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Camera industry is still decreasing with 24% drop in 2018

by 10 Comments

With Canon and Nikon announcing their full frame mirrorless camera, 2018 was an exciting year when it comes to camera industry. But how has this affected the overall results in gear manufacturing and sales? All this and more was explored in this video by LensVid. While the previous year brought us some long-awaited novelties: it seems that the market is still declining.

The guys from LensVid made an infographic based on CIPA’s information about digital cameras and interchangeable lenses and their production and shipping in 2018.

When it comes to the total number of cameras manufactured by year, it has been declining almost constantly since 2010. There was a slight increase in 2017 with 25 million cameras, compared to 23 million in 2016. However, there’s a decline again, with 19 million digital cameras manufactured in 2018. And when it comes to shipping, the decrease is very obvious here as well: compared to 2017, there was a 24% decrease in shipped cameras in 2018.

There is a decline in the number of manufactured lenses, too, but it’s less sharp (no pun intended). There were 19.4 million lenses in 2017, while this number decreased to 18.1 million in 2018. The number of shipped lenses also went down in 2018 by 7%.

But not everything has declined, according to the infographic. There was a 2% increase in the number of mirrorless cameras produced. However, the number of DLSRs produced in 2018 dropped by 12% when compared to 2017. There were 4.2 million mirrorless cameras manufactured and 6.6 million DSLRs. And when it comes to non-interchangeable lens digital cameras (compact), I guess we could have all expected a decline. Compared with 13.3 million in 2017, the number of other digital cameras went down to 8.6 million in 2018.

The infographic also compares different markets. Even though Canon’s EOS R took 22% of the Japanese full frame market near the end of 2018, this apparently didn’t have much effect on the overall results. The Asian camera market went down by 27%, and the market of the Americas went down by 18%. As for the lenses, the market went down by 11% in Japan but grew by 1% in the Americas.

Generally speaking, the camera and lens industry has been declining ever since 2010. Comparing the results from 2010 and 2018, we can see that the entire camera market saw a massive 84% drop. There are, I believe, numerous reasons for such a huge decline. One is definitely the improvement of smartphone cameras, which especially affects the production of compact cameras. On the other hand, it’s possible that many users don’t buy a new flagship DSLR or mirrorless. Many of these cameras don’t have major specs upgrades, so people don’t have the need to upgrade. These are only some reasons that crossed my mind, and I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the matter. Why do you think the camera market keeps decreasing?

[What Happened to the Photography Industry in 2018? via LensVid]

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  • pandacongolais

    I read so many articles explaining “why your current camera is enough” that I feel guilty for the decline …

  • All because of smartphone.

    • Walt

      My Brownie was superseded,too. All because of a Kodak 35mm camera.

  • Tj Ó Seamállaigh

    hmm What if they make a camera, with a sensor (no matter what size) that behaves differently from the smartphone’s camera sensor? Like, for a starter, a camera ready to shoot infrared (instead of letting the user pick-up his camera and convert it him/herself to shoot full spectrum).
    The thing about the specs is true. My camera is 9 years old now and I purchased a second-hand camera similar to it just to convert it for infrared shooting and I’m just used to it by now. The only thing that makes me think of moving to a larger sensor is the noise factor, sometimes.
    But also there is some awareness to be spread, which probably affect the camera DSLRs market indirectly (or even directly, not sure here):
    1. Spreading art-awareness among the public. Smartphones (if they are the major factor here) still have smaller sensors and the quality even in higher MP resolution is not the same with DSLRs sensors resolution. This, in return, affects the printing later on and other things related to the physical world. Encouraging galleries and arts with good prints, I think, is essential here.

    2. Like with the oil prices which dropped down drastically, this was caused by the overwhelming amounts of offered quantities. DSLR companies should not flood the market with cameras that barely have anything different between them in specs. Either make a huge jump in some technology or focus on developing other venues in the industry beside the DSLR lines (but not necessarily master it as I’ll mention later in No.3). This flooding in fact might even have made people take the decision to stick to the smartphones for doing “serious” photography rather than getting a DSLR. As a local saying here goes (to baffle a man, give him many choices) – Do not flood the market with choices.

    3. That “war” between different brands is quite unnecessary (pardon me, my mentality is not economical here). But it’s like each brand or DSLR company is spreading itself quite thin, trying to develop something and keeping its foot in something else as well, trying to master both; Mirrorless cameras as an example. Just focus on a goal and head to it. Stop the chess game with other brands to conquer new markets or overwhelm a specific market to get some brands out of it.

    4. I think the act of buying a used a camera is one of the factors as well, and I’m not sure if people leading the industry are considering this option. But to my experience, many people right now are really up to buying a used camera rather than a new one, specially if it was offered by a friend or someone they trust in general. This is common too for people who want to switch brands and they don’t want to start heavy but commonly think of starting with a used camera to decide later if they wanna continue using this brand or not.

    5. In relation to No.1 above, you might be surprised to the number of people nowadays who still think of photography as a “click of a button” – this sector of the audience (well, if I call them an audience) need also to change their views about photography and from there they would know the troubles that a photographer goes through to take one serious photo in any field, and how this cannot be compared to a snap on a smartphone.

    Just humble ideas from what I’ve experienced personally here.

  • Every new camera DSLR or mirrorless is over priced and upgrades seem to be given reluctantly and usually with a compromise.

  • Relatively speaking it’s taken a while, but camera technology has plateaued.
    My day to day camera in the studio is a 5D2.
    I don’t need the low light, I don’t need a million focus points and when it dies I’ll buy another 2nd hand one for £300.

  • Roy Bridgewood

    A great number of cameras are owned by people who will never or rarely print anything larger than an A4. Some of those owners may never print. It would be as interesting to see how printer sales are effected

    Lumix have introduced HLG ( Hybrid Log Gamma) photo to their S1 These images are for digital viewing inly

  • JOhn

    I agree with the analysis. Why bring a compact camera when your phone is good enough for internet pics, and you can directly upload. I also agree that there is not a lot of reason to upgrade, unless there is a feature that will improve your work. As far as lenses, they would slow with the decreased sales, but not as fast as the cameras, since current users are still buying lenses. They may be upgrading in quality, or buying specialty lenses for the “new” kind of photography they are working on. Hopefully the market maintains levels that will support enough manufacturers to keep them competing and innovating.

  • Marko

    My LG5 take amazing photos, one of them is of Porto/Portugal printed 23″x36″. In a couple of days I am receiving my new Huawei P2- Pro with a camera ten times better than the LG5. My 10 years old Nikon D300 does even better, I printed 2’x2′ prints, no problem. For pro work I have the D3 and D750 and I doubt I will need anything else in the next 5-10 years.

    For portraits I have 50mm 1.8, 85mm 1.8 and 180mm 2.8 no need anything else.

    Since my equipment will not be changing in the next at least 5 years, so will be the case for my 2 years old PC.

  • Kari Norén

    Iphone killed the camera industry and the newspaper industry and nokia and music industry. A bunch of gadgets is now obsolete.

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