Nikon, Canon, SONY cameras sales drop last qtr

[astroNikon]

Per an article on Nikon, Sony and Canon sales comparison for last financial quarter | Nikon Rumors

excerpt

• Nikon system cameras down 11.1%
• Nikon lenses down 10.1%
• Compact cameras down 11.1%

• Sony digital cameras down 27.2%

• Canon system cameras down 17%
• Canon compact cameras down 29%

 

[cgw]

This drills down a bit more into Nikon's numbers:

Nikon’s Troubles Continue | DSLRBodies | Thom Hogan

 

[NancyMoranG]

Does this bode well for consumers that we may see great sales this Dec-January?

 

[astroNikon]

Does this bode well for consumers that we may see great sales this Dec-January?

depends if those consumers buy or not.
And if the camera makers are dumping previous inventoried stock, versus new manufactured stock. I read some numbers in the past which made me believe Nikon will make xxxx inventory camera bodies. If they don't sell before the next camera body comes out then they keep trying to sell those until their sold out. Just look at their website and watch older bodies still for sale even a good year + past when a new one was released. At one time at Meijers I saw the d3300, d3200 AND d3100 for sale at the same time.

But per another thread, Nikon is have a BF sale and also price reductions.

 

[Derrel]

Camera sales were on a roughly 10-year tidal wave as the digital revolution was born, developed, and matured. Now that we've hit the "good enough" level with everything from smartphones to compacts, to bridge cameras, to d-slr's to medium format digital, there's lot LESS incentive to upgrade to a new camera to get a 10 to 15 percent improvement in image quality or another "10" value added to the new body's number badge. The photo industry tend to do this behavior every decade and a half or maybe a bit longer--the industry leaders are ALWAYS on the lookout for the next, big, new thing. At one time, that was the Polaroid camera. Then it was the 35mm manual focus SLR. Then it was the compact zoom camera or the 35/70 dual-lens compact camera; then it was the autofocusing 35mm SLR with automatic film advance....and then digital was launched.

During each of these boom cycles, MANY people re-bought their cameras because they were convinced that there was a real benefit to getting a new camera. That is the way the photo retail business works...but now, the smartphone has combined small computer, video player, telephone, e-mail app, messenger app, video camera, and still photo camera, alllllllllll in to one, single,light, easy to carry device. This is the first real encroachment of another technology into the domain of the camera and video camera. Camera sales are declining, because there's less and less need to buy the next, big, new thing....people ALREADY own this new thing, by the hundreds of millions, world-wide.

 

[timor]

Sponge cannot absorb much more at the moment.