Canon Cuts Full-Year Forecast as Camera Users Switch to Phones

[Lawliet]

What makes you think there's not an upgrade path?   

Just asking for more money doesn't make it an actual upgrade. Out of the box its a sidegrade, and for quite a few people even a downgrade once you figure ML in. Which makes not exactly the strongst motivation to transfer that cash to Canon.

[9VIII]

It might be good to remember the scale of things here. Canon is an order of magnitude bigger than their nearest competitor. Cut the company in half and they would still be the market leader by a wide margin.
Given that the competition is still pumping out a lot of fantastic products, I'm pretty sure that small adjustments to Canons forecast have practically zero affect on the cameras we buy.

[neuroanatomist]

What makes you think there's not an upgrade path?   

Just asking for more money doesn't make it an actual upgrade. Out of the box its a sidegrade, and for quite a few people even a downgrade once you figure ML in. Which makes not exactly the strongst motivation to transfer that cash to Canon.

LOL.  Thanks for giving me a chuckle to brighten my day. 

[Lee Jay]

What makes you think there's not an upgrade path?   

I'd consider the 1Dx a downgrade from just about every camera Canon makes, primarily because the portrait grip isn't removable, and I don't need or want it.  It's why I've never seriously considered any 1-series camera, nor will I in the future until and unless they go back to the 1V-style removable grip.

[J.R.]

What makes you think there's not an upgrade path?   

I'd consider the 1Dx a downgrade from just about every camera Canon makes, primarily because the portrait grip isn't removable, and I don't need or want it.  It's why I've never seriously considered any 1-series camera, nor will I in the future until and unless they go back to the 1V-style removable grip.

Strange ... That has to be the first ever comment I've seen of someone complaining about the inbuilt grip on a 1 series body but I guess it is a personal preference.

BTW, both my 5D3 and the 6D are gripped. Never taken the grip off them

[J.R.]

Strangely enough, Canon doesn't change it's forecast for the compact sales it expects. It has cut its forecast only for the interchangeable lens cameras. Doesn't reconcile with the title of the Bloomberg article at all 

[neuroanatomist]

Strangely enough, Canon doesn't change it's forecast for the compact sales it expects. It has cut its forecast only for the interchangeable lens cameras. Doesn't reconcile with the title of the Bloomberg article at all 

Sure it does.  Megapixels are what matters.  Everyone is ditching their 18-36 MP dSLRs for the 41 MP Nokia phone.   

[J.R.]

Strangely enough, Canon doesn't change it's forecast for the compact sales it expects. It has cut its forecast only for the interchangeable lens cameras. Doesn't reconcile with the title of the Bloomberg article at all 

Sure it does.  Megapixels are what matters.  Everyone is ditching their 18-36 MP dSLRs for the 41 MP Nokia phone.   

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

Strangely enough, Canon doesn't change it's forecast for the compact sales it expects. It has cut its forecast only for the interchangeable lens cameras. Doesn't reconcile with the title of the Bloomberg article at all 

+1

The same article had rather different titles on other forums.

[LetTheRightLensIn]

Time to innovate further.

Yes, time to wake up from the Q&A they gave over half a decade ago in Europe where they kept going on about how they were the kings and had no need to push forward or do anything since they were the kings and nobody would be close to them for at a decade or two for FF, etc. etc.

And sit back and milk old sensor lines and play marketing games with silly little things like MFA and AutoISO and smearing native 5D3 video is mostly what they did (although they did give the 5D3 amazing video HW even if took ML to make that apparent and did drop 1 series AF into the 5 series).

[dadgummit]

What makes you think there's not an upgrade path?   

I'd consider the 1Dx a downgrade from just about every camera Canon makes, primarily because the portrait grip isn't removable, and I don't need or want it.  It's why I've never seriously considered any 1-series camera, nor will I in the future until and unless they go back to the 1V-style removable grip.

Strange ... That has to be the first ever comment I've seen of someone complaining about the inbuilt grip on a 1 series body but I guess it is a personal preference.

BTW, both my 5D3 and the 6D are gripped. Never taken the grip off them

I am in the same boat.  I just don't want the huge camera body, too heavy and akward.  I feel the 5d3's battery lasts a long time and it really only takes like 5 seconds to change it when it gets low.  I would much rather have an extra battery in my pocket than a large hunk of magneseum hanging off the bottom of my camera just to double the battery capacity. 

[Chuck Alaimo]

Lagging behind the opposition in the mega pixel stakes can't help either

Last i checked, it's lesser quality, lesser mp's that are winning here - cell phones are the thing eating into sales, not nikons new bodies.  It's the convenience factor - convenience and accessibility.  No one that's thinking, should I get a powershot or just use my iphone is thinking, but there's that d800...lol

[Chuck Alaimo]

Not releasing anything interesting except the 70D could have something to do with it.

Yep. When your competitors are experimenting with new models and new lines, and all you're doing is giving minor updates to your existing stuff, you lose market share. Ask Apple.

Did you not read what neuroanatomist said above?  Canon's competitors, who supposedly have superiorproducts, are having a worse time of it!

love how people pretty much read the title here and filled in the blank with what seems obvious to THEM ---it must be the D800...  but both canon and nikon are getting their buts kicked by cell phones.

So if you want innovation, it's time for canon and nikon to cut their P&S offerings and start making at least parts for cell phone, if not their own cell phone.  Either of them could design and manufacture sensors and little lenses for cell phones, so that would probably be the smarter path rather than trying to pry peoples galaxies and iphones from their hands. 

[Chuck Alaimo]

Not releasing anything interesting except the 70D could have something to do with it.

Yep. When your competitors are experimenting with new models and new lines, and all you're doing is giving minor updates to your existing stuff, you lose market share. Ask Apple.

Did you not read what neuroanatomist said above?  Canon's competitors, who supposedly have superiorproducts, are having a worse time of it!

Where does he say that?

food for thought --- http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/08/us-nikon-earnings-idUSBRE9770EH20130808

[unfocused]

I just want to bang my head against the wall and scream when I read comments following stories like this. It's as if only Neuro, Chuck and a handful of others actually read the stories.

Photonius had a decent analysis but then pulled a conclusion out of thin air that I'm still scratching my head over.

So, the only way to get a lot of people to buy new cameras is with a substantial innovation in sensor technology.

Was that intended as sarcasm or a joke?

Something not discussed here, but having a big effect: Canon's strategy for the past several years has relied on the emerging Chinese market for much of their growth. Recent changes to the government monetary policies were cited in an earlier Canon earnings report as having a major negative impact on that market.

As Photonius did point out, DSLRs are now a mature market. There is not going to be the growth in that market that there was in the first decade of the century. It's clear Canon understands that and has taken steps to manage that leveling off (with their major push into video at all levels and with their latest emphasis on security -- which is where the growth will be for the next decade or so).

That slowdown was surely not unexpected by Canon. However, they were most likely hit by external factors beyond their control and not generally predicted – the U.S. and European economies have not rebounded as well as expected and the Chinese market is under performing.

On the upside, if you take a look at Canon's reports from two years ago or so, you'll see that the office products division was being hammered by the worldwide recession and the imaging division (cameras) was subsidizing the losses in office products. This new report indicates that the office products division has recovered and can once again make a significant contribution to the company's bottom line. That's good news for Canon and good new for photographers.