Sony has released an official "statement regarding the impact of the spread of the novel coronavirus," in which the company details exactly how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted each of their businesses. As expected, the news is pretty negative across the board.
Early this morning, Sony announced that it would be spinning off its entire "Electronics Products & Solutions" (EP&S) segment—including its imaging and mobile businesses—into an intermediate holding company called "Sony Electronics Corporation."
Activist investor Daniel Loeb is reportedly using the current low stock prices to build a bigger stake in Sony and "push for changes," including spinning off the brand's image sensor business into a separate entity called Sony Technologies.
Less than 24 hours after Nikon USA announced the temporary closure of all repair service in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Canon USA has (mostly) followed suit by shutting down its service centers in New Jersey, California, Illinois and Hawaii "until further notice."
Canon USA has jumped into the battle against the novel coronavirus, announcing that the company's medical division (Canon Medical Systems Corporation) has started "development of a rapid genetic testing system for the novel coronavirus."
Fujifilm's stock soared on Tuesday after Chinese health officials declared that an antiviral drug the company developed in 2014 is safe and "clearly effective" in fighting COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
After announcing that the publication would be closing down last October, photo industry mainstay Imaging Resource revealed today that they have been acquired by Madavor Media: the publisher of Outdoor Photographer, Digital Photo Pro, Digital Photo Magazine, and others.
The Australian Associated Press (AAP) has announced that it will be closing down in June, marking the end of the 85-year-old news agency and leaving many award-winning photojournalists out of a job as the Australian editorial landscape adjusts to the loss.
According to a multiple reports out of Japan, Canon has announced that it will be temporarily closing five of its factories due to supply shortages caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. The shutdown is scheduled to last approximately two weeks.
Despite MWC, then CP+, and now other major expos like them being cancelled due to fears about the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus, the organizers of Photokina 2020 have announced that "there is no reason to cancel at this stage" and that the show will go on as planned.
Formerly disgraced, purchased, and reborn optics company Meyer Optik Görlitz is planning to officially re-enter the world of photography at Photokina 2020 in May, and it'll be bringing six redesigned lenses along for the ride.
The 12-year-old Micro Four Thirds standard just got a nice third-party boost today. In a joint release, Olympus and Panasonic announced that three new companies were officially joining the group: Yongnuo, Venus Optics, and a B2B company called Mediaedge.
16 years after founding the New York-based stock photo giant Shutterstock, CEO Jon Oringer has announced that he will be stepping down in April. Oringer announced the news in an open letter published this morning, just as Shutterstock unveiled a so-so financial report for Q4 of 2019.
Sigma has played a big part in making high-quality glass more accessible with its exceptional ART series lenses, and it sounds like it has no intention to stop. In a recent "Ask the CEO" video from Sigma UK, Mr. Kazuto Yamaki revealed several interesting tidbits about the company's plans moving forward.
Fujifilm Japan has issued a "Notice of discontinuation of some photographic film products," which states that the company will no longer sell 3-packs of Fujicolor 100 and Superia Premium 400 film as of March 2020, "due to a long-term decline in demand."
Sony is warning investors that the Coronavirus outbreak in China could have a major impact on its image sensor business, saying that production of both image sensor and electronics "could be affected enormously" if the virus continues to progress.
CIPA—the Camera & Imaging Products Association—has released their December 2019 sales breakdown, rounding out a devastating decade for the camera industry with the worst overall year for camera sales yet. But while there's plenty of doom and gloom to go around, there's reason to be optimistic, too.
Last week, Emerald Expositions, the owner of Photo District News (PDN), announced that PDN would no longer publish new content online or in print. The magazine had been a staple of the professional photography industry, particularly for advertising and commercial photography.
Kodak has inked a new deal with five of the six major movie studios, re-upping an initial agreement made in 2015 and ensuring that we won't see celluloid completely replaced by digital in Hollywood any time soon.
Photo District News (PDN), a 40-year-old photo publication and staple of the industry, is shutting down. The magazine's owner Emerald Expositions has confirmed that they will be shuttering both the print and digital sides of PDN in order to focus more of their efforts on PhotoPlus, WPPI, and Rangefinder.
A new patent uncovered by the folks over at Canon News reveals that Canon hasn't given up on improving EF-mount lenses, especially those that appeal to high-end sports and wildlife photographers.
DynaLite Inc.—a trusted professional lighting brand that has been around for over 50 years—has shut down. In a statement posted to the company's website, CEO Peter Poremba announced that the company "has filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy and has closed it doors."
Flickr just sent an email to all of its members announcing that—as mentioned in CEO Don MacAskill's recent open letter—the price of Flickr Pro is officially going up. The price hike will help Flickr's parent company SmugMug keep the photo sharing platform alive as they continue to improve the service and (hopefully) add more paying members.
Sony semiconductor simply can't keep up with the soaring demand for its mobile image sensors. In a recent interview, head of Sony's semiconductor unit Terushi Shimizu revealed that the company is struggling to keep up, despite running its factories 24 hours per day over the holidays for the second year running.
Last week, Fuji Rumors reported that Fujifilm would not be attending Photokina 2020, but the report cited no official sources and neither Photokina nor Fujifilm had made any such announcement. Over the past week, PetaPixel was able to confirm this information with official sources from both Photokina and Fujifilm.
Photokina is keen to remind you that (1) it is still the industry's "leading trade fair," and (2) trade fairs are still relevant, even if Nikon, Leica, and Olympus dropped out of Photokina 2020. In a press release published last night, the show quotes Canon, Sony and Panasonic executives as they "confirmed their commitment" to the 2020 expo during conversations with Photokina organizers in Tokyo.
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.
After a Nikkei report (and, later, an official press release) revealed that Panasonic would officially be selling off its semiconductor business, many people wondered what would happen to the joint venture with TowerJazz that constituted Panasonic's image sensor business. Now we know.
The back and forth between Olympus and the public continues, and the news is grim. After officially denying rumors of an imminent imaging business shut down, Olympus' CEO backtracked on some previous comments today, implying that the company's camera business may be up for sale.
A few days after online speculation sent the Micro Four Thirds world into a panic, Olympus has come out to officially deny rumors that it's planning to shut down and/or sell its camera business within the next year... or ever.
Getty Images has announced that it will be transitioning all of its creative stock photography offerings to a Royalty Free licensing model and ditching Rights Managed licensing entirely—a move that will be more convenient for customers, but worse for photographers.
Last night, in a short post titled "Everything Changes" on the Red Hydrogen Forums, 70-year-old RED founder Jim Jannard shocked the RED community by announcing both his retirement and the end of the Hydrogen smartphone project.
It's a sad day for the photo industry. Imaging Resource, one of the most respected and uncompromising camera review websites in the world, is shutting down. The news became official earlier today when founder Dave Etchells sent an email to some of his friends and colleagues in the industry.
Photokina is still the world's leading imaging expo, but changes to its structure and a struggling industry may be pushing participants away. In a press release published to the expo's website, the trade show's organizer Koelnmesse revealed that Nikon, Leica and Olympus have all chosen to skip Photokina 2020.
PhotoPlus 2019 is only a month and a half away, meaning the exhibitor list and floor plan should be all-but-finalized. Which is why it was shocking to discover that there is no Sony booth on the floor plan, and the company is not listed as an exhibitor either. However, Sony tells PetaPixel that they WILL be at the show.
Sigma has officially announced its intention to stop producing lenses for the Pentax K-mount. Due to the dwindling number of Pentax users, says Sigma, the brand will shift focus and resources towards developing lenses for mirrorless cameras.
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.
This is going to be the strangest (and most controversial) piece of photo industry news you'll read today. According to a report published by the reputable Japanese magazine Sentaku, the Japanese government is trying to convince Fuji to 'help' Nikon by buying a stake in the troubled camera company.
Photokina—the world's leading trade show on photography, videography, and imaging—is making some big changes. Starting in 2018, the show will begin to happen every year (currently, Photokina happens every other year); it also plans to 'reposition' itself to cover a broader range of products.
Instagram isn't just growing, it's growing faster than ever. Earlier today, the photo sharing giant announced that it has added 100 million new users in the last four months alone, bringing the total Instagram user count to a whopping 700M.