Digital Cameras (with Video)

23.3% of respondents have never owned a digital camera with video, according to a Researchscape survey of 1,000 consumers from its panel.

Purchase Interest

47.1% of respondents were “very interested” or “extremely interested” in purchasing a digital video camera. People interested in digital cameras with video are most likely to also be interested in portable DVD players (0.344 correlation), portable media players (MP3 players, 0.305 correlation) and digital photo frames (0.299 correlation). Only interest in feature phones and desktop computers had no statistically significant correlation to interest in digital cameras with video: digital cameras without video were not mutually exclusive but were the device category of eleventh greatest interest (with a 0.207 correlation).

Digital video cameras benefit somewhat from device substitution: 3.3% of respondents would replace a broken device from a different category (typically, a digital still camera) with a digital video camera.

15.5% of respondents without a digital video camera said it was the device they didn’t own that they were most interested in purchasing. Of all respondents, 5.7% identified digital video cameras as the device they were most interested in purchasing, the 6th highest interest level. Interested respondents want to document their life or replace a broken camera or replace use of their cell phone as a camera.

Document my life / record memories (mentioned by 12 respondents):
- “I really, really need a camera to take pictures and save the memories! They’re not even very expensive anymore.”
- “It would be a nice hobby and to document life.”
- “I want to start traveling, and it would be nice to have one to document my travels.”
- “Cause I want to keep my memories with me by capturing videos and photos.”
Cell phone camera is inadequate (mentioned by 9 respondents):
- “I like to take pictures, and my phone’s camera isn’t up to par.”
- “I would like to capture better videos and photos of my family. My cell phone’s camera can’t compare to a digital camera.”
- “My cell phone takes bad pictures.”
- “To take great pictures and video rather than taking pictures with my smart phone.”
Current camera is outdated or broken (mentioned by 6 respondents):
- “My last camera recently broke, and I am starting to miss it.”
- “My current camera is outdated.”
- “I would like to update my camera and have more features.”
For filmmaking (mentioned by 6 respondents):
- “I am very interested in making amateur film.”
- “I would like to have a camera that can produce high enough quality for YouTube.”
- “I’d like to get a video camera to use for small productions.”
For photography (mentioned by 4 respondents):
- “I enjoy photography.”
- “Photography seems interesting.”
For picture taking (mentioned by 4 respondents):
- “Take pictures.”
- “I’d like to take pictures.”
For video recording (mentioned by 3 respondents):
- “I’d like to be able to take pictures and record video. I currently have no way of doing so.”
- “I would sometimes like to take video.”
Want a high-definition video camera (mentioned by 3 respondents):
- “I don’t have a HD video camera.”
- “I currently have an SLR which takes great pictures. I would like to get one that shoots HD video as well.”
- “I’ve always wanted to be able to record video in 1080p.”
To expand camera collection (mentioned by 2 respondents):
- “I own a bunch of regular SLRs but I don’t have a digital one.”
- “Would like to have a second Canon body that also does video, as I already own a 50D and have a lot of glass for it.”

Current Ownership

63.1% of respondents currently own a digital video camera, the 5th highest ownership rate of the 16 devices studied.

12.8% no longer use the device, giving it an average rate of lapsed usage. However, it had the fourth lowest rate of frequent use: 34% of owners reported using their digital video camera frequently.

In a separate survey of 400 consumers, we asked respondents a hypothetical question: which devices would they purchase if they had lost all of their devices in a robbery and new purchases were covered by insurance? 52.2% of current owners were “very interested” or “extremely interested” in repurchasing a digital video camera, an average interest level in repurchasing.

Digital video cameras are the 6th most valued category of device: just 9.8% of owners said it was the device that they were least interested in replacing if it broke.

Past Ownership

13.7% of respondents have owned a digital video camera in the past but no longer do so, the 9th highest rate of past ownership. This represents 17.8% of the group of current and former owners.