Long-time Sony executive Shigeki Ishizuka recently gave an interview in which he candidly spoke about early developments in the imaging division and how the flip to mirrorless was part of a longer-term plan to unsettle the camera market. Was this really a clever strategy or a re-writing of history to fit the narrative?
The camera market is a bastion of high tech as manufacturers constantly innovate to create market-leading products. Not only that, they appear to invest increasing amounts of money into research and development in order to stay relevant as the smartphone onslaught continues unabated. Or do they?
Earlier this month Olympus revealed some of the thought process behind the 2020 sale of its camera division in which the company jettisoned it in order to pursue greater stability and profitability from its broad portfolio of medical technology. This is in stark contrast to Nikon, which has wiped the slate clean and started again. What is going on with Japanese camera manufacturers and are there any lessons to be learned?
James Eagle created a fascinating data visualization that lays bare the dominance of the smartphone market over the camera.
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!
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?
Canon is preparing for a time when the digital camera market will only ship 10 million units annually, about 8.2% of the number shipped in 2010. With that in mind, the company is slimming down its production, sales, and product lineups going forward.
After Canon shared the development information on the impending 1D X Mark III last year, we called out that its specs not only blow away any previous notions of what a camera with physical moving parts could do but also noted that it's got all the makings of a great mirrorless camera... with a mirror.
In a recent interview with DPReview, Olympus VP of Sales and Marketing Aki Murata laid out the company's market position quite eloquently, explaining why (and how) Olympus intends to compete in a camera market that is increasingly focused on full-frame.
Last year, during a panel discussion at one of the yearly industry conferences, I said that my hope was for DSLRs to soon vanish... I said this not because I haven’t enjoyed the incredible strides made in photo technology during the era of the DSLR -- both as a camera store owner and a recreational photographer -- but because, despite our attachments, we must embrace a mindset of “out with the old and in with the new.”
In a recent interview with Japanese publication Nikkei, Nikon CEO Toshikazu Umatate admitted that imaging profits have fallen to one-sixth of their peak in 2012, but painted a more hopeful picture for the near future.
Nikkei published its 2018 digital camera market trends report yesterday, and the news is grim. While Canon, Fuji and Olympus all saw their global market share increase last year, total sales volume for digital cameras dropped by a whopping 22%.
Sony's goal of becoming the #1 camera brand by 2021 is now one step closer. The company has announced that it has overtaken Nikon in worldwide interchangeable-lens camera revenue, putting it in the #2 spot behind Canon.
Canon and Nikon both published their latest financial reports over the past couple of weeks, and the numbers don't paint a rosy picture for the camera industry. Both companies reported a decline in imaging business sales of around 17% over the previous year.
Sony just announced that it is now #1 in the United States in the full-frame interchangeable lens camera market, overtaking Canon in both units sold and dollars generated in the first half of 2018.
Here's the crazy corner Nikon is in: they can claim a modest 7% increase in operating income for the fiscal year that they just finished, but had far lower net sales and, with restructuring costs, had a significant loss. Nikon predicts that they'll recover to profitability next fiscal year, but with lower sales.
Samsung's rumored shuttering of its camera business looks like it's continuing to play out. After pulling out of the camera market in Germany earlier this month, the company is now saying that it's ditching the UK as well.
People seem to be having a hard time swallowing the idea that Nikon could do well if their upcoming …
A study conducted by market research firm J.D. Power and Associates has found that "Nikon Pro Series" DSLRs rank highest in customer satisfaction. The company surveyed 4,500 verified online DSLR buyers to find out their satisfaction across five factors: image quality, durability, features, ease of use, and responsiveness.
The Nikon Pro Series ranks highest in online buyer satisfaction with a score of 914. The Nikon Pro Series performs particularly well in shutter speed/lag time, durability and reliability and ease of operation. The Canon Mark-Series follows in the rankings with a score of 909, and performs particularly well in performance and picture quality. The Canon D-Series and Nikon D-Series rank third in a tie, each with a score of 889.
Overall, customers were most satisfied with image quality but least satisfied with durability and responsiveness.
Update on 12/18/21: This video has been removed by its creator.
CNBC ran this short segment a couple days ago in which they invited CNET's Dan Ackerman to explain the changing landscape in the digital camera industry. He thinks point-and-shoot cameras may soon become extinct due to the rise of camera-equipped phones, but also that DSLRs are the cameras here to stay.