DPReview summary of camera maker's recent sales reports: bad and less bad

[BJL]

DPReview has summarized recent financial reporting from most major camera makers at
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2014/02/24/weak-yen-masks-hard-times-as-mirrorless-and-dslr-sales-decline?utm_campaign=internal-link&utm_source=news-list&utm_medium=text&ref=title_0_3 and Thom Hogan also does so regularly.

One common conclusion is that Canon "won" this latest round in the interchangeable lens camera [ILC] market in that its sales declines are smaller than everyone else's!  I see exactly one positive change mentioned, and still highly qualified: Olympus increased its MFT revenues (but not unit sales). This 5% revenue increase came despite a fall in unit sales of the PEN models (the ones without a built-in EVF), so it is on strength of revenues from the more expensive OM-D models, probably the E-M1 in particular.

[Jim Pascoe]

I might not be typical - but I have several perfectly good but 'old' DSLR's and other cameras.  And I'm not making as much money from photography as I used to - and everything food, petrol etc is more expensive and so I don't have spare cash for buying new toys.  Just me, but perhaps some applies to lots of other too.  A few years ago I would have bought an EM-1 and a Canon 1DX by now, but I'm still on a GH2 and 1Ds3.  Excellent but ageing.  Like me

Jim

[robdickinson]

And somebody on here told me canon were struggling. Well not as much as some.

[Ed B]

I see exactly one positive change mentioned, and still highly qualified: Olympus increased its MFT revenues (but not unit sales). This 5% revenue increase came despite a fall in unit sales of the PEN models (the ones without a built-in EVF), so it is on strength of revenues from the more expensive OM-D models, probably the E-M1 in particular.

Am I reading this wrong or did Fuji increase it's imaging revenue 7.2%, 2% more than Olympus? Not to mention the fact that Olympus lost 4.4 billion Yen and Fuji lost 1.5. How is Olympus the only positive here?

[Chris_Brown]

This news appears to affect Nikon the most (see chart).

And in Large Format printer news, HP is the leader with 40% of the worldwide marketshare.

[BJL]

Am I reading this wrong or did Fuji increase it's imaging revenue 7.2%, 2% more than Olympus?

You are referring to this:

The Imaging Solutions division, of which Electronic Imaging is part, saw income rise 7.2% over the same period, thanks to sales of instant cameras and optical units for smartphones, TV cameras and projectors.

That category seems dominated by products other than the ILC digital cameras that I was curious about. The only news on the ILC front is in the next paragraph:

The company doesn't give fine detail about sales of camera types, instead rather coyly saying sales of its high-end X-series models 'proceeded smoothly.' This is contrasted with 'sales decreases due to the continuous worldwide decline in overall demand for compact digital cameras.'

It is hard to get details on Fujifilm's still cameras from these corporate reports, because such cameras are a tiny fraction (3.5%) of that company's huge overall business activity.

[Wayne Fox]

And in Large Format printer news, HP is the leader with 40% of the worldwide marketshare.

Interesting article, I really never realized the technical side of the LFP business was that large.  Epson has never been a major player in that part of the market.  Considering from the report that Epsons share of the graphics market is more than double the share of any other vendor, and HP is selling more than double the number of printers from Epson, it seems the technical market is larger than the graphics market.  What do all those printers print, blueprints?  I had a architect supply store in my small shopping center for a while and noticed they always had HP printers on the floor.

I was curious if Canon (or HP) had increased there share of the graphics market but the report doesn't break that part down (even though they seem to have the numbers). I've always wondered why my Canon rep continues to push the smaller printers (we sell quite a few), and yet can't get me the ipf printers.  Apparently that's the domain of a different department ...(now I know which one).

[Lee Roberts]

Economic issues and too many new products released by Nikon IMHO. I know because I purchased several expensive lenses that I've used....say.... 3 times in 12 months. Just curious: I wonder how the Electronic instrument producers are faring....my near-new Fender Statocaster that hasn't been played in around 2 years reminded me how much I work vs. Play. Part of hitting late 30's I suppose

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

It may depend on definition. At our company we have half a dozen large format printers but those are essentially plotters and not graphics arts printers. They are all HP.

Best regards
Erik

Interesting article, I really never realized the technical side of the LFP business was that large.  Epson has never been a major player in that part of the market.  Considering from the report that Epsons share of the graphics market is more than double the share of any other vendor, and HP is selling more than double the number of printers from Epson, it seems the technical market is larger than the graphics market.  What do all those printers print, blueprints?  I had a architect supply store in my small shopping center for a while and noticed they always had HP printers on the floor.

I was curious if Canon (or HP) had increased there share of the graphics market but the report doesn't break that part down (even though they seem to have the numbers). I've always wondered why my Canon rep continues to push the smaller printers (we sell quite a few), and yet can't get me the ipf printers.  Apparently that's the domain of a different department ...(now I know which one).

[Chris_Brown]

It may depend on definition.

A little reading of the article reveals exactly that:

• Shipments of technical printers had their third consecutive quarter of growth in 4Q13, increasing 6.9% year over year. Technical remained the larger application segment with 49,500 units shipped and a 60% share of the total LFP market in the fourth quarter, up from 59% a year earlier. Mature markets grew by 8.4% in the quarter. For all of 2013, technical shipments increased 4.6% year over year to 110,800 units.

• Shipments in graphics applications were flat compared to a year ago. With 32,500 units shipped, this segment accounted for 40% of the overall market, down 1 point from a year ago. Emerging markets enjoyed 4.8% year-over-year increase while mature markets declined -3.2% year-over-year.

And:

. . . HP remains the market leader in its traditional area of strength, the technical market, with more than double the share of its next competitor, Canon. HP also held its second place position in the graphics market, trailing market leader Epson.

[Telecaster]

Just curious: I wonder how the Electronic instrument producers are faring....my near-new Fender Statocaster that hasn't been played in around 2 years reminded me how much I work vs. Play. Part of hitting late 30's I suppose

You gotta play that Strat!

It amazes me that so many instrument makers can keep cranking out the kind of volume they do. And in terms of overall quality & consistency this, not the 1950s–60s, is the true Golden Age. I was at my favorite guitar emporium last week and while browsing around grabbed maybe half-a-dozen new Strats, at various price points, off the racks and played 'em unplugged a bit. They were all really good. In the mid-1970s, when I started playing electric, I would've had to visit half-a-dozen stores to find one good Strat...and that good one might've not even been a Fender. But I have to wonder if the current situation is economically sustainable. I do like how Rickenbacker operates, keeping production slightly below demand and with near-obsessive QC standards. If/when overall demand does take a dive the Rick approach is IMO more likely to be resilient.

-Dave-

[kaelaria]

When they stop innovating on a regular basis and there is no compelling MUST HAVE upgrade...I keep what I have. 

[allegretto]

You gotta play that Strat!

It amazes me that so many instrument makers can keep cranking out the kind of volume they do. And in terms of overall quality & consistency this, not the 1950s–60s, is the true Golden Age. I was at my favorite guitar emporium last week and while browsing around grabbed maybe half-a-dozen new Strats, at various price points, off the racks and played 'em unplugged a bit. They were all really good. In the mid-1970s, when I started playing electric, I would've had to visit half-a-dozen stores to find one good Strat...and that good one might've not even been a Fender. But I have to wonder if the current situation is economically sustainable. I do like how Rickenbacker operates, keeping production slightly below demand and with near-obsessive QC standards. If/when overall demand does take a dive the Rick approach is IMO more likely to be resilient.

-Dave-

So true!

A Custom Shop Strat is a much nicer instrument in terms of playability and tolerances than any of the 50's or 60's examples costing many times more. and even off the rack models for a few hundred are much finer. Probably the best playing strat ever was a late Clapton that was just so pure. Although I did have a '62 thin-slab that was superb, most have been better investments than musical instruments.

Gibsons were much better made in my experience, but still highly variable. This is even going back to the 60's when I first started playing. Never got into Ricks much. Had a Lennon though and it was obviously very well made. Just liked the sound of Fenders and Gibsons better.

Cameras too. any of the reasonable models from any of the manufacturers is sooo good!

[Lee Roberts]

You gotta play that Strat!

It amazes me that so many instrument makers can keep cranking out the kind of volume they do. And in terms of overall quality & consistency this, not the 1950s–60s, is the true Golden Age. I was at my favorite guitar emporium last week and while browsing around grabbed maybe half-a-dozen new Strats, at various price points, off the racks and played 'em unplugged a bit. They were all really good. In the mid-1970s, when I started playing electric, I would've had to visit half-a-dozen stores to find one good Strat...and that good one might've not even been a Fender. But I have to wonder if the current situation is economically sustainable. I do like how Rickenbacker operates, keeping production slightly below demand and with near-obsessive QC standards. If/when overall demand does take a dive the Rick approach is IMO more likely to be resilient.

-Dave-

Yeah I know. It's going to waste. Bought at Best Buy year-end sale in 2010 for $899 unopened! Its an American strat with same color scheme as the Clapton blackie. Owned a 2004 Les Paul Standard in Honeyburst. Beauty it was but their quality has gone down fast. Sold it to my best friend. PRS are supposed to be the Cadillac of guitars now I hear. I remember about 20 yrs back they were like Samyang/Rokinon. Well maybe not but still....and finally I lived in Chicago and visited all the vintage guitar shops.of course the guitars they had were stellar....which doesn't represent an average guitar from the 50's -60's

[jjj]

When they stop innovating on a regular basis and there is no compelling MUST HAVE upgrade...I keep what I have.

This is the important really point. It would be interesting to compare today's 'poor' sales with those of say 1984 or 1994 when the SLR market was fairly mature.
With digital being a new medium and with vast jumps in quality from the cameras ten years back to the stage now where all DSLRs are pretty darn good. There are no pressing reasons to upgrade anymore. I went from a 20D to a 5D to a 5DII in a few years and each time the quality and camera functionality was markedly superior. With the 5DIII, yes the camera has some of the rough edges smoothed out, but regarding image quality? There's not much in it and for video some people prefer the rendering of the Mark II. The DSLR market is plateauing in image quality as basically it's more than good enough for most people now.