FREQUENT traveller Pamela Pek, 46, is shopping for a new camera. The tax specialist's wish-list is simple: It must be small. "And I want a 10-megapixel camera," she adds.

It looks like camera makers will be pandering to her wishes, and those of other would-be buyers.

Research firm IDC sees compact cameras with 10 megapixels and higher soaking up 54 per cent of worldwide sales next year. Of the 146 million compacts forecast to be sold this year, only 25 per cent have such high resolutions. Expect a megapixel race.

Pamela sees megapixel count as an indicator of picture quality. Still, 3megapixels are plenty for standard 4R print (4inches x 6 inches).

Why then are manufacturers pushing the specifications?

Worldwide camera sales are slowing. Having enjoyed double-digit growth of 24 per cent in 2007 and a forecast of 12 per cent this year, sales growth will drop to 6 per cent in 2009, says IDC.

Prices have been falling. The average price of a compact in Singapore this year up till May was $416, says research firm GfK Asia. It was $468 for the same period in 2007.

Manufacturers are pulling out the stops to differentiate their cameras.

Canon Singapore's director and general manager Andrew Koh says that compacts will have be "sleeker and more user-friendly".

While cameras must "take better pictures with less effort", he cites a demand for more manual controls and tools for creativity too.

Lee Risk, GfK Asia's director, says: "Singapore consumers are embracing the newest technologies." He names face detection as an example.

The face detection function, once seen as a mere fad, is now more sophisticated. More faces, partial faces and smiles can be identified. It is now even found in some digital single-lens reflex cameras (DSLRs).

Lee also cites "live view" - being able to take photos using just the liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor - as a DSLR trend. A Sony spokesman echoes this as a feature to ?lower the learning curve?.

DSLRs - once the purview of the hobbyist and the professional photographer - are now mainstream. Sales manager Samuel Gan, 34, says: "It used to cost $700 to $800 for a compact. Now, for less than $700, you can get a DSLR."

Samuel runs John 3:16 Photo Supplies, a small camera shop at Funan DigitaLife Mall. He also observes that more women are hooked and willing to fork out more for their camera gear.

DSLRs still make up less than 10 per cent of Singapore sales of around half a million cameras a year, GfK Asia says. However, while compact sales grew 7 per cent from 2006 to 2007, DSLRs swelled by 15 per cent.

While durability may be a missing trait in the past, more compacts today have metal skins - even titanium ones. S

Some are even designed to withstand falls.

That should come in handy for Pamela. She says her current compact has started acting up after just a year. In contrast, she notes, her old film compact - a Canon - served her for more than a decade. It stopped working only after she accidentally dropped it.

cytan@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The Straits Times, Digital Life on 22 July 2008.

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