By Claire Reilly

Consumer satisfaction ratings group Canstar Blue has turned its attention to compact and Digital SLR cameras in its latest list of preferred tech brands, ranking customer preference for Australia’s biggest digital imaging brands and tracking Australian consumer trends when it comes to using digital photography products.

Ranking popular compact cameras, Canstar Blue put Canon and Panasonic at the top of the list, with both brands receiving 5-star ratings for consumer satisfaction. They also each notched up 5 stars for Image quality and 4 stars for design, while Canon won out on Value for Money and Panasonic received top marks for functionality.

Despite receiving 5 star ratings in all the major competencies of Value for Money, Image Quality, Functionality and Design, Nikon only received four stars for overall satisfaction (itself an individual measure, not just a combination of the other scores). Finally, Olympus, Fujifilm, Sony and Samsung rounded out the ratings of major brands.

Click here to sign up for our FREE daily newsletter
Follow Current.com.au on Twitter

In the DSLR category, Canon was ranked first with 5 stars in Overall Satisfaction, Functionality and Design and 4 stars in terms of Value for Money and Image Quality. Nikon ranked second with 5-star ratings in Value for Money and Image Quality, and Sony was ranked third, with a combination of 4- and 3-star scores.

Speaking about the research, Canstar Blue spokesperson Rebecca Logan said photography habits were also changing, pointing to one product that most retailers are already aware of — the smartphone.

“For true photography buffs nothing will replace their favourite camera, but a third of digital camera owners say their phone has replaced their camera as their primary photographic device,” she said.

“For younger camera owners that figure is much higher — 50 per cent of our Generation Y respondents said they had a camera, but it had been replaced by their phone. For Baby Boomers that figure dropped back to 18 per cent and Generation X (42 per cent) was in between.”

Canstar Blue and its survey partner Colmar Brunton gathered responses from survey participants who had recently purchased a compact camera or DSLR, with 878 consumers identifying as recent point-and-shoot purchasers, and 334 as DSLR buyers.

Canstar Blue's ratings for Compact Cameras.

Canstar's ratings for DSLRs.