In Focus: Camera Users Have GoneDigital (NAPSA)—To get an accurate snapshot of America’s camera use, just think digital. Seventy-seven percent of Amer- ican households now owna digital camera, according to a recent sur- vey by the Consumer Electronics Association. About 20 percentof these digital photographers describe themselves as early adopters of tech products. Only 1 percent consider themselves to be professionals or experts, while 17 percent claim to be advanced users, 63 percent see themselves as average users and 19 percent sign on as novice or beginner. The survey broke digital photographers into six groups. Where do you fit? Frustrated Photogs tend to be late adopters of the technology. Manyprefer a digital camera that is easy to use without all the bells and whistles. They have only moderate interest in future features such as geotagging, facial recognition and touch screen controls. * Digital Curators are the archivists and documentarians, and take great care in all aspects of their photography hobby. They enjoy printing, organizing, displaying and sharingtheir digital photos. Feature-Focused Photogs like to adjust the functions and features of the camera manually to help enhance their photos. They are very likely to share their photos online and tend to have newer point-and-shoot devices of moderate cost. ( Consumer Electronics Association The nation’s photographers have mostly gone digital but fall into six distinct groups of users. One-Click Wonders are late adopters of technology with older, low-cost digital photo devices. They are the least likely group to take, edit or print their digital photos. Picture-Happy Socialites are happy with current digital photo devices and capabilities and have a great affinity for sharing their photos. They tend to take a significantly higher amountof pictures per month than other photographers and use newer devices with higher-than-average megapixel capabilities. They consider themselves to be advanced photographers and moderate tech adopters. * Digital Mavericks are an early adopter group who are very engaged with new technology in general and with photography specifically. They are the most interested group in future digital camera features. While they tend to have moderately priced equipment, they own or use more than one device to take pictures. For more information, visit www.digitaltips.org.
