More data from Japan shows that, looking back at the last 15 years, smartphones truly obliterated the compact camera market: the ownership rate of a standalone digital camera in Japan has fallen below 50% for the first time in 19 years.
Fujifilm published its financial report from April 2023 to March 2024 and its professional imaging division saw a huge leap in revenue: it earned 172.1 billion yen (about $1.1 billion), which is up 20% year over year, thanks in no small part to the X100 series and the continued growth of Instax.
Camera sales have been on the up for several years now but that was mostly in contrast to how poorly the industry fared during the height of the pandemic. But this time, a research firm in Japan reports that the industry will grow for the first time in over a decade.
According to Canon's 2024 corporate strategy, the Japanese camera behemoth has several goals for the next two years, not the least of which is to "achieve overwhelming number one share in mirrorless camera market."
Unfortunately, most camera equipment is typically very expensive. So, when we find deals, we like to let you know. Right now, we've got a list of discounts worth considering, highlighted by a 25% savings on RODE's excellent Wireless Go II lav mics.
Leica's continued focus on premium and luxury products appears to be working very well as the company has set a new sales record.
Canon has claimed victory again and says it was the number one mirrorless camera brand in the United States in 2023, its third straight year holding the position.
The annual BCN Awards provide a reasonably good indication of what cameras and lenses proved popular in the year past, and the BCN Awards 2024 show that some familiar faces sold a lot of photography equipment last year.
Map Camera, one of the largest photography retailers in Japan, has published its list of the 10 best-selling lenses of 2023 and the results are somewhat surprising.
Instax already constitutes a majority of Fujifilm's imaging business revenue but the company plans to push emphasis on its instant film it even more. It wants to see sales increase to $1.04 billion, or 15% year-over-year growth, by fiscal year's end.
Nikon has released its financial report for the most recent quarter, showing an overall positive growth trend for interchangeable lens digital cameras.
Apple has reported its sales over the last quarter and while iPhone sales are up, it doesn't look like its Mac division is doing nearly as well. Quite the opposite, actually.
Only the Google Pixel was able to gain some more popularity when compared to last year, even doubling its market share. It is the only smartphone manufacturer to move in a positive direction.
Canon's grip on camera sales dominance continues as a new report shows Canon has nearly half of the camera market share all to itself and nearly double the share Sony commands.
Shipments for digital cameras are at their highest point since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and that boom is being largely driven by China, Sony and Nikon say.
Shipments of interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras are breaking records and sales are booming according to Japan's Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA), an upswing that is being directly tied to an uptick in global tourism.
Instax is no doubt a popular product line for Fujifilm, but the company has recently revealed that it is even more valuable than some might realize: it is one of the most important for its entire imaging division and accounts for a majority of sales.
Nikon, which just two years ago floundered well below its contemporaries, is once again making waves. The Z8 has proven incredibly popular and has propelled the company back up the sales charts.
As the digital camera market contracts due to the popularity of smartphones, camera companies are finding that higher profits can still be reached by selling fewer cameras that cost, on average, twice as much as they used to.
Camera manufacturers have long told us that the future was mirrorless and - as if there was any doubt - Canon and Nikon even joined the party as far back as 2018, yet compact cameras and DSLRs have stubbornly refused to die. With 2022 well and truly over, we can now safely say that it was the year of the mirrorless camera and this marks some profound changes across the board for the industry as a whole.
In early February, a story on Yahoo came across our news desk and caught our attention: The 16 Largest Photography Companies in the World. We've recently seen it get some traction in our industry and as such want to explain why we chose not to cover it.
Even Qualcomm, the company that makes the near-ubiquitous Snapdragon brand of smartphone chips, doesn't think many people are going to be buying smartphones -- at least not in the first half of 2023.
Viewbug Gigs is a new service that wants to reward photographers for capturing images of strangers by providing a way to monetize them.
Seeing television ads for cameras and camera products is not nearly as common as it used to be, but that is starting to change as companies realize they need more general consumer support to survive at a time when the market is shrinking.
Even though technology is advancing at an incredibly fast pace, multiple studies show that regardless of the time we spend on our screens, more than 81% of people (at least in the USA) prefer to read or view images on print rather than on a digital screen.
The death of the DSLR was always in the cards - as soon as Nikon and Canon entered the mirrorless fray in 2018 it was not a case of if, but when. However, what was perhaps not expected was the rapidity with which the sales rug would be pulled from beneath DSLR consumers' feet. It's all or nothing when it comes to mirrorless.
James Eagle created a fascinating data visualization that lays bare the dominance of the smartphone market over the camera.
Nikon recently released its annual results which are a key metric in determining how well the manufacturer is doing both in terms of short-term finances as well as implementing its medium-term strategy. The quick takeaway is that it's making more money, but that camera market share is worryingly low. What does this mean for it going forward?
It's the time of year when many corporations announce performance over the last year and Fuji is no different, except all eyes are on recovery from COVID shutdowns and supply chain problems. So how did Fujifilm do? The short answer is very well and, for its Imaging division, film is king.
Market data from The NPD Group has found that the Nikon Z9 was the top-selling professional flagship full-frame mirrorless camera in the first quarter of 2022.