Gift Guide: Digital cameras change to beat smartphones

• Camera sales down 30%
• New models have Wi-Fi
• Actioncams popular

Samsung's new Galaxy camera looks like a phone. But it's a camera that's only for sale via wireless company AT&T. And there's no phone access with it.

It's the new world of digital cameras, where manufacturers are struggling to come up with cool devices that match the ease and instant sharing capabilities of smartphones. The latest cameras this holiday shopping season are trying really hard to morph into mobile devices.

The reason is easy to grasp. Camera sales are down 30% so far this year, according to Chris Chute, an analyst with research firm IDC. He says the "drastic" drop is due to the popularity of the smartphone, which has replaced most point-and-shoot cameras as the camera consumers take with them when they leave home.

The Apple iPhone and Android smartphones from Samsung, LG and HTC have improved to the point where for most folks, phone shots are as good as what they snapped with their digital cameras despite lacking superior flash and better zooming ability.

To stoke sales, camera manufacturers are going back to the basics — appealing to the folks who built the photo industry back in the 1950s and 1960s. They are targeting their latest products to photo enthusiasts and hobbyists who lust after the latest technological advance.

"The industry has gone full circle," Chute says. "The upshot is cooler cameras with more bells and whistles."

Manufacturers are dreaming up smaller, lighter and much sharper cameras that do things the old Nikon F and Pentax Spotmatics of years past could never dream of.

A closer look:

Wi-Fi cameras

Samsung's new Galaxy camera (not to be confused with Galaxy S III smartphone) will be available from AT&T beginning Friday for $499. The camera has a 4.8-inch LCD screen on the back — larger than what's seen on most phones and cameras, but smaller than tablets. It has a 21x zoom lens, built-in Android software and a full range of apps.

Customers will need a data plan to use the camera wirelessly and take advantage of the apps. While it's not a phone, if you plug a headset into the earphone jack and use a voice app such as Skype, you can make calls over the Internet.

In all, Samsung has 10 Wi-Fi-enabled cameras this year.They connect to either a Wi-Fi network or via your smartphone. The $300 WB850F point-and shoot-camera, for instance, connects to a Wi-Fi network to transmit photos, or to your phone to send them that way.

"If you're taking pictures of a kid on a soccer field, or a recital in a low light, the images won't be as good on a smartphone as they would be with a camera," says Jay Kelbley, a product manager with Samsung.

By emphasizing Wi-Fi on most of its models, "We're making sure the camera is interoperable with the devices they carry with them. We want the camera to be your smartphone's best friend."

Nikon's Coolpix S800c point-and-shoot camera has built-in Android software that lets you connect to the Google+ and Facebook social networks and check your e-mail from the back of the camera — if you have a Wi-Fi connection.

Nikon also has Wi-Fi adapters (selling for $59.95) that attach to three of its existing cameras — the $800 compact V2, and its $2,100 D600 and $600 D3200 single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras. They enable the cameras to connect to the Internet to transmit photos via a Nikon smartphone app.

Canon's $2,100 6D SLR (due out in December) and Sony's $400 DSC-HX30V have built-in Wi-Fi, and connect to apps to transmit photos.

Actioncams

One of the hottest growing categories for cameras is the tiny rugged "actioncam," which can be attached to surfboards, bike helmets and even dog collars. GoPro, which makes the best-selling Hero cameras, just released the Hero3, sporting higher resolution for photos and video and a tiny camera body. The line starts at $199 (for a lower-resolution model) and goes up to $399 (with higher res and built-in Wi-Fi.) Competitors include a new model from Contour, the $399 Contour+2 and Sony's $199 AS10 (no Wi-Fi) and $269 AS15 with built-in Wi-Fi.

With Contour+2 and the AS15, you use smartphone apps to compose and record the video or still image only. You can start the recording on the phone, but you can't see playback.

GoPro introduced a smartphone app as well in October but needs to update it for the Hero3. The company says that will happen this week for the entry-level models, but not until December for the top-of-the-line Hero3.

Mirrorless cameras

These cameras are for folks who want something better than a point and shoot, but don't feel like lugging a big SLR. Sony dominates the category with its NEX series, which start at $500 for the NEX-5N. The cameras have full-size image sensors, like SLRs, with bodies on par with a point and shoot. Manufacturers make it happen by removing the mirror, standard for SLRs to help compose images through a viewfinder. Mirrorless cameras ditch the viewfinder in favor of composing on the LCD.

Two new mirrorless cameras are making photographers drool:

• Sony RX1. Available in December, the RX1 is a pricey $2,799 "full-frame" compact camera. This means that you get a wider point of view and more pixels to work with than most cameras, resulting in a sharper image. The 24-mega-pixel sensor promises great results in low light. The camera is clearly aimed at pros and enthusiasts who want a small alternative to SLRs with comparable quality.

• Canon EOS M. Canon's first mirrorless camera is smaller than its best-selling Rebel, and like most mirrorless cameras, it has interchangeable lenses. If you already have a Rebel and a host of lenses, you could pick up the M and use your glass on both cameras. The $800 price tag might scare off traditional Rebel customers, but the camera has many of the same attributes of the Rebel — in a smaller package. While it doesn't have the flip-screen LCD, like the Rebel (great for video shoots), the M does have a hot shoe for an accessory flash and can shoot full 1080p HD video on the same 18-mega-pixel sensor as the Rebel cameras.

SLRs

While both Canon and Nikon, the market leaders, have low-priced SLRs to appeal to the lower end of the market (Canon's $499 Rebel T3 and Nikon's $600 D3200) the big news is SLRs are sharper, cooler cameras with full-frame sensors — for better resolution and a wider point of view.

The jewel of the full-frame movement is the Canon 5D Mark III, which began selling in March for $3,500. It produces sharp, sharp photos and videos, in the lowest of light, thanks to its big imaging chip and processor and 61-point focus points.

Nikon responded with the relatively bargain priced D600, a $2,100 full-frame SLR that has many of the best features of the 5D Mark III — so now Canon has a lower-priced full-frame version as well, the $2,100 6D, which ships in December.

The showdown: The D600 is 24 mega-pixel (to the 6D's 20 MP) with a 61-point focus system (11-point for 6D) and can shoot up to 5.5 frames per second (4.5 frames for 6D).

The other new pro-level camera to look at is Sony's $2,799 A99.

It is the full-frame answer to the A77 and A55 models of past years, pitched as the "lightest" camera of its class, at just 1.6 pounds. The camera promises better range for shooting in low light than the 6D or D600 and smoother video, with improved autofocus.