Nikon to temporarily focus on mirrorless cameras after 80% drop in camera sales
Jan 20, 2021
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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2020 has been tough on Nikon. The company faced multiple gear delays, layoffs, and company restructuring. The camera sales suffered as well, creating a colossal 17.1 billion yen loss in the Q1 of 2020. So, Nikon has decided to focus on mirrorless for the time being.
Toyo Keizai Plus did an interview with Nikon’s Managing Executive Officer Hirotaka Ikegami. According to this source, in April 2020 the number of “interchangeable lens cameras sold decreased by 80% from the same month of the previous year.” Since the text is Google-translated from Japanese, it’s not clear whether “interchangeable lens cameras” refers to DLSRs only. However, Ikegami claims that, for the time being, Nikon will concentrate on mirrorless. This is why I assume that the 80% reduction in sales refers to DSLR only.
Ikegami says that Nikon’s EVF has very good performance and is “highly evaluated compared to other companies.” He adds that it0s different to distinguish from the OVF of an SLR, which makes him confident about the future of Nikon mirrorless.
The previous fiscal year has been difficult, and Ikegami said that Nikon expects a total loss of 45 billion yen in the fiscal year ending March 2021. As you can probably guess, it’s caused by the coronavirus pandemic. However, he added that the world market is recovering faster than expected, starting with China.
There is no doubt that there’s still room for growth in the mirrorless market and I believe that Nikon sees potential in this. The company’s decision to focus on mirrorless cameras likely means that we’ll see more of these. Perhaps Nikon will introduce more entry-level models or relatively affordable full-frame cameras like the Z5.
[via Nikon Rumors, digicame-info]
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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10 responses to “Nikon to temporarily focus on mirrorless cameras after 80% drop in camera sales”
the market has spoken!
I’ve beaten about the bush elsewhere merely pointing out that Nikon is making lenses that people might admire but they aren’t interested in buying. So here is a specific requirement that might actually save your camera business, Nikon:
You need to offer a set of prime lenses of 18, 24, 35, 50 and 85mm. They should be quick – ideally between f/1.4 and f/1.8. Focus on keeping them compact and light (you can do this. You’ve done it before). Keep the optics fairly simple by improving on tried and tested formulas, and fix the barrelling and vignetting and as much else as is possible with a bit of in-camera computation. Make sure they are weather sealed and price them between $399 and $899.
I’d buy at least three of the five focal lengths I’ve suggested.
Primes are not the hot sellers you think but are very niche.
To succeed there must be broad appeal.
So far Nikon lacks that by appealing to the over 70 crowd.
You may have a point (even if it is rather ageist), but it seems we both agree that Nikon’s lens offering is very incomplete and poorly conceived.
That said, ILCs of any flavor are niche these days. Sure, back when DSLRs were hot consumer items, the average consumer bought a kit lens or two and called it a day. But is that still a thing? As it’s easier for me to list the lenses I don’t own for my system, maybe I’m not the best judge, but I do own more primes than zooms.
The full frame race has been to the top, mostly, with Sony, Canon, Panasonic/Leica, and Nikon all shooting for completely modern, professional — and thus huge and expensive — lens collections. I think it’s a little telling that Canon has actually gone more towards the higher end, with a whole slew of top priced “hero” lenses, and they have outperformed Nikon considerably.
I think the real,problem here was finding your customers. Nikon started building an alternate system to what Sony sold. After all, that was their obvious competition.
Canon started building a body to get existing Canon users to try mirrorless without jumping to Sony. The they made a bunch of lenses that competed, not with Sony’s lineup, but all,looked like upgrades of what a Canon user already owned.
Compact might have been a strategy. But you’ll never match Fujifilm or Micro Four Thirds on size, and immediately be seen as a lesser option by pros. Ir’s a difficult market for Nikon and Canon to have entered so late.
Too late
they should start RIGHT NOW with a Medium Format cameras…. its time
Well, that won’t help them based on the excessively high price of their lenses for mirrorless.
Okey, and which camera can you recommend for a beginner? I found these https://www.bestadvisor.com/mirrorless-cameras I like how looks Sony Alpha