CANON FACTORY SHUTDOWN

[bergstrom]

This is not good. There's obviously another factory where stuff is produced?

Canon shuts down factory in China citing 'unprecedented difficulties'

Canon shuts down factory in China citing 'unprecedented difficulties'

www.diyphotography.net

 

[Sporgon]

Yes, as if the flagship dslrs were made in China

 

[YuengLinger]

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON.

 

[unfocused]

Yes, as if the flagship dslrs were made in China

If the article is correct, it sounds as though the factory made compact cameras and consumer lenses. My take: closing a factory means they don't expect the products to rebound and they don't have another product line that can be readily shifted to the factory. It likely means a permanent reduction in manufacturing capacity.

For those who constantly post figures from past years to show the health of consumer-level DSLRs (Rebels), this is why I say that figures from past years represent what the sales were at that time, not what they are today. The market is shrinking and Canon is increasingly reliant on the higher-end enthusiast market. It may not represent the bulk of their camera business by volume, but it is where the trend lines are headed.

Question is: what compromises/cost cutting will be needed to sustain the enthusiast segment as camera companies bleed customers at the low-end (to smart phones) and professionals (with the ever-shrinking base of photojournalism, sports and professional photographers.) And, since the high discretionary income enthusiast base is aging out, what is the future?

 

[Antono Refa]

Question is: what compromises/cost cutting will be needed to sustain the enthusiast segment as camera companies bleed customers at the low-end (to smart phones) and professionals (with the ever-shrinking base of photojournalism, sports and professional photographers.) And, since the high discretionary income enthusiast base is aging out, what is the future?

Question is which lenses.

Production of consumer EF lenses, e.g. 50mm f/1.4 and cheaper EF 70-300mm, was going to stop sooner rather than later anyway. If its popular EF-S and EF-M lenses, that's a different story.

 

[randym77]

According to the article:

But closing the factory is no small deal, and further adds fuel to the fire in speculating whether Canon is truly done with EF lenses and DSLRs. In 2020, the Zhuhai factory produced 12.29 million lenses, additionally producing 1.03 million digital cameras and 94,000 digital video cameras. Indeed, closing the factory will mostly affect the compact camera market and affordable EF lenses such as the 50mm f/1.8, or ‘nifty-fifty’ as it’s fondly referred to.

It sounds like the pandemic and the chip shortage is speeding along what was happening anyway: smartphones eating away at the demand for consumer cameras and lenses.

 

[unfocused]

Question is which lenses.

Production of consumer EF lenses, e.g. 50mm f/1.4 and cheaper EF 70-300mm, was going to stop sooner rather than later anyway. If its popular EF-S and EF-M lenses, that's a different story.

I don't agree. The main takeaway is that they are shuttering the plant. That means that they are permanently reducing manufacturing capacity for whatever category of products they were producing there. They would not shut down the plant simply because they are no longer producing a specific model of lens, unless they do not anticipate producing products that are similar in manufacturing design or they expect the demand to drop so much that they can absorb future manufacturing at existing plants.

 

[Antono Refa]

I don't agree. The main takeaway is that they are shuttering the plant. That means that they are permanently reducing manufacturing capacity for whatever category of products they were producing there.

Which might be meaningless, e.g. if that category is lenses like the EF 75-300mm.

They would not shut down the plant simply because they are no longer producing a specific model of lens, unless they do not anticipate producing products that are similar in manufacturing design or they expect the demand to drop so much that they can absorb future manufacturing at existing plants.

Sure, this is a complicated question. Possibly the Chinese factory makes EF 75-300mm, and Canon can make EF-S 55-250mm in leu of it in another company. Maybe the factory makes a lens Canon makes no similar models elsewhere. Who knows?

My point is, with a shrinking market, switch to RF, existing stock, etc, the market might not miss those lower end lenses.