The news of falling camera shipments is like the dripping of a faucet. It comes with a regular, steady, beat, and just when you think it has stopped... plink, there it goes again! So perhaps it's no surprise that CIPA -- the trade body for manufacturers -- has a downbeat forecast for 2022, but strangely seems to have missed the good news!
Is this photo worth $10 million? Prince Andrew thinks so, or at least reports indicate that his out-of-court settlement with Virginia Giuffre will cost somewhere north of $10 million. The figure makes this image perhaps the most costly single photo in the world.
Sony announced last week that it was the number one mirrorless brand holding the highest market share for eight years straight. Canon then followed this up by claiming that it was the number one digital camera company, also leading on mirrorless market share. In a game of smoke and mirrors--something Sherlock Holmes would be proud of--who is telling the truth?
Cameras are expensive, and Canon is no stranger to hiking its prices when it sees fit -- the EOS 1D X Mark III flagship DSLR costs a fairly sizeable $6,500. But has it always been this way?
It's the dawn of a new era for OM Digital Solutions (OMDS) -- Olympus as was -- as it forges a new beginning, with a new camera, bearing the new name, and the last to be emblazoned with the Olympus logo. Is this the start of a golden age for Micro Four Thirds (MFT) or simply the beginning of the end for both OMDS and MFT?
It's no secret that Nikon has been having a tough time financially -- a result of an over-reliance on its Imaging Division -- and has been implementing a medium-term strategy to help balance the books and foster long-term growth. Results from its Imaging Division suggest it is struggling and possibly caught in a perfect storm.
With 2021 well and truly over, those manufacturers that align their finances to the calendar year are now producing their financial reports. Canon's latest figures reveal strong and sustained performance, even during the pandemic, which is a result of its shift to mirrorless camera manufacture and facilitating the beginning of a new market dominance.
The BCN Awards are a stalwart in the annual calendar as they recognize sales achievements for (among others products) camera manufacturers. While they only account for the Japanese market, they provide a marker for how well manufacturers are doing. So what are the big takeaways this year?
Another month, another camera factory shutters its production. This time it's Canon with its remaining plant in China, and it can now be confirmed that it has gone further and will be closing -- ceasing all manufacturing and shutting the factory.
Ricoh seemingly made the significant announcement that it would cease the mass production of digital cameras (which includes the Pentax brand), shifting instead to a direct-to-market model. For now, it only affects its business in Japan, although the ramifications could affect its business more widely. What does this mean for Ricoh (and Pentax) and their future?
Camera resolution in the early 2000s was a space race to the biggest and best. Nikon ushered in the beginning of the end -- with the release of the 36-megapixel era-defining D800 -- to what became the resolution doldrums.
With an implosion of shipments caused by COVID in 2020, the expectation was that 2021 would see a rebound... until COVID hit again. So how have camera manufacturers fared in what has become another traumatic business year?
Manufacturing silicon is patently not required in order to make cameras -- anyone can put together a pinhole model -- however, the wider point is more pertinent. To be a competitive, global, manufacturer, do you need to make the sensors that actually go into camera bodies?
It goes without saying that anything that is valuable is eminently stealable. If there's a market for consumer goods, then there's a market for stolen consumer goods.
Nikon unveiled the Z9 back in October to a world desperate for updates about their new top shelf model after months of teasers. This was eagerly awaited, not least to see how it compared to Sony's blockbuster Alpha 1 and because it beat Canon to the proverbial flagship punch.
Nikon has been rightly praised for the top end specifications of the recently announced Z9. It has taken the mirrorless space race to the next level, regaining lost ground to sit at the genetic top of the proverbial camera tree. While $5,500 is clearly a lot of money, is the Z9 the cheapest pro-spec camera the company has released?
Remember those halcyon film days? You mailed off that little black cartridge in an envelope and then about a week later negatives and prints were magically returned. With the rise of digital, the inkjet printer promised instant gratification at low per print prices. What could possibly go wrong?
Remember those heady days of 2010? The release of the iPhone 4 and iPad, the New Orleans Saints won Superbowl XLIV, Iron Man 2 hit the cinemas, Eminem released Recovery, and Biden was Vice-President. It was also the year when camera shipments peaked at over 120 million units. How did the industry become the bit-part player it now is, shifting 9 million units just ten short years later?
Nikon recently announced that it is collaborating with Nissin and Profoto on speedlights and studio lights. Is this an admission of the not-so-secret reality that lighting products are actually quite cheap?
A newly discovered vulnerability in the 4.x Bluetooth wireless standard has been shown to affect cameras that implement full remote control functionality. Demonstrated as viable in proof-of-concept laboratory testing, researchers believe that the exploit has the potential to either physically damage cameras or render them inoperable.