Latest CIPA report shays the camera sales of this year is even lower than of 2018. So, this isn’t so good situation for camera makers for now since dipping of sales haven’t arrived to a saturation point.
Camera sales graph by statista, it shows how the camera market shrinking up with time. Specifically compact camera sales all time low.
Well, let’s hope next year we will see some rise in the overall camera sales. DO share your thoughts with us.
I was al set to buy a Canon 5dmk4 to replace my mk3.then canon brought out the Eos r..I have decided to wait for the new Canon mk5
@Dave Don’t wait
Either go with Canon EOS R or you can buy high-end Canon FF Mirrorless camera with butil-in IS and Dual UHS II card slots next year (Aug-Sep 2020).
Yeah camera market is shrinking, especially when manufacturers releasing lenses with price tag 8000$, 6000$, 3000$ and so on. Lets wonder why then the marrket is shrinking…. ?
Not surprised at all…Have you seen the price of new gears this year? I was in the market to buy a new ML camera this year. I finally fell for a Lumix GX80 with 2 kit lenses, 12-32mm + 45-150mm + sd card + bag + UV filter at BH Photo for $475. Yes i know, it is a 3 year old cam but a very good one for that price. No way am i going to spend 2,000 and even more for a MC4/3 G9
People typically buy the high end phones just for the cameras, most of which use trickery to improve picture quality. They then upgrade, with the amount spent far exceeding what they could have spent on a decent compact like the Panasonic TZ220. You don’t need to spend an extra $800 on a phone for better selfies and pictures of food, only to upgrade the following year because the phone has suddenly got a crap camera!
What’s worse is people taking scenery shots or holiday photos with phones. Some even rely on phones in place of mirror less or DSLR’s… That’s what’s killing the camera industry. It actually pushes up prices of equipment due to logistics and efficiency of production.
@Much
Totally agree, the new multiple camera units smartphone and AI based bokeh modes are killing DSLR and Mirrorless sales.
After compact, now APS-C camera line-up will suffer due to AI based smartphone cameras.
I don’t think smartphones had a huge impact on ILC sales… but I think maybe that’s changing. We all know that a phone is no match for a good camera. But a good camera is a tool for an experienced photographer.
If you’re using an ILC today, DSLR, mirrorless, whatever, think about how you got there. Maybe you started out on some low-end crappy consumer camera — my first was my grandfather’s old Polaroid… the kind you had to coat with some noxious liquid. My Dad got me a Konica Auto S-2 for Christmas one year. Some years later, I saved up and bought an Olympus OM-1. We had a darkroom, and I learned printing techniques. Basically, you had to work to get better technical images.
Today’s phones are using AI and computational photography to deliver better images, yes. But this is allowing complete novices to remain complete novices and still get good results. Not great results, but good… and you’re not printing 8x10s, you’re posting to Instagram, 1080×1080 pixels. Even the overcomputed phone images today look about as good as anything else on Instagram.
But the big hit to real cameras isn’t that, but what happens when a phone shooter moves over to a camera. The very first roll of Tri-X I shot with my S-2 delivered technically better images than that dusty old Polaroid or my Mom’s 126 Instamatic. But hand a wonderful contemporary digital to a phone shooter and, chances are, they’ll get worse looking shots, at least in some aspects, than they did with the phone. No camera today is doing all of that work for them.
I was kind of hoping all those phones would be, eventually, good for the camera industry. Not the low-end P&S market, of course, but some of those cameras were so bad, they were essentially fradulent. They needed to go. But the AI disparity between cameras and phones will keep more consumers on phones than ought to be the case. Thing is, this is easily fixed, but it’s going to take camera companies following the phone innovations, rather than the other way around… and still ensuring none of that gets in the way of serious use of the camera, once it’s time.
What is the point of the stupid, irritating and distracting animation of the camera sales graph? Makes it frustratingly difficult to study the data. I gave up in disgust.
Agree with @Dave
“this is easily fixed, but it’s going to take camera companies following the phone innovations, rather than the other way around”
Bottomline is – DSLR users, hold on to your gears. These work horses cannot be replaced by anything else. All the features you need to create great images are built into all the DSLRs available in the market.
Never get carried away by the new bubble that in reality offers nothing mention worthy for seasoned and enthusiast photographers.