The Mirrorless Movement: Sony Boasts Record Growth in Expanding Mirrorless Digital Camera Market

[Canon Rumors Guy]

<strong>SAN DIEGO, Jun. 3, 2015 –</strong> Sony Electronics – an overall leader in digital imaging and the world’s largest image sensor manufacturer – is experiencing record growth in sales of mirrorless cameras, a rapidly expanding segment of the interchangeable lens camera (ILC) business.</p>
<p>According to The NPD Group, overall mirrorless camera revenue has grown 16.5% over the past 12 months, with DSLR sales declining approximately 15% over the same period.  During this time, Sony has experienced a robust 66% boost in their company’s mirrorless camera sales, strengthening their dominant position as the #1 overall mirrorless brand, a position they have held for 4 consecutive years.<span class="green">*1</span></p>
<p>“Growth in the mirrorless segment shows this new technology and form factor are resonating with consumers,” said Ben Arnold, executive director, The NPD group. “Going forward, mirrorless will continue to command a greater share of the interchangeable lens camera category.”</p>
<p>On top of the sales momentum, InfoTrends’ customer surveys demonstrate how strong innovation in the mirrorless space is continuing to attract a younger and more photo active ILC customer.  The latest data shows that over 61% of first time ILC buyers are under the age of 35, up from 54% approximately two years ago.  Key motivating factors for their photography include travel and family.</p>
<p>“First time buyers in today’s ILC market will play an integral part in future growth of the segment, especially considering the increasingly younger customers that are buying into new systems,” said Ed Lee, group director of the Consumer and Professional Imaging group at InfoTrends.</p>
<p>This news comes on the heels of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) decision to recognize “Mirrorless” as the official term for interchangeable lens cameras that do not include a mirror mechanism.</p>
<p>“This information shines a spotlight on where the mirrorless market has been, where it is today, and the bright future it presents,” said Neal Manowitz, director of the still image business at Sony Electronics.  “Our business continues to thrive based on strong innovation and the unique value propositions we are delivering with products like the α7 series and the α6000.  Their impressive imaging credentials allow photo enthusiasts, hobbyist and professionals to capture content in ways they never before thought possible.”</p>
<p class="green"><em>*1 Monthly NPD data, Amount, 12 months ending April 2015</em></p>

 

[FreshPicsUK]

It's just completely ridiculous that a company the size of Canon haven't grabbed the mirrorless market and overtaken everybody else. They've got lenses that are easily adaptable as they are to fit the format, they have the sensors, they have the manufacturing capability, but they seem to think that they don't need to join in the party. Even Nikon had the balls to launch the DF (not mirrorless, I realise this!), Samsung has a range, Fuji are the market leaders in the segment and Sony are making great leaps, despite the fact that you can count the number of lenses they have for their system on two hands.

Come on Canon-I'm fairly certain we'd all buy a mirrorless camera that we could fit EF or EFS lenses to and had a great sensor and decent autofocussing.

 

[Canon Rumors Guy]

Their mirrorless strategy is dumbfounding. I like to think people smarter than me have some grand plan when business decisions don't make sense to an outsider.... but I'm having a really hard time thinking this is the case for Canon & mirrorless.

 

[Keith_Reeder]

Key motivating factors for their photography include travel and family

Undemanding snapshots that you can do with any camera (or phone), then - hardly pushing the boundaries of camera performance.

Sounds about right...

Why would Canon invest significant effort and resource to take market share in a space that phones will wipe out any time now?

 

[FreshPicsUK]

Undemanding snapshots? Like the 'snapshots' that thousands of professional wedding photographers are taking every day with their Fuji X-Series kit? There IS a market for mirrorless, as Fuji, Sony, Panasonic and Olympus has all proven. Some of these companies don't even make a traditional DSLR any more (in the Canikon sense).

 

[Dylan777]

Key motivating factors for their photography include travel and family

Undemanding snapshots that you can do with any camera (or phone), then - hardly pushing the boundaries of camera performance.

Sounds about right...

Why would Canon invest significant effort and resource to take market share in a space that phones will wipe out any time now?

I'm still waiting for crop or 35mm sensor in that smartphone :

 

[Orangutan]

Cross-posting my reply in Dilbert's forum thread.

Summary: this appears to be a PRESS RELEASE WITHOUT SUPPORTING DATA

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/press-sony-boasts-record-growth-in-expanding-mirrorless-digital-camera-market/

It would be interesting to know which market that graph represents.

Is it just the USA? Or some other market?

The article addresses this: "Sony is growing fast in the US market as you can see from those charts."

But of course this doesn't mean anything if they're not #1 seller on Amazon's list, right?

It could mean something, but we'd have to know who the NPD group is first. Some "survey" groups are actually marketing companies who cook the numbers to create a buzz, others are legitimate and unbiased. Do you know who the NPD group is? If you look at the source, you'll see this is actually a press release, not a news article. We also see no links to get us closer to the original data.

It would be nice if this were true, it would be great to put some pressure on Canon to increase value to customers; however, this piece looks to be nothing but a press release, so we have to be very careful about inferring anything from statements made.

 

[Orangutan]

Their mirrorless strategy is dumbfounding. I like to think people smarter than me have some grand plan when business decisions don't make sense to an outsider.... but I'm having a really hard time thinking this is the case for Canon & mirrorless.

Channeling Neuro here: Just look at market position and long-term profits. Canon is trying to figure out where the profit is. It makes perfect sense if you accept the fact that Canon knows more about the market than we do, as evidenced by their consistent profit. I'm dumbfounded that this is such a revelation.

 

[ahsanford]

Mirrorless will eventually arrive (and Canon is clearly behind / waiting very long to make their move), but data is so hard to get in this market. How do we know this company is independent and not partnered with Sony?

- A

 

[meywd]

Key motivating factors for their photography include travel and family

Undemanding snapshots that you can do with any camera (or phone), then - hardly pushing the boundaries of camera performance.

Sounds about right...

Why would Canon invest significant effort and resource to take market share in a space that phones will wipe out any time now?

I'm still waiting for crop or 35mm sensor in that smartphone :

While technology advances costs go down, and that means phones will get 1" sensors and bigger, however optics manufacturing need to be better for better small lenses, also with better sensors you may not need crop and 35mm to get quality photos, remember that phones will not be used to shoot billboard ads, for family snapshots you don't need that much image quality, I know that some of us do, and that's most of us here, but were are a minority among the population.

 

[Hillsilly]

Key motivating factors for their photography include travel and family

Undemanding snapshots that you can do with any camera (or phone), then - hardly pushing the boundaries of camera performance.

Yeah...I see a massively successful future for Canon as they focus more on the rapidly growing non-travel and non-family photography segments.

I'll happily agree that DSLRs are better than mirrorless cameras, but these days they are only bought by professionals, avid amateur sports and wildlife photographers or people buying their first serious cameras and think that means a DSLR. Everyone else who just wants to take nice photos in generally undemanding situations are all jumping to mirrorless and Canon are losing that middle ground.

 

[Hillsilly]

This news comes on the heels of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) decision to recognize “Mirrorless” as the official term for interchangeable lens cameras that do not include a mirror mechanism.

Whatever happened to "EVIL"? At least that sounded cool. Mirrorless sounds like you're missing a mirror.

 

[Canon Rumors Guy]

Their mirrorless strategy is dumbfounding. I like to think people smarter than me have some grand plan when business decisions don't make sense to an outsider.... but I'm having a really hard time thinking this is the case for Canon & mirrorless.

Channeling Neuro here: Just look at market position and long-term profits. Canon is trying to figure out where the profit is. It makes perfect sense if you accept the fact that Canon knows more about the market than we do, as evidenced by their consistent profit. I'm dumbfounded that this is such a revelation.

You forgot to add the word "declining" before "consistent profit".

 

[Orangutan]

Their mirrorless strategy is dumbfounding. I like to think people smarter than me have some grand plan when business decisions don't make sense to an outsider.... but I'm having a really hard time thinking this is the case for Canon & mirrorless.

Channeling Neuro here: Just look at market position and long-term profits. Canon is trying to figure out where the profit is. It makes perfect sense if you accept the fact that Canon knows more about the market than we do, as evidenced by their consistent profit. I'm dumbfounded that this is such a revelation.

You forgot to add the word "declining" before "consistent profit".

Isn't it true that they've been the most consistently profitable camera company over the last 10 years? Also, Canon does sell mirrorless in Japan, and they've done OK with it.

 

[9VIII]

I still think that they can keep the EF mount and just make a really small body with no mirror.
I just wish they would try a full frame SL type body, but more than that I can't help but look at the huge EF mount and think that they could make the most compact Medium Format body on the market just by removing the mirror.
Medium Format is probably the thing that could benefit most from removing the mirror.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

From what I see in the numbers over the past years, mirrorless has been doing well Asia while DSLR's were doing well in the USA, Canada, and Europe.

Now, we see sales in Asia growing while they are falling in America and Europe.

I'd like a practical mirrorless camera just because the mirror makes for lower reliability. Unfortunately, its a trade off, a EVF also reduces reliability. I like the size of a traditional DSLR because I have big hands, and so do many Americans / Europeans.

I remember when the Sony Walkman came out, its small size put a lot of US buyers off, but it was popular in Japan. Then, suddenly sales took off around the world, and the small size was suddenly a asset.

I expect the same will happen with mirrorless.

Canon is not unaware of this, but they have become slow and ponderous, it takes them 4 years to design and build a new camera, but once they get it right, then we will see yearly minor upgrades.

 

[ahsanford]

From what I see in the numbers over the past years, mirrorless has been doing well Asia while DSLR's were doing well in the USA, Canada, and Europe.

Now, we see sales in Asia growing while they are falling in America and Europe.

I'd like a practical mirrorless camera just because the mirror makes for lower reliability. Unfortunately, its a trade off, a EVF also reduces reliability. I like the size of a traditional DSLR because I have big hands, and so do many Americans / Europeans.

I remember when the Sony Walkman came out, its small size put a lot of US buyers off, but it was popular in Japan. Then, suddenly sales took off around the world, and the small size was suddenly a asset.

I expect the same will happen with mirrorless.

Canon is not unaware of this, but they have become slow and ponderous, it takes them 4 years to design and build a new camera, but once they get it right, then we will see yearly minor upgrades.

I think Canon's waiting for that tipping point, and then the mirrorless products will come.

I see them ever-so-slowly ramping into the market in this fashion:

1) Offer a limited feature-set camera body platform + a very sparse selection of lenses + an adapter to EF. (Hint: this is EOS-M, and Canon has shown little desire to leave this position on the list.)

2) Offer a proper enthusiast/semi-pro EF-M rig with a feature set perhaps like the 7D2 or more reasonably the 70D --> an integral viewfinder, DPAF, more AF points, higher burst, top LCD (might be cramped on a thinner rig), a beefier default grip, etc. Also start sneaking in some more premium EF-M native glass.

3) Do an assload of market research -- a ton of it. Because the fate of the business will ride on what comes next.

4) Be brave and make the multi-billion dollar call: which mount lives and which mount dies. What size of sensor (and corresponding mount) will Canon build its mirrorless future around? It will be EF-M, EF-[Full Frame Mirrorless] or possibly both. (I really think they need to choose one or the other as EF / EF-S are not disappearing overnight and Canon has shown a poor track record at serving three mounts as it is.) Once that call is made, the high quality native-mount mirrorless lenses will finally come.

- A

P.S. I am not implying #4 is just around the corner. It isn't. But seeing #2 happen might imply Canon is already thinking about #3 and #4.

 

[Random Orbits]

Isn't it true that they've been the most consistently profitable camera company over the last 10 years? Also, Canon does sell mirrorless in Japan, and they've done OK with it.

Not to refute anything you posted, but just my musings on the topic:

People seem to think that Canon should produce cameras like Sony or Fuji, but Canon's greatest advantage (lens selection) hinders that. The best strategy for Sony may not be the best strategy for Canon/Nikon. Sony's cameras have gotten bigger and heavier. It's also not a surprise that the first lenses they made available for that platform are slow (i.e. f/4 zoom or 35 f/2.8). Now the faster lenses are coming out, and they're comparable to L lenses in size and weight (i.e. Zeiss's FE 35 f/1.4 is heavier than 35L). So now the size advantage is decreasing, and you still have the poor battery performance for MILCs.

I'd like to see comparisons for how the FE Ziess 35 f/1.4 compares to the EF Ziess and EF Sigma. Can the FE match the others. I've read that it's harder when the flange distance is smaller to get corner sharpness, but I'd like to see the data.

I have the M. I like the M. It works as a portable system. I can see the EF and EF-S bodies transitioning from having a mirror to not having one, but keeping the same flange distance to maintain compatibility with the lens ecosystem. They could make it as small as the SL1 or as large as a 1Dx once the technology is there.

 

[AcutancePhotography]

If we accept that more and more people these days are introduced to photography via their cell phone, What would be the logical next step when these people want to move up to a dedicated camera

DSLR?
Mirrorless?

I think that if you are going from a cell phone that the next step would be a mirrorless camera. Afterall a mirrorless camera is just big cell phone that can't make phone calls. ;D

I think it is a tougher sell to convince a cell phone picture-taker to buy a DSLR these days. Especially since the customer is already familiar and probably willing to accept an EVF.

There will be a niche where DSLRs will be advantageous e.g., sports, wildlife, low light, ... but how many of the millions of people taking photographs are into this niche?

I don't think the DSLR will die next week. But I would not be surprised that it drastically diminishes in the few years of my remaining life.

I can't guarantee that the next camera system I buy will be a DSLR. Not ready to switch......yet.

 

[Tugela]

Their mirrorless strategy is dumbfounding. I like to think people smarter than me have some grand plan when business decisions don't make sense to an outsider.... but I'm having a really hard time thinking this is the case for Canon & mirrorless.

Perhaps not. All of these camera companies have many patents covering all sorts of system innovations. Cameras are complex tools that infringe hundreds of different patents. Usually in industry these sorts of things are covered by cross licensing deals where companies agree to exchange IP rights in exchange for royalties, but with conditions. What may be happening is that Canon have a restricted license to Sony IP, but only for DSLRs, while Sony has a similar license for Canon IP, but only for MILCs. They each have their own "turf", and the licenses don't extend beyond that. That would explain why Canon's mirrorless offerings are so dismal - their license deals don't allow them to implement all they could. And the same argument would apply to Sony, but in reverse. Other companies likely have similar deals in place with each other.

By having these deals in place, they could continue to compete effectively. If they didn't they would all end up in a complex war of IP based law suits, much like what goes on in the phone industry in many cases (there are lots of cross licensing deals in place there as well - the best known of course being that between Apple and Microsoft).