Infographic: Camera Industry Sales Facts for 2016

[Canon Rumors]

<p><a href="https://lensvid.com/gear/lensvid-exclusive-happened-photography-industry-2016/">LensVid</a> has completed their yearly infographic showing camera and lens sales for 2016. The drop in sales of compact cameras, DSLRs and lenses continues. Although, in total cameras shipped, the share of DSLRs actually increased in 2016 at the expense of compact cameras, mirrorless cameras saw a bigger share of the total pie as well.</p>
<p>2017 is predicted to show further decline of compact cameras, but we could see that the mirrorless and DSLR segments have bottomed out and may stabilize in 2017.</p>
<p><!--more--></p>
<p><strong>LensVid has summarized the following keys about the photography industry in 2016</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Smartphones killed the compact camera market</li>
<li>Mirrorless are not fulfilling their promise</li>
<li>The DSLR market is shrinking</li>
<li>Cameras are for older people</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>LensVid predictions for 2017:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>In 2017 we can safely predict that the entire global market for cameras will drop below 20 million cameras (or 1/6 of what it was in 2010).</li>
<li>Over the next couple of years camera manufacturers will continue to cut jobs – just like Nikon recently did after their announcement on major financial loses.</li>
<li>We will also see less innovation as less and less free money will be available for R&D.</li>
<li>The professional segment will get much more attention and camera and gear prices will increase (as production costs will rise due to the decreased production levels).</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.canonrumors.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Infographics-2016-03.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-28558" src="http://www.canonrumors.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Infographics-2016-03-728x410.jpg" alt="" width="728" height="410" srcset="http://www.canonrumors.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Infographics-2016-03-728x410.jpg 728w, http://www.canonrumors.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Infographics-2016-03-768x432.jpg 768w, http://www.canonrumors.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Infographics-2016-03-1024x576.jpg 1024w, http://www.canonrumors.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Infographics-2016-03-610x343.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px" /></a></p>
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[Hector1970]

I'd have thought in the DSLR and lens there are less in volume but the ones they are making are more expensive.
Sigma especially are gone away from cheap to expensive.
I'm not sure if it's correct.
In someways I think if less people buy cameras and take photos with phones my photos look better and surprise people. I'm not particularly sad if it had less mass appeal and becomes more specialist. I think it keads to more discerning products being designed and sold. The camera companies need to adapt to a smaller market but maybe with more spending power.

 

[Sharlin]

Wow, that infographic is basically an amalgam of all the things you're NOT supposed to do when presenting data visually

 

[et31]

And so accelerated the death of a beautiful trade in essence and the further acceptance of the public's desensitization of the value of a photograph in general. I can have those D810 / D5 / 5d / 1dx photos for free right? No? Well, that's fine. I have an app that will snip your photo right away. Your copyright is not important. I can take pictures too. I have an iPhone!

Meanwhile at Acorn Inc.: "It's incredible folks. Keep buying our new gadget every year, help us make billions, and realize your full potential of being a real photographer with our toy that gives you Chinese plastic optics at the tap of a finger. Who needs a real camera when you have the iPhone 7s, 8, 9, 10, etc. You want bokeh? We've designed an internal app for that! You want zoom? We added another piece of industrial plastic that will give you more zoom. It's incredible. Say goodbye to your $1,000s of dollars in optics."

 

[AshtonNekolah]

things are changing thats for sure.

 

[AshtonNekolah]

And so accelerated the death of a beautiful trade in essence and the further acceptance of the public's desensitization of the value of a photograph in general. I can have those D810 / D5 / 5d / 1dx photos for free right? No? Well, that's fine. I have an app that will snip your photo right away. Your copyright is not important.

Meanwhile at Acorn Inc.: "It's incredible folks. Keep buying our new gadget every year, help us make billions, and realize your full potential of being a real photographer with our toy that gives you Chinese plastic optics at the tap of a finger. Who needs a real camera when you have the iPhone 7s, 8, 9, 10, etc. You want bokeh? We've designed an internal app for that! You want zoom? We added another piece of industrial plastic that will give you more zoom. It's incredible. Say goodbye to your $1,000s of dollars in optics."

Very true and i saw this with launch of the iphone 7, its all a joke, now that everyone got a camera in ther pocket, they can get a image all over the world on a social media site in seconds, i understand the trade even quality have gotten affordable over the years 3500 anyone with a decent job can buy a good body today. so where do we go from here on into the next 10 years will the mobile phone kill the dslr nope will never happen however if the market can convince aka influence people that they can get the same quality from a app and the resolution is now moved to a social media website like facebook etc with some free prints from the cloud then i guess that's good enough. but as for the changing of lens and quality of the dslr will always live on.

 

[et31]

I always laughed at their "video presentations", whenever they promote the capabilities of the new phones, especially when they show you 'actual video footage' recorded by this device (aka shot with a Sony FS7, Sony F55, etc. behind the scenes with steadicams, drones, etc.). The biggest hypocrisy involves their promo photos that they take to make their products look so 'sleek and professional.' Studio? Strobes? Soft boxes? Reflectors? Light meter? D810? 5Dsr? Medium format cameras? Gasp! Say it ain't so! I thought that the phone had an app for each of those things. :

The truth is that we need professional tools to obtain the best results and the key to that is R&D, innovation, and companies that have the vision to keep the progress going. I fear for the future of professional photography in the sense that we photographers will literally have to pay the price to remain in a separate bracket among the rest. In the end, how much will our beloved companies remain true to their core before they start internally fighting to embrace another world and phase out much of their showcases, simply because people are not buying in the numbers that they would like to see?

Wow! A make believe video presentation that looks like the iPhone shoots @ 4K 330Mbps 4:2:2 10bit footage with 14 stops of latitude. Even comes with ND filters, no rolling shutter, focus peaking, zebra, waveform, etc. Silly Canon, Sony, Arri, Blackmagic, etc., trying to scam us with their $$$$$ cameras! When can I pre-order the skinny jeans pocket-fit slim phone???? ;D :

 

[ahsanford]

Wow, that infographic is basically an amalgam of all the things you're NOT supposed to do when presenting data visually

Tufte's eyes would bleed reading it, yes.

- A

 

[ahsanford]

A few thoughts about this report:

1) Cell phones will consume us all -- yes, we get it.

2) Contraction of the camera market units is certainly happening, but not nearly at the rate this infographic is reporting, which only covers digital. But just like vinyl LPs making a huge comeback, so have film rigs: Fuji Instax has been crushing things at the clip of 5-6M units a year. It doesn't remotely cover industry P&S losses the past few years, but it tempers the camera sales apocalypse somewhat.

3) CR's read is a hell of a lot rosier than the graphic designer's view of things. These numbers imply not only the death of compact/P&S rigs but also a continuing contraction of all interchangeable lens rigs (including SLRs). The trend on total mirrorless + SLR sales = 21 --> 16.8 --> 13.5 --> 13 --> 11, so no, CR guy, if this is accurate, I don't see evidence of the SLR market bottoming out. I see it getting worse.

4) As the digital market continues to contract, lifecycles will get longer and launch prices will get higher. In effect, the imaging industry's ability to deliver value -- new models, better quality, shorter lifecycles, less expensive products -- all take a punch in the gut in a contracting market. The PhotoRumors guy quasi-ranted as much here: http://photorumors.com/2016/10/03/the-new-reality-pentax-k-1-price-increase/ How Canon continues to (largely, there is some drift) stick to a schedule on its SLR releases and continue to field such a staggeringly comprehensive array of camera lines is unbelievable. One might think they'd pump the brakes on a few product lines and focus their efforts.

- A

 

[LDS]

4) As the digital market continues to contract, lifecycles will get longer

Probably, lifecycle already got longer - LensVid made a good point IMHO:

At the mid to high end segments – there just isn’t enough innovation to justify replacing gear as often as it used to be and on the more positive side – cameras are quite reliable and replacing a working camera for a new one which doesn’t offer significantly more, just doesn’t make sense to many users.

We could plot sales against the (real) improvements that were introduced, and I guess we could see a correlation. The Mpx/DR race curve could have flattened - for most uses, actual cameras are far more than capable (depite what DPReview may think), especially when a lot of images are consumed electronically.

In many ways even phone sales flattened - because it's difficult too to add new breakthrough features to them. Photo features were more outlined than in the previous years because that was one of the few areas were makers could try to compete somehow . often with pure gimmicks. Huawei needed a 5D3/70-200 2.8 photo to promote its "Leica" phone last year.

It looks the ML/SLR war doesn't interest camera buyers much, but a small minority, and it doesn't really change the final output. Camera companies would need a far bigger leap forward in photo technology, but I can't really imagine what it could be... extreme Mpx, DR and ISO are for niche markets anyway.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I think that Canon sees this as a opportunity to consolidate their position and squeeze a few makers out of the market. The development and R&D for their next generation of cameras has already been done and paid for, so we will see a 6D soon, I'd bet they are already making components, and maybe assembling them. Certainly, the design of a 7D MK III has been finished as well, so it should be here in two years, probably less.

Canon has the money to keep developing and marketing new camera models, and this lets them keep gaining market share. I'm not sure this is a good thing, but you can see it happening.

 

[bedford]

Food for thought:

https://youtu.be/bfCJDIf-NeA

Mayflower Concepts Presentation at PMA, CES 2015, Las Vegas

If you have 50 min and can bear the german accent, I think it's wortwhile.

 

[ahsanford]

Also, just today on PP:
https://petapixel.com/2017/03/02/another-big-camera-store-fails-many-closing/

The article thoughtfully wades into a lot of industry realities: online businesses not charging sales tax, everyone price checks things in real time in the store, MAP rules, informal 'but it's kinda formal if you want the sale' rebating, etc.

But the article reads like a ship captain who is exasperated at headwinds slowing him down while his ship is sinking for reasons unrelated to wind. All of the author's reasons would explain difficult business conditions in a flat market, but when the industry is absolutely cratering, do those reasons even matter anymore?

Surely this entire article could have been these two lines:

"Camera sales are down 81% from 7 years ago due to the rise of cell phone photography + social media. Camera stores are closing because the dedicated camera market is disintegrating."

I don't mean to be callous -- I think camera stores are awesome, but it seems like they ought to be shaking their fists at iPhone users a lot more than large online resellers or tough corporate pricing rules.

- A

 

[Chaitanya]

So I am fool for having invested few thousand $ in lenses and lights for macro photopgraphy. That whole cellphone nonsense of overexaggerating the capabilities started by CrApple needs to stop as facing fanboys is really hard.

 

[privatebydesign]

Also, just today on PP:
https://petapixel.com/2017/03/02/another-big-camera-store-fails-many-closing/

The article thoughtfully wades into a lot of industry realities: online businesses not charging sales tax, everyone price checks things in real time in the store, MAP rules, informal 'but it's kinda formal if you want the sale' rebating, etc.

But the article reads like a ship captain who is exasperated at headwinds slowing him down while his ship is sinking for reasons unrelated to wind. All of the author's reasons would explain difficult business conditions in a flat market, but when the industry is absolutely cratering, do those reasons even matter anymore?

Surely this entire article could have been these two lines:

"Camera sales are down 81% from 7 years ago due to the rise of cell phone photography + social media. Camera stores are closing because the dedicated camera market is disintegrating."

I don't mean to be callous -- I think camera stores are awesome, but it seems like they ought to be shaking their fists at iPhone users a lot more than large online resellers or tough corporate pricing rules.

- A

THE SHIP IS NOT SINKING!

Look to all those who keep going on and on about the 'declining' market for cameras i call bull----. Why? Camera sales are coming down from historic and unsustainable highs.

What we are doing is returning to more stable and realistic sales numbers. Those sales are going to be higher value lower volume because the volume market, P&S's, are effectively dead. Seen over a longer time frame there is no cause for concern, just another wave, not a sinking.

 

[LonelyBoy]

It was sort of enlightening, for both of us, when my wife's friend took a picture of us after the marathon recently. The pic was from a second floor balcony, with a smartphone, maybe a half dozen yards away. It was, of course, blurry and heavily cropped and crappy in general without detail. My wife asked if I could "work on it" (as I do with raws) and I said no, the data just isn't there, and that's why my cameras and lenses are so big. It finally clicked for her, at least to a degree, how limited smartphone cameras are.

 

[SteveM]

Maybe there is something positive in the marketplace now, camera phones have helped create the biggest ever population of amateur photographers. They are everywhere, snapping away with their phones, huddling around a table looking at the pictures - I'd have thought there must be huge opportunities here.
Show the camera phone user what a dslr can do that a camera phone can't!!
First make it very easy to transfer an image from the dslr to the phone on ALL dslr's....if possible on models already in existence, especially the entry level models.
The dslr now is a compliment to the camera phone, let people know why they need a dslr, what it can do that is significant to them that the camera phone can't do.
The camera manufacturers have allowed camera phones to decimate the market for compact cameras, almost like taking a biscuit off a baby, no resistance.
I hope they don't sit back and allow the dslr market to go the same way.
As I started I'll finish, there is the biggest ever population of amateur photographers out there waiting to be convinced how essential a dslr is to their photography.
Marketing; Advertising; USP's......

 

[StudentOfLight]

But where are the alternative facts?

 

[9VIII]

Food for thought:

https://youtu.be/bfCJDIf-NeA

Mayflower Concepts Presentation at PMA, CES 2015, Las Vegas

If you have 50 min and can bear the german accent, I think it's wortwhile.

I watched that video a while back, it makes good points (points where Nikon is still failing miserebly and Canon is arguably still the market leader), but I can't believe that the primary force in the current market is anything but saturation.
Digital happened, people bought in because one digital camera is worth a lifetime of film, and now that half the world has a good digital body that fills all their needs, sales are dropping off.
People are sold on the idea of good dedicated digital cameras, and by now practically everyone has bought one.
It was a sales burst that lasted less than five years, what did people expect?

What I really want to see is modern camera sales compared to the last 50 years of sales, that's the market everyone is going to be fighting for over the next decade.
Kind of like how a good modern laptop will probably remain a useful practical tool for decades to come, the only time people actually need to replace their 1Ds MkIII is when it gets dropped in a river.
My current camera body is an 1100D, and that's after I bought and sold a 5D2 because it didn't add any significant capabilities to my photography.
If that's the case coming from an enthusiast, pretty much everyone else who bought a camera around that time is probably thinking that any DSLR is about 10,000% overkill for their needs.

User friendliness is important to take back some of the P&S market from cellphones, but the sales levels seen around 2010 will never be repeated, that was simply the market responding to a disruptive technology reaching maturity.

 

[Talys]

@privatebydesign -

I completely agree. The photography buff ship is not sinking. All that happened was that there were some giant leaps of technology that got people who were enthusiasts to spend their money for a good, long cycle. It's not sustainable, because this cycle of innovation has matured, and during each refinement iteration, there's diminished returns.

I think Point and Shoots are a lost cause. My last one was a S-series (I think 110?); I can't imagine buying another one, because a good cell phones is a viable substitute.

For me, there HAVE been some changes in 2015-2016 that have made me spend. I purchased the 80D because it was really everything I have ever wanted from an APS-C. I will almost certainly buy the successor with DIGIC7 (even if nothing else changes), once the price comes down a tiny bit, because I want 2 copies of this camera.

And, nano-USM was cool -- not something I NEEDED, but it was something I wanted enough to buy 70-300 full retail at launch. And 18-135 I bought once kits got broken up and discounted, even though I knew there would be few opportunities to use it (I own superior lens, just not with the cool AF).

Ironically, before 2015, there had been a bit of a dry spell for me for photo gear, so I spent a lot of my money on studio stuff, cases, and that sort of thing. But still within the hobby. Mirrorless has not been able to attract me to date, though I've looked at an M5 a few times.

My point being, there are ways vendors can get me to crack open my wallet, but the innovation has got to be there.