The Most Popular Cameras in the World as Revealed by Flickr Data
Flickr is a popular resource for photos captured by people worldwide. While platforms like Instagram may have usurped Flickr as a social media hub, Flickr remains a go-to destination for enthusiasts and professional photographers to share their work.
Thanks to tags, it’s possible to see what gear is most frequently used to capture the photos on Flickr, which is precisely what SimpleGhar has done.
Analysis of Over 470 Million Photos Shows Apple’s and Canon’s Dominance
As spotted by Photo Rumors, SimpleGhar analyzed over 470 million photos on Flickr, revealing the most popular camera brands, from the largest, Apple, down to some minimal participants like Mamiya, JVC, Acer, and even Palm.
Looking at the data, the most popular photography device brand in the world is Apple. Given the popularity of the iPhone as a consumer device and camera, that’s not very surprising. With 150,787,710 tagged photos on Flickr, Apple devices were used to capture nearly 32 percent of the analyzed photos.
Up next is Canon, which dominates usage among all standalone cameras. Of the top 10 most popular “true” cameras, seven are Canon models, including DSLR and mirrorless cameras. In total, over 133.7 million photos analyzed were shot with Canon cameras.
Nikon and Sony dramatically trail Canon, with 81.6 million and 43.4 million photos, respectively. Fujifilm, Panasonic, and Olympus also captured enough of the analyzed photos to show up in SimpleGhar’s graphic, along with smartphone makers Samsung and Google.
SimpleGhar also delineated the results across country, showing which purpose-built camera models are most popular in different countries. In the United States, the Canon 5D Mark IV reigns supreme, which is also true when looking at the world at large. The Sony a9 II is the most popular in Canada, which is an interesting result. In the United Kingdom, it’s the Canon EOS 5D Mark III.
In Asia, the Canon EOS R3 proved most popular in Japan, which perhaps says something about Flickr’s audience in the country, given that the R3 is a costly flagship mirrorless camera that shouldn’t have the same broad appeal that a camera like the 5D Mark IV does. In China, another mirrorless camera, the Canon EOS R5, took the top spot.
Looking at international results, three of the top 10 most-used cameras are mirrorless models, the Sony a7 III, Canon EOS R6, and Canon EOS R5. The rest are all interchangeable lens DSLR cameras. The top dog, the 5D Mark IV, captured 11,761,586 of the analyzed photos on Flickr.
When isolating just smartphones used to capture photos on Flickr, the iPhone is far and away the most popular choice. In relatively few countries is the most popular smartphone not an iPhone. The most popular model in the US is the iPhone 12 Pro Max. In China, it’s the iPhone 11. In Japan, it’s the iPhone 13 Pro. Across 87 countries with available data, an iPhone model is the most popular camera phone in 62 of them. Overall, iPhone 11 is the most popular model, being the device used to capture 13.2 million photos on Flickr.
Methodology
It’s important to contextualize the results with information concerning methodology. SimpleGhar looked at more than 470 million tagged photos uploaded to Flickr. When looking at individual countries, up to 5,000 of the most recent images uploaded to Flickr were used.
To partially correct for heavy users, any countries where one Flickr user submitted more than 50 percent of photos were removed. The data for the study was collected in March 2023.
The 50 percent threshold, of course, leaves the results open to skewing, especially in countries with fewer Flickr users. That said, the results are interesting, and additional graphics are available on SimpleGhar.
Image credits: SimpleGhar
