[Klaus]

http://www.canonrumors.com/industry-news-dxo-labs-goes-into-receivership/

[borisbg]

Narrowing photo market starts to affect even well established companies like DxO. I wonder who else cares about all their products besides software junkies and loyal customers.

[toni-a]

Well their software is excellent, have been using their RAW converter for a long time, and it is very capable.
What doesn't really make sense, is seeing a company make big purchases like nik color effects from google, then filing bankrupt a few months later, what kind of management is that?

[Klaus]

I reckon their iphone camera hardware was the main reason for this. If people don't buy (better) digicams anymore, they won't buy add-on cameras either.
Their profile-based software correction is also very work-intensive and, frankly, compared to Photoshop and CaptureOne, DxO never emerged from the unpleasant place of exotic RAW converters.

---

While we are at digicams going away ...
https://photorumors.com/2018/04/24/casio-to-exit-the-compact-camera-business/

[Rover]

While I'm no fan of digicams the news of Casio's withdrawal from the market make me (fondly) remember the state of the bazaar in, oh say, 2003 when I was choosing my first digital camera, and in the first few years after that. The compacts mostly sucked, of course, even by that time's standards, but there was a sense of diversity and rapid evolution. It was at times mildly entertaining to watch, even though since 2006 I've been a user of DSLR camera (mostly happy, at times pissed off).

"Oh mother, where have all the flowers gone?"
https://youtu.be/7DGcGrdHtzs

[Klaus]

It's a good question where this industry is heading to in general. With smartphones development now focusing on the camera(s), things are getting even tougher for the conventional camera manufacturers. Wide scenes can be captured in panorama mode, there's a bokeh setting so the only place where smartphones can't really go today is the long tele range. But then ...
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2018/02/apple-invents-a-camera-lens-accessory-system-for-idevices-and-macbooks-that-includes-a-sensing-technology-interface.html

You can argue about quality but then how much quality do you need for the average Joe's family, cats and dogs images? Many argue that the camera industry has reached its new low plateau but honestly, I don't think so. However, maybe the camera industry will be rescued by another development - smartphones are losing their coolness factor and it seems as if they've plateaued as well now. People are no longer willing to pay 800+$ for a new phone if you can get 90% for half of that. And maybe the future will be about convergence - the Red Hydrogen may be a hint of the things to come.

[Rover]

My 12 MP smartphone from 2012 has way worse IQ than my 2 MP digicam from 2002, it's nigh unusable as a shooting tool. I understand that this is "probably" not representative of the scene as a whole but I wouldn't mind having a "good" P&S like the Panasonic DMC-LX7 or Sony RX100 mark a lot. The bottom end, of course, has just crumbled like an adobe house in an earthquake, although I still see some stuff on sale (even in hypermarkets).