Smartphones are the most popular cameras on Flickr

Flickr is one of the most used image-sharing website in the world and it is a place where lots of photographers choose to upload their shots. In this article we are looking at the most popular cameras on Flickr as well as the most used camera brands among the website’s members.

When people see a good photo, they are often wondering what the photographer used to capture it. On Flickr, you can usually check out the details in the description. However, if you are looking to know what most people are using, then we can help you with this.

This image and video-sharing website offers a dedicated page which reveals the most popular cameras on Flickr. The big names in the digital imaging world are there, but they are joined by two smartphone giants. So, who wins this fight?

The most popular cameras on Flickr are Apple’s smartphones

As the digital camera market continues to shrink, smartphones are the most popular cameras on Flickr. The top five is strictly dominated by mobile devices and, with the exception of a Samsung unit, they are made by Apple.

The most used device on Flickr is the iPhone 6, while the second is the iPhone 5S. Third comes the iPhone 6 Plus, so it seems like people really like to capture photos and videos with Apple’s smartphones.

Here are the most popular cameras on Flickr and how usage changed in the past 12 months.

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have broken the company’ sales records, as over 10 million units were sold during the launch weekend. The records that they broke belonged to the previous generation, consisting of the iPhone 5S and 5C, which generated about 9 million sales within three days of availability.

The fourth most popular camera on this website is the Samsung Galaxy S5. Although it is also a smartphone, it is a change in scenery from the Apple monopoly. Either way, the fifth place goes back into the hands of Cupertino, as it is taken by the iPhone 5.

It is worth noting that the iPhone 5 also broke sales records at launch, albeit they would eventually be blown away by the smartphone’s successors, as stated above.

Flickrs users are really enjoying iPhones and Galaxy smartphones

In its rankings, Flickr includes the most popular brands used by its members. As four of the top five cameras belong to Apple, there is no surprise that this is the most used brand on the website.

Apple’s contribution to Flickr begins with the iPhone 6, followed by the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 6 Plus, while fourth comes the iPhone 5. The iPhone 6s is fifth in this chart, but it is the most recent smartphone released by the company, so its popularity is likely to grow in the near future.

After so many smartphone mentions, it is time for a familiar face: Canon is the second most used brand in the Flickr community. The EOS maker is the biggest camera vendor in the world, meaning that we were expecting to see it grab on of the top places.

The EOS 5D Mark III DSLR is the most popular Canon camera on Flickr.

The most used Canon cameras are, in this order, the 5D Mark III, 600D (known as Rebel T3i in the US and Kiss X5 in Japan), 6D, 5D Mark II, and 7D. One interesting thing is that the first 26 Canon-branded cameras are DSLRs. After so many interchangeable lens cameras, the PowerShot SX50 HS bridge camera is the first fixed-lens unit to show up in the top.

To find out who gets the third place in the most popular camera brands rankings, we are getting back to the smartphone world. Samsung is Flickr’s third most used brand, thanks to the Galaxy S5, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 4, and Galaxy Note 3, in this particular order.

Samsung makes dedicated cameras, too, but the first to appear in the charts is the NX300, which stands in the 35th place, meaning that the top 34 Samsung-branded cameras on Flickr are all smartphones.

Nikon and Sony fall short of the top 3 most popular camera brands in the Flickr community

Lots of people would have loved to see Nikon in the top 3. However, this is not the case, as the digital imaging giant is actually fourth. According to Flickr, the most used Nikon-branded cameras are the D7000, D7100, D3200, D90, and D5100.

D7000-series cameras are the most popular Nikon-branded shooters on Flickr.

We cannot help but to notice that the Nikon DSLRs are lower-end units when compared to those from Canon. The EOS maker has three full-frame shooters and an advanced APS-C-sized DSLR in the popularity rankings, while the Nikon models are all mid-to-entry-level devices.

Finally, we have arrived at the fifth most popular camera brand on Flickr: it’s Sony! The PlayStation maker’s most used device is the Xperia Z3 smartphone, while second comes the Xperia Z2.

The first dedicated camera to show up is the A6000 in the third place. As the Xperia Z1 is fourth, the fifth place goes to another mirrorless camera, specifically the A7. Sony’s efforts appear to be paying off, as its E-mount mirrorless cameras are starting to catch up with the company’s Xperia smartphones.

A breath of fresh air is given by the point & shoot cameras chart

Another category presented by Flickr is the one which includes point & shoot cameras. This segment consists of fixed-lens units and the most popular is the original Sony RX100.

Flickr members are also enjoying the Canon PowerShot SX50 HS, which comes second, and the Sony RX100M3 (the Mark III version of the RX100), which is third.

Sony’s RX100-series has two entries in the point & shoot camera rankings.

Thankfully, the point & shoot chart also offers a much-needed variation, as the fourth model is the Panasonic FZ200 bridge camera with a 24x optical zoom lens. The top is completed by the Fujifilm X100T, a premium compact camera with a 16.3-megapixel sensor and a 23mm f/2 lens.

In conclusion, we have remind you that Flickr determines the device used by photographers to shoot photos and videos in about 66% of all cases.

The company says that it cannot detect the cameras in one-third of the times and that it mostly happens in smartphones. This means that the situation might be even worse for dedicated cameras in the fight against smartphones.

As for why Flickr users choose smartphones over cameras, we can only guess that it is quicker to capture and to share photos and videos using mobile devices. Additionally, photographers using higher-end equipment might share less content on this website and they might choose to upload them on other websites.