Nikkei: “Japanese Camera Industry Strangles Itself. 88% Decline in 10 Years. On the Brink of Extinction, Unless…”

Triggered by recent failure of the Olympus imaging division (which FujiRumors dedicated an own – and very personal – article here), Nikkei deputy editor Masamichi Hoshi has published a rather dark overview over the current camera market situation and an even darker forecast.

The article starts by taking into account two rather obvious reasons, why the camera industry struggles, and that surely Japanese camera makers are not responsible for:

  • the rise of smartphones
  • COVID-19 (which lead to only 2.63 million shipments during the first four months of this year, down 44% from the same period last year)

The numbers of the decline are dramatic:

  • 2010: a total of 121 million digital cameras shipped
  • 2019: a total of 15 million digital cameras shipped
  • … this means there was an almost 88% decrease in 10 years only!
  • 2020: a total of 2.63 million digital cameras shipped in the first 4 months

A special mention in regards of struggling companies goes to Nikon, which has photography as a core business (unlike Fujifilm), but also all other brands are having hard times.

Nikon’s imaging unit, which has focused on digital cameras, finished the fiscal year that ended in March with an operating loss of 17.1 billion yen ($158.7 million), down from a profit of 22 billion yen the previous year. In November, the unit drafted a rebuilding plan focused on the “pro-hobby class,” which consumes 3 million interchangeable lenses per year. It aims to cut 50 billion yen from its fiscal 2019 operating costs by the end of fiscal 2022. The cuts will come from a reorganization of production plants, a narrowing of products and a personnel reduction.

The digital camera operations of companies like Ricoh and Panasonic also continue to struggle. The operating profit at Canon’s imaging system units fell by 48.2 billion yen in the year through December, a 62% drop the previous year.

But beyond smartphones and COVID-19, there is a third reason highlighted by Masamichi Hoshi, which is the one we want to focus on here today: excessive competition.

Here is what Masamichi Hoshi writes on Nikkei:

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RISESPRAY 35mmF0.95 MKIII now $299 Deal and REVIEW by a Guy, Who Stupidly left Fujifilm for Sony and then Switched back to Fuji :)

 

The RISESPRAY 35mm f/0.95 Mark III Standard Lens for Mirrorless Camera (Fuji X-Mount) is now $100 off with coupon code. All details here at AmazonUS.

  • PREMIUM OPTICAL DESIGN: 12 circular aperture blades, 8 groups 11 elements lens structure with high quality multi-coated optical glass, ensures low image distortion, excellent image sharpness and contrast. 35mm focal length is equivalent to 52.5mm on APS-C camera. Perfect for portraits shooting with fascinating background blur effect.
  • COMPATIBILITY:Compatible with SONY E/ Fujifilm FX/Micro 4/3/Canon EF-M/Nikon N1 series interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras
  • AMAZING LARGE APERTURE: Designed with high quality multi-coated optical glass. Exquisite body features amazing maximum aperture of F0.95, which creates fascinating background blur effect and sharper image quality. No worries about the low-light & night scene, just shoot and enjoy the safe and fast shutter speed.
  • EASY TO USE: with the focal length scale and smooth focal ring. After a short term learning, it’s very easy to focus what you want and feel the unique charm of the manual lens, and lets you more concentrate on the image itself.
  • WHAT YOU GET – lens, lens front & rear caps,MCUV filter ,star 4/6/8 point filter,metal filter case and microfiber cleaning cloth. NOTE: Camera NOT INCLUDED.

If you are interested in a review, there is one made by Jonathan, who contacted me and let me know about it.

But before we go to the lens, here is

A little over a year ago, I (stupidly) sold all of my Fuji X gear to move to Sony (and then back to Fuji again).

Well, that sounds familiar, for example:

So, what does Jonathan think about the Risespray 35mm f/0.95 MKIII (which has 12 aperture bladed vs 9 on the Mitakon)?

  • build quality surprisingly good
  • It is all metal and glass
  • focus ring is quite smooth with just a very slight hint of play in it
  • aperture ring also turns very smoothly and is unfortunately clickless
  • Risespray is a bit smaller and lighter than the Mitakon 35mm f/0.95 MK II
  • Flare will cause issues, but no more so than the Mitakon
  • Image Quality: I’m very satisfied with the results
  • I’m not seeing anything bad enough to make me want to send this back

You can read it all and see more samples at jonathanhrovath.

If you want to check out the lens, you can do so at AmazonUS here.

BCN Sales Ranking: Fujifilm Grows 115% and Sony, Canon & Co Fall 30% to 50%

The latest BCN ranking has just been published. It collects data of about 40% of the Japanese electronics and online stores. Here is what they see:

  • in March, camera sales were down 49.5% compared to March last year
  • Sony dropped to 44.5%, Olympus to 54.9%, and Canon to 32.3%
  • Only Fujifilm grew 115.6%. It has the fourth largest market share

They write:

In the rankings by series, Canon’s “EOS Kiss M” beat the Olympus “OLYMPUS PEN E-PL9” by a small margin to gain the top position. Sony ranks No. 1 by manufacturer and ranks No. 3 at “α6400”. As for Fujifilm’s soaring rise, “FUJIFILM X-A5” ranked 6th, and “FUJIFILM X-E3” ranked 9th. (Daisuke Okura, BCN)

Nice to see the Fujifilm X-E3 doing well. And hence even more disappointing that Fujifilm decided to axe it!

Also, keep in mind that in the last 6 months Fujifilm was extremely busy and launched lots of cameras, from the X-Pro3 to the X-T200, X100V and ultimately the X-T4 (the latter one not included in the raking, though). All this, while other manufacturer were not nearly as active.

And yet, nice to see this sales performance boost. It’s well deserved for a camera company, that makes some of the most inspiring photographic tools out there.

via dc.watch via bcn

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These Guys Left Full Frame Sony, Canon and Nikon for Fujifilm APS-C

Switch to X

Here is a roundup about photographers, who are switching from full frame Sony, Canon and Nikon to Fujifilm X.

Mostly they say that the difference in image quality compared to full frame is negligible. But the difference in ergonomics, functionality, menu system, look, size, beautiful lenses, color science etc is much more significant. These aspects make the real difference and worth it to go with Fujifilm APS-C.

At the end, the most important thing is getting into a system that makes you want to shoot more, and Fujifilm is, for some, the best choice for that. As one of the them said:

There is something about Fujifilm, where they want you to get the most for what you pay for.

And to be clear: if you shoot any other brand, and are happy with it, then you did everything right, and you should not care about what the people below say. You have your needs, and you are right to ignore Fujifilm.

But here we are on a Fujifilm blog, so we talk about people, who shoot Fujifilm.

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