Canon took the market share lead in Japan

BCN has published the market share data for the Japanese market for October. Canon has overtaken Sony and now leads the rankings. And these were the top 10 best-selling cameras:

  1. Canon R50
  2. Sony ZV-E10II
  3. Canon R10
  4. Sony ZV-E10
  5. Sony A6400
  6. Nikon Z fc
  7. Panasonic G100D
  8. Nikon Z30
  9. Olympus E-P7
  10. Sony A7cII

Curiosities:

  • The Sony A7cII is the only Full Frame camera in the top 10
  • Sony shares little love for APS-C…but they sell hot :)
  • Only in Japan Micro Four Thirds still sells

Dark clouds are hanging over the camera market again?

BCN+R reports that despite the camera market recovery after the COVID years “dark clouds are once again looming over the market“. Here is a summary made by Digicameinfo:

  • In recent years, sales of digital cameras have plummeted, with shipments also dropping sharply. After the COVID-19 pandemic, mirrorless cameras led the digital camera market, temporarily halting the decline. However, this was short-lived, and dark clouds are once again looming over the market, as prices for new mirrorless cameras have risen.
  • It is well known that the main factor behind the decline in shipments is the spread of smartphones.

  • Next, we will look at the trends in the penetration rate of digital cameras among all households, based on the Cabinet Office’s Consumer Trends Survey. From 2014 to 2016, it remained at the 60% level, but fell below 60% to 58.9% in 2017. The penetration rate has continued to decline since then, falling below 50% in 2022 and to 41.5% in 2012.

  • Finally, let’s compare the penetration rate by age group of the household head. The rate has declined in all age groups, but it is particularly noticeable among younger people. The penetration rate for those under 29 was 69.5% in 2014, but fell by more than 50 points to 18.2% in 2024. Even for those in their 30s, it has fallen by just under 50 points in about 10 years, which is a major factor in pushing down the overall penetration rate.
  • With the spread of smartphones, the number of people taking photos is steadily increasing, but statistics show that the number of people taking serious photos with digital cameras is decreasing.

The number of digital camera shipments has declined significantly since 2020, but has remained almost flat since 2022, so it seems that the contraction of the camera market has bottomed out. On the other hand, looking at the data on the penetration rate, it is expected to decline sharply in 2024, and the decline appears to be accelerating.
Looking at the digital camera ownership rate by age group, we can see that the ownership rate for younger generations is dropping sharply, but what is striking is that the ownership rate for those under 29 years old starts to rise again in 2024. This could be due to the boom in old and low-priced compact digital cameras among the younger generation.

In summary:
There might be a sort of self fulfilling prophecy mechanism: Camera manufacturers gave up the entry level market and developed expensive cameras. But they are too expensive for most people and so it’s hard to sell them in meaningful quantity. Companies should try to make sub $1000 cameras that are intriguing for the younger generation!

Panasonic officially registered a new camera: Lumix S1rII coming soon?

It’s official, folks! Panasonic has registered a new camera in China. This means that they are planning to officially launch a new camera within 3-4 months. All we can learn from this registration is that the camera supports 2.4GHz and 5.1GHz Wi-Fi. So this is definitely a mid to high end model.

At the moment, my guess is that it’s the new S1rII (a Lumix pendant of the Leica SL3). But there is still the possibility that it is the S1hII. Hopefully trustworthy sources can tell me more about it soon!

 

via Weibo

Never heard of this company before: Chinese company CAYE announced a 200mm f/3.5 lens

Caye Technology announced a new 200mm F3.5 lens. Key specs:

  • Full Frame
  • fixed F3.5 large aperture
  • manual focus
  • uses a set of two optical structures
  • minimum focusing distance of 1.8 meters
  • The lens body is about 32cm long
  • 14cm in diameter
  • weighs about 550g
  • Sony E, Canon RF, Canon EF, Canon EF-M, Nikon Z, Nikon F, Fuji X and M43 mounts

Something must have gone lost in translation because the pricing has been said to be 159 Yuan  which is $21 only! Probably there is a missing “0” and price might be 1590 Yuan and $210.

Source: Weibo

Ranking of the best-selling mirrorless cameras and lenses for October at Kitamura Camera

Kitamura has published its bestseller ranking for the month of July.

Top 10 cameras:

  1. Nikon Z30 double lens kit
  2. Canon R5II
  3. Olympus E-M10IV dual lens kit
  4. FujiFilm X-S20 with kit lens
  5. Sony ZV-E10 dual lens kit
  6. Sony A6700 with kit lens
  7. Sony A7III
  8. Sony A7IV with kit lens
  9. Sony A6700 body only
  10. Sigma FP with 45mm lens kit

Top 10 lenses:

  1. Sigma 56mm f/1.4 for Fuji X
  2. Tamron 28-200mm for Sony E
  3. Sigma 18-50mm for Fuji X
  4. Fujifilm 35mm f/2.0
  5. Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM
  6. Tamron 18-300mm for Sony E
  7. Sigma 30mm f/1.4 for Sony E
  8. Tamron 90mm macro for Sony E
  9. Sony 70-350mm E
  10. Tamron 70-180mm for Sony E

A couple of notes:

  • OM System is alive in Japan :)
  • I am surprised to NOT find the new ZV-E10II among the top sellers
  • While Sony places 5 camera into the top 10 none is really leading the pack on the very top.
  • 6 out of the top 10 lenses are for E-mount but Tamron is really the winner here as there is only one Sony lens in the top 10.
  • Sigma is selling a good amount of X-mount lenses!