

Cameras are likely to continue becoming smaller, better and cheaper, but even mote firmly standardised on 35mm, says Mr John Watt, managing fiirector of H. E. Perry, Ltd. He had been asked what were the prospects for photography as a hobby. With the removal of duty and the reduction of sales tax, which in October will become GST, prices are becoming no higher and perhaps lower than in other countries, Mr Watt says. Against that, the continuing fall in the value of the New Zealand dollar compared with many currencies, including especially the Japanese yen, is causing price rises in films and photographic equipment.

There has ‘‘never been such an enormous range of sophisticated equipment,” Mr Watt says. Dual or multi metering to produce more accurate exposures, aspheric lenses to improve focusing and reduce weight, greater reli-

ability and less weight through the increased use of electronics, automatic focusing on single-lens reflex (SLR) as well as compact cameras — in all these the improvement is continuing and manufacturers are striving in strict industrial secrecy to improve on their own products and outdo their competitors. Some improvements are still a long way away, he believes. Electronic imaging, using a video camera to produce still photographs, will be here eventually but progress is very slow, the best video still pictures having no more than a fiftieth of the definition of film cameras. The Bmm video camera is coming rapidly down into the amateur price range, but the disc video is probably several years away.

Cameras smaller than 35mm have had disappointing acceptance, as although current films allow considerable detail on subminiature format, even more detail is available on 35mm and the camera is still easily manageable.