Younger Generation Fuels Growth in Compact Camera Sales, are Camera Makers Paying Attention?

[Richard-CN]

A few times reading through CIPA data and also discussing BCN data I’ve noted to you all that Japan is doing weird things with the camera market as there is a major resurgence in compact and smaller cameras. There has been a lot of chatter on the internet about this, and for the moment this

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[illadvisedhammer]

They could bring back EF-M but with 'Adapt-all' lenses that could switch between -M and RF-S mounts. hmm, hmm?

 

[blackcoffee17]

Yeah, first gen G7X cameras are going for almost $1000 in places like MPB. Crazy.

 

[Glenn01]

My first digital camera was a Canon A75, then upgrade to an A570IS. Wish I still had either of them! I did go the circular route through Nikon and back to Canon with an R7.

 

[Canon Rumors]

They could bring back EF-M but with 'Adapt-all' lenses that could switch between -M and RF-S mounts. hmm, hmm?

You'd need a mount that could move or be replaced.

 

[EOS 4 Life]

You'd need a mount that could move or be replaced.

Lenses with swappable mounts are not new but I do not think there is one with autofocus.
I do think that is doable.

 

[EOS 4 Life]

Canon currently leads the compact camera market in Japan.

 

[blackcoffee17]

They could bring back EF-M but with 'Adapt-all' lenses that could switch between -M and RF-S mounts. hmm, hmm?

I don't think Canon will bother with something complex like that. They can't even add a metal mount to RF-S lenses.

 

[Canon Rumors]

Lenses with swappable mounts are not new but I do not think there is one with autofocus.
I do think that is doable.

I just don't see a business case for it, they have washed their hands of EF-M and will have to continue losing money on it through service commitments.

I don't think Canon will bother with something complex like that. They can't even add a metal mount to RF-S lenses.

Well, there's no evidence that modern plastic mounts are any less durable than metal mounts. It helps to reduce cost of the lens. For the pro lenses, the metal mount is more for perceptions than actually being better.

 

[Canon Rumors]

Canon currently leads the compact camera market in Japan.

Yep, they still have a few. Unfortunately Canon killed their PowerShot team years ago. Now it appears to be interns doing Kickstarters with weird things.

I don't think this surge in compact camera interest is going to be a fad. The film resurgence certainly hasn't been. We're seeing analog only camera stores opening all over the world.

 

[Sporgon]

We humans are analogue beings really, once the tech removes us further and further from the process, satisfaction falls away. I think cameras losing shutters will be the next step that pushes many into looking for ways to relight the pleasures of the actual photographic process.
Regarding compacts, I recently gave my original G1X to a friend who took it on holiday to the States; I’d left the camera in very flat neutral picture style, and he was shooting jpeg, but the flatness allowed me to edit his pictures satisfactorily and print them out at A3, and they are really very good, some beautiful shots of Bryce Canyon. I can produce images with my G1Xiii that are virtually indistinguishable from my FF gear. The facts are that (relatively) modern compacts can make very high quality images without the necessity of larger, more diverse systems.

 

[Daniel Lindblom]

Please bring me a Powershot G1X Mark IV .

 

[koenkooi]

I just don't see a business case for it, they have washed their hands of EF-M and will have to continue losing money on it through service commitments.



Well, there's no evidence that modern plastic mounts are any less durable than metal mounts. It helps to reduce cost of the lens. For the pro lenses, the metal mount is more for perceptions than actually being better.

The lensrental teardowns would always gleefully highlight when metal mounts were screwed into weak plastic parts internally.

 

[LDS]

IMHO to appeal to phone users a simple, small and light camera is needed - which brings towards the rangefinder form factor and user experience. For most users I guess the lens can be fixed as well, as long as it is a decent zoom. But again I can't see these people bringing around bulky lenses even if they can change it, so once again mirrorless designs should be used to create small and light lenses like the rangefinders of yore.

Phone makers discuss cameras a lot because any other feature today as very little improvements margin, given the form factor and user interface needs. But again small sensors and lenses can't improve too much, despite all the processing that could be applied - processing that tends to make all images alike, and might in the long run move users to something allowing more personals results.

 

[blackcoffee17]

I just don't see a business case for it, they have washed their hands of EF-M and will have to continue losing money on it through service commitments.



Well, there's no evidence that modern plastic mounts are any less durable than metal mounts. It helps to reduce cost of the lens. For the pro lenses, the metal mount is more for perceptions than actually being better.

I've seen a couple of broken plastic mounts from Nikon and Canon. And just doesn't inspire confidence or quality.

 

[John Wilde]

They won't do it, but as an alternative to the Ricoh GR Canon could just permanently attach a fixed lens to an M200 type body.

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[dirtyvu]

I had to wait months to buy a G7X III because my girlfriend wanted one. Every store that actually had one or any Ebay place wanted $1500 for it! I kept checking so many sites over and the instant B&H showed it in stock, I ordered it. Less than an hour later (could've been earlier, I just didn't check that often), it was showing as out of stock. And it showed up and she was so happy.

 

[mpphoto]

My co-worker (26, female) wanted a camera to bring with her to a Taylor Swift concert this fall. She wanted something better than her cellphone, but being a concert, a superzoom or interchangeable lens camera was not an option. She ended up getting some model of Canon PowerShot ELPH. When I was helping her look for a small point & shoot, I was surprised by the lack of choices and how expensive those choices were. Back in the day, there were plenty of Canon PowerShot A-series models for around $200.

A few weeks ago I photographed a community college cross country meet. I noticed a member of the winning women's team using a point & shoot instead of a cellphone to take photos of her teammates after the meet. I got closer to check out the camera and it appeared to be a generic/no-name camera you might find on Amazon.

My experience is totally anecdotal, but there appears to be some level of demand for small point & shoots. Maybe not much, but it is there.

 

[David - Sydney]

Talking about trends starting from Japan…. The first production phones with cameras started there and has continued to popular

I had a few Ixus over a number of years from aps film to digital, a brief detour to Sony rx100 and then 7D/24-105mm

Not sure how much new r&d would be needed. They could reuse a previous G body and put some new stuff in it…. Simple!

 

[Askeladden]

I for one am thankful for their total disconnect from seeing what is hot because I have made a nice profit and financed my GAS because of this trend.
Going back a few years nobody wanted these compact digicams. I had a Lumix LX7 listed for half of its current going rate for probably close to 2 years before it sold, just to put things into context. Right now everything compact is on back-order and used cameras sell easily for retail and above.
It has been really interesting to observe this phenomenon in real time and I have my theories as to why it happened. Most of the buyers of these cameras are younger Gen-z so obviously social media has played a role, but also never having handled a real camera plays into it because they have grown up with the look and feel of mobile phone cameras so this represents something completely different for them. Quite the irony considering that mobile phone cameras is what made them discontinue them in the first place, but that I feel also has to do with demographics. Millennials and older who were the main users of that product segment decided that mobile phones were adequate and now Gen-Z has started making money on their own and they have decided that they are not adequate. The last IXUS was made in 2017 while the ones with the best specifications goes back even further so we are talking about a huge generational shift here.. 8 plus years since the last flagship.

I have noticed a slowdown now as winter has set in and available light is diminishing though so I wonder if the trend will continue next year. If any of the large camera manufacturers have something in the pipeline marketed towards said demographic for next year I am sure it will be over and these things will again be considered e-waste.
I can only imagine how much money Canon could have made if they still made IXUS cameras and marketed them heavily towards younger people, making limited edition color runs, artist collaborations, updated the cameras in terms of connectivity towards social med etc. It isn't like they demand more advanced technology either, just a bit of tweaking for ease of use for sharing photos online and they are already there.
Yeah it is really strange how in this ultra-capitalistic society this has somehow been overlooked.