The EOS 400D was Canon's best selling DSLR camera in Myanmar last year. Pic: Canon USA

THE unstoppable march of the digital age has transformed the humble camera from a tricky tool used by professionals into a user-friendly device anyone can take premium photos with.

Ko Zar Ni, supervisor at the Sony Showroom in Bahan township, explained how to use a digital camera.

“You simply aim the lens at whatever you want to photograph, make sure it is in the frame and press the button. After that you have one picture saved onto the memory card. Some professional photographers in Myanmar are jealous that digital cameras make it so easy,” he said.

Ko Zar Ni said his store sold an average of three digital cameras a day but he hoped to see a growth period leading up to Thingyan.

“The market has been stable this year but we hope that our sales will increase before the Water Festival,” he said.

Sony is a well-known brand in Myanmar and sells digital cameras and digital video cameras throughout the seven sales centres across the country.

A favourite with consumers is the extensive Cybershot range of point and shoot cameras.

These cameras vary in price between K200,000 and K600,000, with a range of different functions available for the discerning spender.

Although the latest generation of digital cameras is available in Myanmar, cutting-edge models take a little longer to make it here – a situation which is felt throughout the developing world.

“Because Japan exports its latest products to developed countries first, we often have to wait a little longer to see these products,” Ko Zar Ni said.

However, that has not stopped Big Camera Limited – located on Boyar Nyunt Street in Yangon, from selling high numbers of top-end cameras this year.

“This year the most popular models have been the Nikon D-200, the D70 and the updated D70s,” said U Than Ngwe, the store’s managing director.

“I think they have sold well and been the most popular models because they are dual-use cameras. By this I mean they can be used by both professional photographers and amateurs as well.”

U Than Ngwe said he had sold more than 100 of the D-200s - and he expected it would continue to dominate sales this year because it combined ease of use, durability and premium quality.
But Big Camera Limited also has an impressive range of digital cameras for customers to consider.
“Many people have come in and bought the Nikon P1 and P2 cameras because they are priced fairly cheaply – we usually sell them for K300,000. Their picture quality is very high for this type of camera,” he said.
Other users have been attracted to the Nikon Coolpix L series because it has the handy ability to accept AA batteries, while most others require a special rechargeable unit. This handy feature is useful when a regular power supply cannot be guaranteed.
U Than Ngwe reported that more than 100 of these units had been sold over the past year.
And the accessory options at U Than Ngwe’s shop reflects his customer’s buying habits. He said many people chose large capacity, high quality, memory cards to store their shots. For the all important lenses, the best-selling item was Nikon’s 18-200mm zoom, which comes with vibration reduction to eliminate lens shake. More than 50 of these have been sold separately.
Arch rival to Nikon in the camera market is Canon – which also has a number of dealers in Yangon and Myanmar.
Canon is the undisputed king of the international digital market and controls 30 percent of the worldwide market.
Ko Philip Tun Aung, assistant manager of Accel International Co - which operates three stores in Myanmar, said Canon's best selling DLSR last year was the 400D. In the digital market, the best seller was the Power Shot A450; SanDisk 512MB memory cards were the most popular cards and the EF 28-135mm lens outsold every other lens.
The biggest advantages of digital cameras are that buyers can immediately see the photo they have taken and delete it if they want. And there are no costs to develop film, although it will still cost money to print them at a processing shop.
The entry of digital cameras into the market has not been good news for everyone though and the market for film cameras has virtually dried up.
Many camera shops in the cities have removed film cameras from their display cases and substituted them with digitals, which come in a range of prices, brands and quality.
U Than Ngwe said film cameras had been pushed to the edge of the market.
“Film cameras are still being used by a few people who have never seen digital cameras before, mainly in villages out in the countryside,” he said.
“I think the film camera market is dead. There are still some people who don’t know about digital cameras who prefer film but very few people in the cities use film. Even people in remote areas are starting to buy digital cameras now,” he said.
Today film cameras are displayed on sidewalk stalls to attract domestic buyers, with prices starting at K5000 and some stores sell them for up to K150,000.