世論 What Japan Thinks

This is an interesting recent survey reported on by cNet Japan and conducted by goo Research into the topic of the use of cameras by seniors.

Demographics

Over the 6th and 7th of February 2008 1,001 members of the goo Research monitor pool aged over sixty were interviewed by means of a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.4% were male, and 69.3% were in their sixties, 15.9% aged seventy or older. Note that since this was internet-based, all were internet users by definition. In addition, as a control sample over the same period 174 people in their thirties, 51.7% female, were asked the same questions.

Not falling into either of the age groups it’s difficult for me to comment, but one thing I thought initially was that the number of SLR users is low as I always see a few old people with big cameras whenever I go to parks, but then I realised that it’s just selective recall, as one remembers a big camera.

Research results

Q1: What kind of camera do you usually use the most? (Sample size=1,112)

	30 to 39 years old N=174	60+ years old N=938
Compact digital	49.4%	67.6%
Digital SLR	3.5%	8.0%
Film SLR	1.7%	3.4%
Compact film camera	0.6%	3.4%
Mobile phone camera	39.7%	13.9%
Digital video camera	5.2%	2.2%
Other	0.0%	0.1%
Don’t have a camera	0.0%	1.4%

Why exactly only 938 people and not 1,001 old folk answered this question is not made clear. Perhaps there was a lot of no answers here and in later questions?

Q2: What do do with the photographs you take? (Sample size=925, multiple answer)

Store on computer hard disk	62.6%
Print them out (to SQ)	41.6%
Send by email to friends, family	27.9%
Save to CD, DVD	24.8%
Make into postcards, nengajo	16.4%
Upload to blog, etc	12.7%
Use as mobile phone wallpaper	10.5%
Send by post to friends, family	9.5%
Use an online album service (to end of survey)	4.0%
Nothing in particular	5.3%
Other	2.8%

Q2SQ: What do do with the photographs you take? (Sample size=448, multiple answer)

	30 to 39 years old N=63	60+ years old N=385
Print at home	46.0%	57.1%
Get printed at camera, print shop	28.6%	31.7%
Print myself at digital print terminal inside shop	14.3%	6.0%
Order prints from online photo shop	9.5%	4.7%
Other	1.6%	0.5%

The following question was answered by all bar those who already used an online album service from Q2.

Q3: Why don’t you use an online album service? (Sample size=656, multiple answer)

	30 to 39 years old N=95	60+ years old N=561
Don’t want to share my photos with other people	57.9%	55.6%
Not interested in using it	42.1%	35.7%
Awkward to upload photos, etc	22.1%	20.7%
Don’t really know how to use it	12.6%	18.7%
Don’t have time to use it	6.3%	6.4%
Don’t have a digital camera	1.1%	2.5%
Other	9.5%	6.4%