Canon USA lays off 60 employees from the camera division

unfocused

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Jul 20, 2010
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If Craig's numbers are correct, this is something under 4% of their workforce. Not insignificant, but not a major layoff either. I wonder how many people were employed at the New Jersey repair facility alone. Another thought, given the collapse of brick and mortar retail across the nation, I wonder how large of a sales force they need given that just four accounts – Amazon, B&H, Adorama and Best Buy – probably represent the bulk of their sales nationwide.
 
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justaCanonuser

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The CPIA data shows yet another big drop in camera sales this year, much lower than last year which was much lower than 2017.
Plus there's more and more competition in the premium but limited FF market. It's definitely getting tighter for the classic camera industry - after very prospering years. Maybe there is another effect I am observing in my personal environment: people don't buy a top camera every two years anymore because digital technology is very capable since a while now. But that's a guess, I haven't seen any statistics confirming such an effect...

I also think that geek postings in photography forums are misleading. The number of people really buying the latest tech isn't that big. In fact, not everyone needs 4K video to document his pimples and nostril hairs in high fidelity sharpness :devilish:
 
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Well Canon Japan just shut down it's once largest R&D group outside of Japan, in Australia. CiSRA employed 350 people only 7 years ago when I was there and had grown non-stop since 1990. In February Canon sacked 40 of the last 80 staff and categorically denied it would close them down, and 4 weeks later the scum did just that. It was all downhill post GFC for CiSRA, with Japan treating us with contempt, cancelling every project we worked on and giving us less and less interesting stuff to work on. I left in 2014 along with many others, and I said it wouldn't last 5 years and now it is gone. The largest non-University R&D organisation in Australia. They had already shut down one of the two USA R&D groups in 2013 or so. Now slashing the remaining USA centre. Their days are numbered too.
 
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Mar 20, 2015
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and big drops in sales every year means fewer dollars to pay workers

You have seen the price of Canon's cameras, right? And lenses? They creep up constantly, even 25-year-old designs.

The company is projecting a NET PROFIT of 300 billion Yen for 2019. That's money that was left over after salaries, R&D, production costs, capital expenditure, marketing, tax, banquets for executives, first-class air travel, loaners to Explorers of Light.... it's money they didn't find a way to spend. All the R&D for the RF lenses? Already accounted for, and still there is money sloshing about unused. Compared to that the cost of 60 employees is miniscule.
 
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Jul 21, 2010
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At this time, we are confident that after hiring SONY employees, we will be well positioned for future growth and success.”
You seem to have that back asswards. :rolleyes:

It’s Sony, the company in a distant third place for ILC market share, that would stand to benefit from the experience of those working for the company that has dominated the market for a decade and a half.
 
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Sep 29, 2018
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Given the dismal forecast for camera sales, seems all camera companies are in survival mode. Canon is being very conservative with spending on innovation which may be a sound strategy. Trimming costs, including layoffs, will be expected in a shrinking market.


Well it is VERY interesting to see how Fufifilm looks at the ICL market compared to Canon. Fujifilm sees the market growing due to Asia stepping up and buying Cameras. That is 3 billion people eligible to be customers. As well Fujifilm can't build their cameras fast enough. Where as every thing is doom and gloom at Canon.

Dave Etchells/Imaging Resource: So one thing we're asking everybody is Mitarai-san from Canon is on record recently...

<crosstalk, laughter>

DE: You've been hearing that too? Yeah, and so he says that the interchangeable-lens business is going to contract by half, over the next two years. Do you agree with that assessment? What are your own projections?

Toshihisa Iida/Fujifilm: Totally, totally disagree.

https://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2019/03/15/fujifilm-qa-cpplus-2019-af-tidbits-lenses-100-mp

Of course Fujifilm is innovating as fast as they can where as Canon is milking the profits from the camera division and funneling into the military projects and finding new ways to criple their cameras. 40 years ago the people running Canon were very savy. the people running it today I am not so sure about, they have a whiff of Ford or Chevy. If the new super duper mirrorless from Canon comes in spec wise some where between the A7R3 and the A9 at twice the price then stick a fork in CANON. My honest beilief these days is if Canon doesn't want to fire who ever is in charge of Camera bodies then they should unleash the lens division to to make lenses for other companies like the third party companies do.
 
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Feb 28, 2013
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Canon are still innovating and they showed 5 of the new RF lens mock-ups at The Photography Show (the ones announced at CP+). Sony in an article in UK photography press mocked the use of adaptors (having been happy to have Canon glass originally on A 7 series camera) but they still dont have the range that Canon have in EF and you can bet Canon is moving fast with RF lenses. I for one dont like the form factor or Sony cameras much preferring Canon and the new RF lenses have a great form factor. Dont write Canon off anytime soon.
 
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unfocused

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...people don't buy a top camera every two years anymore because digital technology is very capable since a while now...

I think that is definitely true. It's really just a return to normal. Back in the film days, how often did people replace their SLRs? I had a Canon F1 that I used for almost 40 years.
 
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I think the news here is that there is an active trend for Canon to focus its resources on its most profitable and growing divisions, like medical imaging. When you see 60 cuts in mostly the consumer photography area, what you're not seeing is the probable shifting of even more workers from consumer to business-to-business lines within the company. For our photo geek purposes, this news is probably worse than it appears.
 
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stevelee

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I think that is definitely true. It's really just a return to normal. Back in the film days, how often did people replace their SLRs? I had a Canon F1 that I used for almost 40 years.
I used my SLR for 30 years and never felt like I needed to upgrade anything. If I were still shooting film, I'd still be using it.
 
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rbr

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The market has changed on the photographer's end as well in the past 10 years. The days of selling stock have plummeted. There just aren't many paying magazine and book publishers out there to keep a steady income coming in to spend on the latest and greatest camera gear. The benefits of constantly upgrading cameras just isn't realistic to me any more. I still love photography, but what was once a second income has mostly turned into a hobby. Great 13x19 prints can be made out of any digital camera. It's pretty difficult to tell the difference of a print taken with a 1D2 vs. a 5D4 hanging side by side. Nobody cares and my photos aren't going to be hanging in the Louvre in 300 years anyway.
 
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Don Haines

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I think that is definitely true. It's really just a return to normal. Back in the film days, how often did people replace their SLRs? I had a Canon F1 that I used for almost 40 years.
I had an OM-1 that survived close to 30 years of abuse, everything from mountains to the arctic. I can't see a digital camera doing the same.....

Kodachrome64 slide.... guessing at exposure because for some strange reason the battery for the light meter seems to quickly die when it is -60C.
183557
 
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Woah when did that close? I sent my camera there like 2 months ago. Luckily the VA location is the same shipping time as the NJ one for me.

It's not been covered too much, but was reported here:
 
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justaCanonuser

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I think that is definitely true. It's really just a return to normal. Back in the film days, how often did people replace their SLRs? I had a Canon F1 that I used for almost 40 years.
The F1 must have been a great camera. I still have my first camera, a Kodak Retina IIIc from mid fifties. When I got it from an uncle, it was already very vintage and cool amongst us young people. Some years ago I got it refurbished, and sometimes I love to load it with a roll of film. It is a piece of mechanical artwork and has a very good Schneider 2/50mm lens.
 
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TAF

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I think that is definitely true. It's really just a return to normal. Back in the film days, how often did people replace their SLRs? I had a Canon F1 that I used for almost 40 years.

Agreed on a return to normal.

I still have my F-1 and use it from time to time. 40 years old this summer, and working just fine, although these days, when I shoot film I prefer MF, using my Rollei TLR, which is 60 years old...and I just started experimenting with stereo, with a Heidoscop which is 90 years old. As long as film exists, the equipment will pretty much last forever. We might be hitting the same point with digital. Except, since Canon is RoHS compliant, I expect hardware failures is about 10 years due to dendritic growth.

I wonder when Canon will introduce the 3D, a dual sensor/dual RF mount stereo camera?
 
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