YouTuber David Dobrik's app Dispo mimics the experience of using a classic disposable camera and is generating considerable buzz recently despite being over a year old. Thanks to the success of an international test, Dispo reportedly acquired $20 million in Series A funding at a $200 million valuation.
Doom-and-gloom stories of the state of the camera market have been pretty common over the past year due to COVID-19. But what if the data used to determine the health of the industry was flawed?
The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc across the economy, and one niche hit particularly hard has been the world of museums, which has seen ticket sales plummet due to lockdowns and people staying away from indoor spaces. Now the largest art museum in the US is facing a massive budget shortfall, and it's looking into selling art to pay bills.
Since the completed transfer of Olympus's imaging division to Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), the company has not announced or even hinted at any concrete examples of new products. But the company has continued to put significant press efforts behind promising that it will... eventually.
Fior Markets, a self-described futuristic market intelligence company, is predicting a massive boom in underwater cameras. In its forecast, it's anticipating the market to reach a value of $15.3 billion by 2027.
In an interview with Asahi, the CTO of the newly-created OM Digital Solutions answered several questions about the company, its products, and its future. In it, why the imaging division was sold off, how long the company intends to keep the Olympus brand, and other details were revealed.
MapCamera, one of Japan's leading camera retailers, has published its top 10 sales for new and used digital cameras in December of 2020. The top slot for new cameras was claimed by Canon for its R5, while Nikon's Z7 II entered the ranking at number two. The Fujifilm X-S10 was third.
After 70 years of holding its leading photographic trade show in Cologne, Germany, Photokina may be no more. The world's largest photo trade fair has announced that due to a "massive decline in markets for imaging products," it will be discontinued indefinitely.
On the 14th of October, Nikon is set to announce its latest cameras. These are due to be updates to the Z 7 and Z 6 mirrorless cameras. There are a lot of expectations, but the biggest expected update for these cameras is... the second card slot.
There are some new numbers out that give us an idea of how the top brands in the camera industry did in 2019 in terms of DSLR and mirrorless camera shipments. Canon was still the market leader by far, Sony dominated mirrorless cameras, and Nikon was still trying to find traction with its Z series.
Some speculate that overall fake news could cost the economy $39 billion a year. Quite a market to grab for a savvy tech startup, even at 1%! But while fake news and in particular deep fakes have been accused of wreaking havoc on minds and economy, there is surprisingly only a minimal amount of companies offering tools to combat them.
A new op-ed published by the Deputy Editor of the Nikkei Asian Review in Japan is making waves in the industry today. The article strikes an ominous tone, foreshadowing difficult times ahead for the camera giants and blaming "excessive competition" for their financial woes.
As the majority of camera manufacturers move away from the SLR type cameras and start producing mirrorless systems, one company continues to hold on to the past. Pentax has now in multiple statements confirmed that it will not be producing a mirrorless camera and will continue to develop SLR cameras.
When a few days past, the news circulated that Kodak Alaris had sold its paper division to Hong Kong-based Chinese company Sino Promise, reactions were mixed and ranged from disinterest over protectionist outrage to the fear that analog photography would finally meet its demise.
When Sony first started producing full-frame mirrorless cameras, the leading manufacturers at the time pretty much sneered at it. Ricoh, for example, still seemingly believes that DSLRs are due to make a comeback and that mirrorless cameras are just a fad. With how the industry has been progressing, it’s clear that mirrorless is the future and Canon is probably the company to rule.
The Kodak paper and photochemical business is reportedly being sold to a Chinese company.
The photography industry has been shrinking and the COVID-19 pandemic has not made things any better. This smaller market is being shared by the same number of companies, which could mean some huge changes for the industry. As formats go, Micro Four Thirds isn’t looking strong through this time.
After a year of rumors, denials, and backtracking, it's finally official: Olympus is exiting the camera business after an 84-year run as one of the world's most recognizable brands in the industry.
For those who are anywhere near the microstock photography industry, you may have noticed that there is a lot of shouting going on at the moment about the latest release from Shutterstock.
Olympus has announced that it is exiting the camera business in South Korea due to plummeting sales.
As a photographer, I am bombarded by people's experiences of how they have been affected by the outbreak of COVID-19. It doesn’t seem to matter where I look it’s everywhere. My Facebook feed is full of questions being asked by a host of photographers, along with the usual questions about what to do when you have lost your ‘Mo-Jo’.
Canon released its Q1 financial report earlier today, and while the impact of COVID-19 has been felt across all of its various businesses, the Imaging Business experienced the most brutal declines. Worse yet, Canon predicts that Q2 will be even more painful.
Gear rentals house Lensrentals recently conducted a survey of over 1,000 photographers and videographers to see how the coronavirus pandemic has affected their businesses. The results show just how hard some photographers have been hit.
GoPro is getting slammed by the business headwinds created by the coronavirus pandemic, and the company announced yesterday that it will be laying off 20% of its remaining workforce. What's more, the company is planning to drop retailers and work to sell its products directly to consumers.
In a recent interview with Photorend, the Director of Imaging at Panasonic, Yosuke Yamane, revealed some of the company's plans moving forward. Highlights include a teaser for a more affordable L-mount camera, reiterating the brand's commitment to Micro 4/3, and much more.
Amid countless updates about major industry events being cancelled (or not cancelled), gear being delayed, and factories being temporarily shut down—to say nothing of the day-to-day realities of dealing with a pandemic that have nothing to do with photography—it’s easy to overlook the long-term impact that this virus will have on our industry... has already had on our industry.
I think it’s fair to say there’s growing anxiety that is accompanying the current coronavirus outbreak, and with seemingly more bad news on the hour, we really don’t know when this thing might bottom out. So if your business is in the photography workshop space like my company PhotoEducate is, you take notice.
Trailblazers of Light is a website that recognizes the pioneering women who made a mark in the field of photojournalism during the days of film photography.
The particularity of the photo industry is its death wish. At its core, everything and everyone in this industry seems hell-bent into destroying itself and, along with it, the whole industry.
Sony has reportedly canceled features that were set to be released in an upcoming mirrorless camera due to a scarcity of parts that its other businesses are competing for.