UK sales of premium compacts shot up 24% in value from January-March 2015, compared to the same period last year. Unit sales grew 9.1%.

Demand for compact cameras with 20x zooms and above shot up 7.5% and 11.1% in value and volume terms respectively.

For the month of March alone, unit sales of superzoom compacts increased 16.8%.

The growth came as overall demand for digital cameras fell 16.8% from January-March, compared to the same quarter in 2014.

SLR camera sales dropped 8.5% – representing an 18.7% fall in revenue, according to GfK.

Compact system camera fared slightly better, with sales dropping 7.6% and 5.2% in volume and value.

The total value of the UK photographic market fell 8.1% in March, compared to the same month last year.

However, the GfK figures show that the rate of decline is slowing. The UK photo market fell by 11.3% in March 2014 compared to March 2013.