Most Popular Camera on Flickr: 2006 Canon Rebel XT and Today
Which is the most popular camera on Flickr? Back in November 2006, Flickr started showing which cameras its members used most, and the clear winner was the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, a DSLR. This article looks back at that list, explains how Flickr’s camera stats work, and shows how to check the most popular cameras on Flickr yourself today.
Quick answer: In 2006 the most popular camera on Flickr was the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, with the Canon PowerShot SD600 leading point-and-shoot cameras and the Nokia N73 leading cameraphones. Smartphones, led by Apple iPhones, later took over the charts. You can see today’s leaders on Flickr’s Camera Finder page, which ranks brands and models by how many members upload photos with them.
Table of Contents
The most popular camera on Flickr in 2006
Thousands of photos were uploaded to Flickr every day, and it had become the main hub for sharing photos online. In 2006 Flickr began sharing graphs of the most popular cameras and cameraphones used by its members.
The graphs showed how many Flickr members uploaded at least one photo with a particular camera on a given day over the past year, and how each camera’s popularity changed compared with all the others. Here is what topped the charts when I first wrote about it:
- Most popular camera overall: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, an 8-megapixel DSLR, by a large margin.
- Rising challenger: the Nikon D50 DSLR was slowly climbing the chart.
- Most popular point-and-shoot: Canon PowerShot SD600, a 6-megapixel Digital Elph with 3x optical zoom.
- Most popular cameraphone: Nokia N73.
One thing surprised me at the time: the “Featured Model” (then the Nikon D80), which took up all the space above the fold, was actually a sponsored advertisement.
How Flickr camera rankings work
Flickr reads the camera make and model from each photo’s EXIF data, the hidden information your camera saves inside the image file. Even in 2006, Flickr said the graphs were only as accurate as its ability to automatically detect the camera, which worked about two thirds of the time. Cameraphone photos often lacked this data, so phones were under-represented in the early charts.
Keep in mind that the rankings measure what Flickr members use, not what sells best overall. Flickr has many keen hobby photographers, so DSLRs and mirrorless cameras appear far more often than they would among all camera owners.
From DSLRs to smartphones
Canon stayed on top for years, as we noted in Canon cameras are most popular on Flickr. Then phones caught up. By early 2010 the Apple iPhone 3G had become the most popular camera on Flickr, and Apple went on to be the top brand in Flickr’s yearly reviews for many years. Today the charts mix smartphones with mirrorless cameras from brands like Canon, Sony, Nikon and Fujifilm.
How to check the most popular cameras on Flickr today
- Go to the Flickr Camera Finder page.
- Look at the top camera brands, then click a brand to see its most popular models.
- Open a model to browse recent photos taken with it. This is a great way to judge a camera’s real-world results before you buy.
- On any photo page, look for the camera details to see which camera and settings the photographer used.
Want to find where a photo came from instead? Try these reverse image search engines.
FAQ
What was the most popular camera on Flickr in 2006?
The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, an 8-megapixel DSLR, led the Flickr camera charts by a large margin in late 2006.
How does Flickr know which camera took a photo?
It reads the EXIF data stored in the image file. If the data was removed or missing, Flickr can’t detect the camera, so the charts are not complete.
Are phones more popular than cameras on Flickr?
Phones, especially iPhones, have led Flickr’s brand charts for years, but dedicated cameras from Canon, Sony, Nikon and Fujifilm are still widely used by Flickr’s photographers.
Where can I see Flickr’s camera stats?
Visit the Camera Finder page on Flickr. It lists top brands and models and lets you browse photos taken with each one.
Stuck on a gift? Try our free Gift Idea GeneratorIdeas for anyone by age, job, interests and budget, with Amazon.com and Amazon.in linksFind gifts →Get our free weekly email: new tech guides and tools, no spam.
New and updated tech guides, a free tool worth bookmarking and one useful pick, once a week. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
One email a week. Unsubscribe anytime. See our privacy policy.
Welcome to the Canon EOS 7D, Canon’s new digital SLR that is loaded with professional features at an affordable price.
Hello there, just wandered by. I have a Canon site. Amazing the amount of information on the web. Looking for something else, but interesting page. Have a nice day.
Hello, just stopped by doing some research for my Canondale website. Amazing the amount of information on the web. Wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but nice site. Take care.