Camera Industry In Crisis

[markoconnell]

https://www.eoshd.com/news/camera-in...WfgVuu8TNo4CeE

[NorBro]

Besides people losing their jobs, this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

IMO, in the worst case scenario (so-to-speak in terms of the context above) if every Japanese company exited the market then we'd have no new cameras and we'd use what we have, which isn't the end of the world. (Or turn to other country's options.)

But realistically someone will be around to make something. Other companies will jump on opportunities like JJ/RED did when America had no representation in the world's cinema market, and/or new companies will emerge and enter.

Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon...they can make a photography or cinema camera overnight.

Nevertheless the Japanese need each other. IMO, their system doesn't work if only two of them are selling cameras, so I don't see much changing.

And if anything we'll actually see much better products being offered which we have been seeing in 2020 (maybe just a coincidence from an original roadmap).

[morgan_moore]

CaSoNikon cameras feel about as relevant as Debenhams they dont swipe and go to instagram dont have '3d photo mode' have slower slomo than Fail Army - hell they dont even know what time it is and they struggle to hook up to Zoom.

There is bound to be some crashes.

[NorBro]

Yeah, Panavision could definitely argue that if they let people buy their cameras because you have to sell your cameras if you want to be in the aforementioned market I'm referring to.

Otherwise you're just an oddball company that no one really knows about yet still has a huge history in the industry.

[combatentropy]

"Camera Industry In Crisis"? Does anyone remember in high school English, where you were taught to start with a topic sentence and follow it with supporting sentences?

The pressure to make clickbait headlines is real, and most news sites have given in. It is all the more obvious when you see that the full headline includes the phrase, "what happens next".

So, after reading the actual article, can anyone come up with a headline that better summarizes it? It is more like, "The downward trend that began a decade ago is still going on, only a bit more so because of the lockdown. But hey, a lot of these companies are figuring out ways around it."

--

Even if the future were as apocalyptic as the headline suggests, and all of these major camera companies go under, I'm with the rest of you that say, who cares? For me, after witnessing tiny companies like Ikonoskop or Digital Bolex make cameras that are closer to what I want than anything in a long time, I say, I welcome it.

I mean, they all have been dependent on there still being a company or two that makes good image sensors (Kodak, Fairchild, Sony, etc.). I don't know an indie way to make a good image sensor. Phones ensure there will always be a healthy supply of tiny image sensors, but let's hope the supply of large ones (S16 and above) don't cease Then we just need a small- to medium-size business to build a camera body around it (which is not easy at all, don't get me wrong).

[Peter C.]

So we're half way though a decade long "crisis" lol

I'm ambivalent towards these companies. On the one hand I love video/photo/tech on the other hand I've never felt like they have the user best interest in mind. So when their downfall is in part from them being out of touch...

I don't have any grandiose predictions. The best anyone can do is to adapt to what ever the way things evolve to. I'm old enough to remember the "crisis" when film was replaced by digital.

[ahalpert]

I'm not ambivalent because I'm invested in canon/Panasonic/sony gear. I want my lenses to be compatible with new cameras. I want my gear go maintain resale value (such as it is). I want service and firmware updates etc.

I took into consideration likelihood of manufacturer survival when I made my last camera purchase. I think that Canon and Sony are likeliest to survive

[DLD]

A couple of years ago, a Canon executive opined that the global market will sustain about five million units annually. Which it might, had the cripple hammer not been so liberally applied. But even at two-three million, a few manufacturers might exit and be replaced by the smaller, more agile entrants. It could also go the Class-D amplifier route, where top performing modules are made by a couple of companies (in the audio world, Hypex, Netherlands and ICE, Denmark are considered "audiophile" quality) and then marketed under different brand names.

[Grug]

The photography companies all blew up with the move the digital, but that momentum and demand was never going to be sustained indefinitely. The interesting question is which ones will successfully handle the downsize (back to sustainable levels) without going under.

Personally, I don't think longer product cycles will hurt anyone (companies or consumers).

[DLD]

The market changed drastically with Kodak's exit in 2012. And then with Samsung's in 2016-17.