2019 global camera market share numbers are out, Canon leads the way

sdz

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I have 3 main pure Camera stores in the Vancouver BC area, we also have London Drugs, Best Buy(kinda) 3 our 4 high end video sales/rental places to support the film industry and a couple of smaller players that have been around forever.

I lived in NYC for years. I began my time there by living in the YMCA attached to what became B&H. It's kinda like a hometown store for me. On the other hand, there is something to be said about entering a brick and mortar building to look at the stuff you want to buy. NYC is a long ways off these days.
 
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Nikon make some incredible gear and it’s sad to see them falling behind. The way I see it, Canon and Nikon are pretty similar.. while Sony is different. I’d guess the vast majority of new buyers who don’t want a Sony would go with Canon because of the name and their reputation. So it seems Nikon’s decline is a natural inevitability. Shame.
 
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CanonOregon

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A camera store? Where are there any camera stores anymore? None in Pittsburgh, not really; we have to drive to Ohio. Internet has taken its toll.
True but there are a few around- one in Dallas, Oregon, of all places, doing very well. Really stinks what looters did to Central Camera in Chicago!
 

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Bert63

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Yeah, I probably should have elaborated a bit. I'm not talking about informed consumers or even potential R5 buyers. I was thinking more about the people who decide they want a camera and only have one question: "What's a good camera to buy?" We think the negative buzz around the R5 only affects the R5, but it can affect any potential sale. Somebody who thinks $600 is a lot of money to spend on a camera can be impacted by the negativity even if they would never in a million years buy an R5. And, of course, there are a lot more of those $600 camera buyers than there are those of us who would pay $3,800 (Or in my case are foolish enough to pay $6,400 for a 1Dx).

Foolishness to one person is brilliance to another. It's all a matter of perspective. I try very hard not to criticize another person's buying decisions - I'm not in their shoes.

You're spot on about the "which camera should I buy?" people out there. Reddit will scare the hell out of you in that regard. And the advice given? YIKES! I know a little stuff, and others here are stunning in their knowledge, but damn. Bad advice given and being (apparently) accepted at face value and followed. I mean BAD advice.
 
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Yeah, I probably should have elaborated a bit. I'm not talking about informed consumers or even potential R5 buyers. I was thinking more about the people who decide they want a camera and only have one question: "What's a good camera to buy?" We think the negative buzz around the R5 only affects the R5, but it can affect any potential sale. Somebody who thinks $600 is a lot of money to spend on a camera can be impacted by the negativity even if they would never in a million years buy an R5. And, of course, there are a lot more of those $600 camera buyers than there are those of us who would pay $3,800 (Or in my case are foolish enough to pay $6,400 for a 1Dx).

That's true. I recently talked to a friend who wants to buy a camera. He doesn't know anything about cameras, he just wants something small and easy to use.
When i recommended Canon M, he said Canon is not that good and was told Sony and Nikon are better.

In today's world headline grabbing features are very important. And that's why i hate spec-warriors who recommend a camera to someone because it has "oversampled, crisp 16K video in LOG and 512FPS" and then later you see videos on Youtube taken with the said camera, full of back and forth focus hunting
and half of it is out of focus. But at least it's crisp and detailed and can be graded.
 
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WriteLight

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True but there are a few around- one in Dallas, Oregon, of all places, doing very well. Really stinks what looters did to Central Camera in Chicago!
I hadn't seen that. That makes me really sad. Chicago is my hometown - lived in many different neighborhoods, worked, and went to school there. It's better than that.
 
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PhotoGenerous

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Interesting perspective. I guess I'm just old and more out of touch than I thought.

If I'm looking for a camera, I come to sites like this and maybe POTN and read, read, and read some more.

Then I go to the library (in this case RB Digital) and read every photography magazine I can find with the subject that I'm researching.

Then I'll go to sites like Jan Wegener and Gordon Laing and see what they have to say. In my opinion they are two 'reviewers' that don't buy into the drama and just give their opinion and review.

Then I'll go to the seller's sites and read reviews and see what people are talking about. In many cases just one sentence or two of a review is enough to let me know if the person has a point or is just more ZOMG! Sometimes you can read ten words and you'll know the person has no idea what they're talking about and that their one-star rating is a result of them just not knowing what they're doing.

I do agree with you. People these days often get their 'news' from the wrong places and listen to a friend of a friend of a friend without doing any homework on their own. One trip to Reddit will quickly show you how bad it is. It's sad, but that's where we are.

During the last video game console release, Microsoft revealed their hand first and were going to try to make some major changes (a lot of dealing with trying to curb second hand game sales and getting people to buy more directly) and one of these changes was that the Xbox One would need to "always" (periodically) be connected to the internet to play your games, even games that didn't have an online component.

There was a major backlash, it was reported everywhere and made enough news that people who didn't play heard of the controversy. Sony made their console announcement, and the rumors of them following a similar path were either wrong or Sony changed their mind after seeing how Microsoft was getting slammed and they didn't announce anything like that.

Microsoft read the room, and the console launched without that requirement but the damage was done.

Sony ended up taking the number one spot back from Microsoft for this gaming generation.

Because of the backlash of a feature that was never implemented because Microsoft quickly reversed course.

The announcement was back in 2013, and to this day there are people who will ask if they buy an Xbox One if they need an internet connection to be able to use it.

The internet can be viscous. I'm not saying this will definitely happen with Canon and the overheating issue, but terrible news can be sticky in a way that good news isn't.

(Side note: Microsoft and Sony are on the verge of a new generation of consoles being released this year. And after Sony losing ground to Microsoft on the second generation because they were too cocky, and Microsoft losing ground back to Sony for doing the same thing, this time both of them are being extremely secretive of details, waiting for the other to break the silence first. Particularly with the cost of the devices.)
 
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Bert63

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During the last video game console release, Microsoft revealed their hand first and were going to try to make some major changes (a lot of dealing with trying to curb second hand game sales and getting people to buy more directly) and one of these changes was that the Xbox One would need to "always" (periodically) be connected to the internet to play your games, even games that didn't have an online component.

There was a major backlash, it was reported everywhere and made enough news that people who didn't play heard of the controversy. Sony made their console announcement, and the rumors of them following a similar path were either wrong or Sony changed their mind after seeing how Microsoft was getting slammed and they didn't announce anything like that.

Microsoft read the room, and the console launched without that requirement but the damage was done.

Sony ended up taking the number one spot back from Microsoft for this gaming generation.

Because of the backlash of a feature that was never implemented because Microsoft quickly reversed course.

The announcement was back in 2013, and to this day there are people who will ask if they buy an Xbox One if they need an internet connection to be able to use it.

The internet can be viscous. I'm not saying this will definitely happen with Canon and the overheating issue, but terrible news can be sticky in a way that good news isn't.

(Side note: Microsoft and Sony are on the verge of a new generation of consoles being released this year. And after Sony losing ground to Microsoft on the second generation because they were too cocky, and Microsoft losing ground back to Sony for doing the same thing, this time both of them are being extremely secretive of details, waiting for the other to break the silence first. Particularly with the cost of the devices.)


I get your point.

This will probably come out wrong, but it seems to me that despite the education level of the US population rising over the last 20 years, people seem to be getting dumber every day. Heck, every minute.
 
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brad-man

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I get your point.

This will probably come out wrong, but it seems to me that despite the education level of the US population rising over the last 20 years, people seem to be getting dumber every day. Heck, every minute.
One only needs to look at our political situation to know how true that is...
 
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Looks like the writing is on the wall for Nikon. Hopefully, they can continue as a niche player.
I was happy when they release their Z6 & Z7. But when they announced the useless 0.95 lens, I realized they have no one who's skilled in business & marketing. I saw by then the writings on the wall.
 
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Pierre Lagarde

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...

On the other hand, I know two people who wanted to go for a better camera than their smartphone and ended up with Rebels (800D and 200D). They weren't influenced by me, so Canon's definitely still appealing to a lot of people. Obviously, the market share numbers are far better proof of this than anecdotes :LOL:

....
Indeed.
That and the fact EOS M50 did so well these last months. It has replaced many Canon DSLRs over the world and is a success in the vlogging area too.
 
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Interesting article. I think there’s a lot of truth in the saying “you date your camera and you marry your lenses.” Dumping all your glass and starting over in a new system is an expensive procedure. I certainly don’t believe that Nikon and Sony users are jumping ship.

I’m not sure what conclusions can be reached from those numbers. Maybe just that Canon users had more incentive to buy new glass with the R system and that Nikon didn’t have as many compelling new products to drive sales. Canon will probably gain again in 2020 with the R5. After that?

That drop in total market is really bad. Less total sales will mean fewer innovative new products and higher prices for the ones that do reach the marketplace.
 
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This year and probably next should be a significant bump up in Canon camera body and lens sales given the R5 and R6 introductions and the new lens mount. Also the promise of new M models to come. Sony will likely hold their own given their rapid pace of new models and state of the art sensors. But Nikon has been kind of meh since D850. Nikon can still produce great cameras if Sony will sell them their latest and best sensors. Doubtful in my mind that Nikon can ever catch up to Canon in lens quality and diversity.
 
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This year and probably next should be a significant bump up in Canon camera body and lens sales given the R5 and R6 introductions and the new lens mount. Also the promise of new M models to come. Sony will likely hold their own given their rapid pace of new models and state of the art sensors. But Nikon has been kind of meh since D850. Nikon can still produce great cameras if Sony will sell them their latest and best sensors. Doubtful in my mind that Nikon can ever catch up to Canon in lens quality and diversity.


Some new M lenses would also be good for sales. A decent standard zoom, like 15-60 F4 and a high quality 70-300 type of lens would do certainly good for the system.
 
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