Infographic: Camera Industry Sales Facts for 2016

[leGreve]

I offed all my Canon gear last year... buying nothing to replace it. Although it was my private stash, and we still have loads at work.... but for general usage, I find that its much more useful using my smartphone for every day footage. Heck even in some cases Id be able to get away with using my phone for a proper photo.

I blame the development with smart phones. I went and got the S7 Edge and to my pleasent surprise it shoots DNGs....

Also we are moving towards a paperless future, meaning that massive pixel counts become less important since we will be watching the end product on a digital screen instead.

Right now Im holding off buying anything at all... the market simply doesnt make sense according to where we are.
If anything, Id be looking at lighting. Id be able to do decent shots with this phone if I just brought the right light with me. I positive clients wouldnt be impressed... but thats just how clients are and always have been...

 

[Hillsilly]

...When film camera becomes more significant as LPs then perhaps CIPA will report sales of these cameras.

One manufacturer alone sells more film cameras than all mirrorless cameras combined. And probably sells more film cameras than Canon sells DSLRs. And that's just the cameras. The real money is in the film where Instax dominates the most popular camera items on Amazon and other similar sites. To me, that's pretty significant.

Anyway, the more I look at the infographic, the less relevant it becomes if it excludes manufacturers from Korea, China, Australia, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, the USA etc etc.

 

[jeffa4444]

Despite having 3 dslr's, I like the compact camera for its extra quality over the camera phone and its obvious portability.....I have 2 A3 prints on the wall from a compact camera. However, after having 4 compact cameras in a little over 2 years (both Canon and Nikon), none of them lasting for >5000 shutter actuations I've given up with them and now use a camera phone. This market could have survived a little better had they managed to produce reliable cameras (from my personal experience).
The dslr market will eventually bottom out, but they do need to get beyond the seeming expectation that the majority of revenue comes from existing users upgrading from the mk l to the mkll to the mklll to the MklV.......cameras are too good to bother upgrading regularly anymore and useful features are thin on the ground.
Most companies I am aware of 'hunt' new customers for growth.
I was in 2 large tourist areas over the weekend and out of the couple of thousand people I saw I counted 4 dslr's. All 4 in the hands of the over 50's. Is this the future of the dslr?

I was on vacation in Dubai three weeks ago most of the tourists were young Chinese, Korean or Japanese and plenty of them had DSLRs. The older tourists like me had opted for high end compact cameras.

The young from the UK all used smart phones that I could see apart from one lady in her early twenties who had a Canon 5D MKIV.

 

[jeffa4444]

...When film camera becomes more significant as LPs then perhaps CIPA will report sales of these cameras.

One manufacturer alone sells more film cameras than all mirrorless cameras combined. And probably sells more film cameras than Canon sells DSLRs. And that's just the cameras. The real money is in the film where Instax dominates the most popular camera items on Amazon and other similar sites. To me, that's pretty significant.

Anyway, the more I look at the infographic, the less relevant it becomes if it excludes manufacturers from Korea, China, Australia, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, the USA etc etc.

B&W film dropped dramatically from 1991 until 2015 when it grew. Sales were up again in 2016 its a bit like the return of records.

 

[jeffa4444]

Air shows, Wildlife (think safaris), Birds, Distant Landscapes, True Macro, Studio Strobes, try doing any of these on a smart phone!

 

[dolina]

Air shows, Wildlife (think safaris), Birds, Distant Landscapes, True Macro, Studio Strobes, try doing any of these on a smart phone!

Yes, they far out number close range people photography.

 

[Loswr]

...When film camera becomes more significant as LPs then perhaps CIPA will report sales of these cameras.

One manufacturer alone sells more film cameras than all mirrorless cameras combined. And probably sells more film cameras than Canon sells DSLRs. And that's just the cameras. The real money is in the film where Instax dominates the most popular camera items on Amazon and other similar sites. To me, that's pretty significant.

Anyway, the more I look at the infographic, the less relevant it becomes if it excludes manufacturers from Korea, China, Australia, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, the USA etc etc.

+1

CIPA data are useful regarding digital cameras, but not for the entire industry. Still, while the Instax line is major in terms of units sold, its far less so in terms of revenue.

 

[LDS]

I was on vacation in Dubai three weeks ago most of the tourists were young Chinese, Korean or Japanese and plenty of them had DSLRs. The older tourists like me had opted for high end compact cameras.
The young from the UK all used smart phones that I could see apart from one lady in her early twenties who had a Canon 5D MKIV.

Which could say that what fashion (especially as a status-symbol) dictates in the respective cultural areas is not irrelevant.

 

[bedford]

The way I see it, there are photographers and picture takers. The photographer might use a smart phone to take a photo because he knows why he is using it, but the picture taker does not want to know the details. They only want to snap a photo and either share it or just look at it later. The equipment used to take the picture has no value to them.

The question is, can the manufacturers recapture a sizable slice of this market?

The picture takers, as you call them, are not interested in taking photographs, all they're interested in is creating social content. It will be difficult for a camera manufacturer to produce a product with added value for this type of consumers.

As I see it, there was a hype for digital cameras around 2007-2011. Digital cameras were cool at that time. Today even smartphones have lost their coolness factor, as the phone market reaches saturation. At best the camera market should go back to the healthy level before the hype.

I think it's also important to note that people, when it comes to taking "meaningful" pictures (birthdays, weddings etc.), often use a camera in addition to the smartphone. They seem to be aware that the camera produces better pictures (or at least _feel_ that way). Camera manufacturers should build on that and on creating a better, simpler, easier, more fun user experience (and not like Sony on blowing up the spec sheet).

Oliver

 

[Talys]

The way I see it, there are photographers and picture takers. The photographer might use a smart phone to take a photo because he knows why he is using it, but the picture taker does not want to know the details. They only want to snap a photo and either share it or just look at it later. The equipment used to take the picture has no value to them.

The question is, can the manufacturers recapture a sizable slice of this market?

The picture takers, as you call them, are not interested in taking photographs, all they're interested in is creating social content. It will be difficult for a camera manufacturer to produce a product with added value for this type of consumers.

As I see it, there was a hype for digital cameras around 2007-2011. Digital cameras were cool at that time. Today even smartphones have lost their coolness factor, as the phone market reaches saturation. At best the camera market should go back to the healthy level before the hype.

I think it's also important to note that people, when it comes to taking "meaningful" pictures (birthdays, weddings etc.), often use a camera in addition to the smartphone. They seem to be aware that the camera produces better pictures (or at least _feel_ that way). Camera manufacturers should build on that and on creating a better, simpler, easier, more fun user experience (and not like Sony on blowing up the spec sheet).

Oliver

There are people who see a point-and-shoot take a washed out picture with using built-in flash and say, "Beautiful!" -- because the picture captures a group of friends at a pub. What's beautiful isn't the photograph, but the content: if it's a photo of the next table over, it's no longer beautiful. The requirements for that photo are just to be in-focus and to capture the moment.

But they're willing to pay money for a family or wedding portrait, and they still say "wow" when they see an amazingly composed landscape or sunset. Although seeing those photos makes them happy, they're not really interested in trying to make that shot themselves.