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U.S. women go for digital SLRs

Women are the primary user of digital SLRs in more than half of households surveyed, new study data shows.

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Apparently all those advertisements saying you'll get better pictures of your kids with a digital SLR camera are paying off.

Women are the primary user of digital SLRs in more than half of households surveyed.
Women are the primary user of digital SLRs in more than half of households surveyed. Photo Marketing Association

The primary digital SLR (single-lens reflex) user in the United States is a woman 51 percent of the time among those surveyed, according to new study results released Monday by the Photo Marketing Association. Among those households where women are the primary user, the average annual income is at least $75,000, and they're much more likely than most to have children under 6 years old.

"You can always find females among prosumers and photo artists, but seeing quite a few young mothers in the mix means they respond to messages about capturing fast-action pics of their kids," said Dimitrios Delis, director of PMA marketing research.

Digital SLR popularity has been in part a response weak indoor and action shots from early digital point-and-shoot cameras, he added. Action shots that suffered from shutter lag--the delay between pressing the shutter release button and the camera actually taking the photo.