What if people took Edward Tufte literally? (chart of camera sales)

Having a y-axis that doesn’t include zero is a data presentation sin. What if you’re charting worldwide camera production and including smartphones? See this chart at dpreview.com (camera production 1933-2016) and prepare to scroll, scroll, scroll!

Maybe this is one of those rare examples where the Web browser is a better medium for presenting information than 8.5×11″ paper?

3 thoughts on “What if people took Edward Tufte literally? (chart of camera sales)

  1. It seems to agree with personal buying of DSLR’s. They were such a miracle in 2008, but a modern iPhone captures equivalent quality to a DSLR in most situations. Only the super long & super short lenses are keeping DSLR’s alive.

  2. You know what else is a data presentation sin? Using the green and orange on a chart that will be viewed by the 10% of males who are colorblind (red-green by far the most common).

  3. You could not give my wife a “camera”.
    When I bought her a new iPhone SE as a gift I joked that I was buying her a new camera, which is what she uses it for 95% of the time. Astonishingly (to me) with time, volume and practice she is teaching herself how to take really good pictures.
    Even my lightweight m4/3 kit is heavy by comparison.

    I like your Tufte reference. The comments in the article are illustrative of many of his points (“Why not use a logarithmic scale?” etc)

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