Camera rumors for 2016?

Not a camera rumor but a camera sales rumor... or, actually, a financial projection. From Nikon's own mouth. Blaming the unfavorable exchange rate and the Kumamoto earthquake, the company anticipates the net income for their imaging division to drop 38% for the 2015-2017 time frame. As someone opined on a different forum, with trends like this, they could be headed for a net loss within 3-4 years.

And, to draw further parallels, Nikon is a part of the giant Mitsubishi concern in similar way that Samsung Imaging was a (small) part of the huge Samsung corporation. And we know what can happen to the unprofitable and insignificant branches of these international conglomerates. They can be lopped off in a hurry.
 
DLD said:
Not a camera rumor but a camera sales rumor... or, actually, a financial projection. From Nikon's own mouth. Blaming the unfavorable exchange rate and the Kumamoto earthquake, the company anticipates the net income for their imaging division to drop 38% for the 2015-2017 time frame. As someone opined on a different forum, with trends like this, they could be headed for a net loss within 3-4 years.

And, to draw further parallels, Nikon is a part of the giant Mitsubishi concern in similar way that Samsung Imaging was a (small) part of the huge Samsung corporation. And we know what can happen to the unprofitable and insignificant branches of these international conglomerates. They can be lopped off in a hurry.
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Nikon isn't really a "part of Mitsubishi". It's more like Mitsubishi has a small financial stake in Nikon.
 
John Godden said:
Nikon isn't really a "part of Mitsubishi". It's more like Mitsubishi has a small financial stake in Nikon.
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Mitsubishi also has a stake in banks that have a stake in Nikon.

And it even lists Nikon on Mitsubishi.com

http://www.mitsubishi.com/php/users/category_result_info.php?lang=1&company_id=00000004

The corporate structure of the Japanese companies can get very convoluted, obviously, but Nikon is deemed as a part of the Mitsubishi Group from every source that I have seen.
 
Another non-rumor. Pentax K1 - $1,800, full frame, 36 MPX, 5-axis on-sensor stabilization, crappy video and slow auto focus - has been getting reviewed at a bunch of photo sites. DPR says its photo quality in the pixel-shift mode give some medium format cameras (namely 645Z) a run for its money. The camera forte is studio, landscape, portrait and interiors. It's deemed a competitor to 5DSr rather than to D810 (although, it probably the same sensor). Another factor working on its behalf is the Pentax line of lenses, which deliver excellent performance for the money. For example, its 28-70mm F2.8 is only $1,300.

Now, the reason I bring up a, by and large, stills product here is because Sony is rumored to be bringing out A7III at a not-too-distant future. If so, I see that as more of a video rather than stills geared model because Sony wouldn't want to compete with a semi-related brand in the same market niche. In fact, K1 is a shot against Canon and Nikon, who also favor photography over the moving images at the sub-$2,000 price point and Pentax now is beating them at their own game. With Sony's help, naturally.
 
I would expect the a7 III to remain at around 24 Mpix, but offer AF as good as that on the a7r II or a6300. For video, it may get rid of the aliasing/moire of the a7 II, but I would't expect much more than that (OK, that sounds a lot less awesome than it actually is, I'll admit that). Then the a7r III would offer similar pixel-shift tech as the K1, and finally the a7S III would offer 4K at 60fps and maybe "proper slog3".
 
I'd speculate that A7III would have roughly the same specs as A6300 but, hopefully, with a faster sensor readout for less rolling shutter and an improved low light capability.

The other key here is its pricing. Something in the $1,500 neighborhood seems reasonable.

The follow-up question is where this leaves GH5.
 
DLD said:
Not a camera rumor but a camera sales rumor... or, actually, a financial projection. From Nikon's own mouth. Blaming the unfavorable exchange rate and the Kumamoto earthquake, the company anticipates the net income for their imaging division to drop 38% for the 2015-2017 time frame. As someone opined on a different forum, with trends like this, they could be headed for a net loss within 3-4 years...
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And it's being reported that Nikon is now beginning to slash costs everywhere. Maybe it will also dawn on them to offer a little more bang for the buck with their products.
 
CNet has a new article on Samsung today. But not about video, about audio. The company set up a lab just north of LA, hired some experienced audio engineers and is trying to expand into that market. As Samsung already makes soundbars for its own TV line, this move makes sense.

The same article refers to a well known manufacturer of the high end speakers Bowers and Wilkins being sold to a Silicon Valley startup, a case of a company of over 1,000 people being swallowed by a company of only 40 people. If course, if those 40 people have billions behind them, it helps.

These two purchases, along with Nikon's cost slashing, makes me wonder if a lot of people see the IoT audio as the next big market with video and photo slowly fading into obscurity.

PS. A poster on the Nikon Rumors wrote - not quoting verbatim - that the Nikon new corporate policy has the Mitsubishi fingerprints all over it. He even used the term "zaibatsu", which I had to look up.
 
This is about Samsung phones only (I think) but may explain what happened with its cameras.

Slimming down its product portfolio was another departure from the past, when Samsung launched variations to soak up as much demand as possible. As market growth stalled, that approach was no longer cost effective.


It phased out unpopular models and created common platforms, with more phones using the same parts. Researcher Counterpoint says Samsung has shed close to a third of its product portfolio.


That move also had to overcome internal resistance.


"If you're in the trenches, you want to have a machine gun, a grenade, a mine on hand," Kim said. "There are also different needs depending on individual markets, so regional sales staff naturally can't be happy when the company moves to rationalize and restructure from a global structure. The transition process is painful."
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https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/halt-smartphone-slide-samsung-rewrites-013043915.html
 
DLD said:
Another non-rumor. Pentax K1 - $1,800, full frame, 36 MPX, 5-axis on-sensor stabilization, crappy video and slow auto focus - has been getting reviewed at a bunch of photo sites. DPR says its photo quality in the pixel-shift mode give some medium format cameras (namely 645Z) a run for its money. The camera forte is studio, landscape, portrait and interiors. It's deemed a competitor to 5DSr rather than to D810 (although, it probably the same sensor). Another factor working on its behalf is the Pentax line of lenses, which deliver excellent performance for the money. For example, its 28-70mm F2.8 is only $1,300.

Now, the reason I bring up a, by and large, stills product here is because Sony is rumored to be bringing out A7III at a not-too-distant future. If so, I see that as more of a video rather than stills geared model because Sony wouldn't want to compete with a semi-related brand in the same market niche. In fact, K1 is a shot against Canon and Nikon, who also favor photography over the moving images at the sub-$2,000 price point and Pentax now is beating them at their own game. With Sony's help, naturally.
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The K-1 does look interesting .
https://www.flickr.com/photos/29329237@N07/albums/72157667797755255
 
Nikon's Investor Relations page - (the highlights are mine- DLD)

http://www.nikon.com/about/ir/ir_library/result/qa/2016_4q/index.htm

------------------------------------

Q:Can you tell us about your digital camera unit sales forecast for the year ending March 2017?

A: The latest forecast that we have announced constitutes our "target figures" for units sold of digital cameras at this point in time, which takes into account the contractionary trend of the market overall, the impact of the Kumamoto earthquakes and the delay in the release of our new compact digital cameras that we recently announced.

Based on the above conditions, we have forecasted 3.2 million unit sales of the digital cameras–interchangeable lens type, a year-on-year decrease of 21%; 4.9 million unit sales of interchangeable lenses, a year-on-year decrease of 17%; and 3.7 million unit sales of compact digital cameras, a year-on-year decrease of 41%.
 
Samuel H said:
What a prospect... :(
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On top of that, it's a complete spin (i.e., bull crap). A short in duration interruption in their manufacturing fabs can be offset by the reduction of the backup inventory (which they did do by canceling their rebates) and some shipment delays. In and of itself, it doesn't cause a 20%-40% drop.

The Japanese exports are suffering overall also. It is not just the photo companies problem. They claim it's due to the high Yen. I claim it's because of the general lack of competition within the Japanese market itself.
 
New Olympus action camera - Tough TG Tracker

http://www.getolympus.com/us/en/dig...er.html?SID=toiqkkicqpshvo9a3ca2574615&ref=CJ

Also, Sony announced, following the Kumamoto earthquake, that they will cease the production of "high functionality cameras" for the outside parties and take a 30B Yen (~ $280M, I believe) write off because of it. This sounds like they're dropping sensor development for Nikon, Canon, Panasonic, Olympus, etc (they still own a part of the Olympus, if I am not mistaken). That seems like a major development in that area.
 
That TG Tracker, has a lot of options but they better put their effort in a decent image. Even with the 4K it looks like it's filmed with a potato.
 
DLD said:
New Olympus action camera - Tough TG Tracker

http://www.getolympus.com/us/en/dig...er.html?SID=toiqkkicqpshvo9a3ca2574615&ref=CJ

Also, Sony announced, following the Kumamoto earthquake, that they will cease the production of "high functionality cameras" for the outside parties and take a 30B Yen (~ $280M, I believe) write off because of it. This sounds like they're dropping sensor development for Nikon, Canon, Panasonic, Olympus, etc (they still own a part of the Olympus, if I am not mistaken). That seems like a major development in that area.n
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Ceasing production of "high functionality cameras" for outside parties sounds more like not making cameras for companies like Hasselblad Bron, who has also announced that they're not going to continue selling re-branded Sony cameras, instead shifting their focus back to their own cameras... which use Sony sensors. :)
 
Tamerlin said:
Ceasing production of "high functionality cameras" for outside parties sounds more like not making cameras for companies like Hasselblad Bron, who has also announced that they're not going to continue selling re-branded Sony cameras, instead shifting their focus back to their own cameras... which use Sony sensors. :)
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Ya but that would not cause a ~ $250M-$280M write-off. I assume "high functionality" means "high performance", i.e, the enthusiast and pro tier models. Which, in Sony's case, translates to full frame and medium format. Their smaller sensors for the cameras of "lower functionality" are probably a carryover from their smartphone lines anyway. This doesn't bode too well for Pentax (K1, 645Z) and Nikon (D810, D610, etc).

Then again, that long rumored Nikon-Samsung partnership may finally have to bear some fruit. Primarily, out of necessity.
 
DLD said:
Ya but that would not cause a ~ $250M-$280M write-off. I assume "high functionality" means "high performance", i.e, the enthusiast and pro tier models. Which, in Sony's case, translates to full frame and medium format. Their smaller sensors for the cameras of "lower functionality" are probably a carryover from their smartphone lines anyway. This doesn't bode too well for Pentax (K1, 645Z) and Nikon (D810, D610, etc).

Then again, that long rumored Nikon-Samsung partnership may finally have to bear some fruit. Primarily, out of necessity.
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Except that sensors aren't cameras. Sony isn't making any of those medium format cameras; they're selling them sensors. I don't get the impression that they'd want to stop selling those sensors, because those big sensors probably have pretty steep margins associated with them.
 
Tamerlin said:
Except that sensors aren't cameras. Sony isn't making any of those medium format cameras; they're selling them sensors. I don't get the impression that they'd want to stop selling those sensors, because those big sensors probably have pretty steep margins associated with them.
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And I think that this post-earthquake Sony announcement means precisely that. "Nikon, Pentax, no more sensors for you! Here's 30B Yen. Now, go away".

Edit : This was in the official release.

"In addition, Sony decided to terminate the development and manufacturing of high-functionality camera modules for external sale, the mass production of which was being prepared at the Kumamoto Technology Center, as a result of a reconsideration of the strategy of this business from a long-term perspective. Approximately 30 billion yen in expense is expected to be incurred due to this termination."
 
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For me, "high-functionality camera modules" means smartphone modules. They come with a sensor, lens, AF system, and sometimes DSP as well.
 
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