Camera Sales went down again in 2015

[dolina]

http://youtu.be/zFQOYmPIRiQ


http://i.imgur.com/Muy8ogJ.jpg

Source: https://lensvid.com/gear/lensvid-exclusive-what-happened-to-the-photography-industry-in-2015/

[Mark L]

Does non interchangeable lens cameras include mobile devices? Figures look go if they do.:)

[ricktas]

sales of lots of things went down in 2015, reflection of the economy in general and also that there really was not any major advances in camera tech introduced in 2015. We did not see a huge jump in MP count, High ISO quality or any other tech superiority that we get every few years. Like the move to 30-50 MP sensors or a couple of years back.

Eg the Nikon D800 is still 'current tech'. Lots of people will not upgrade until something comes along that shines above the current crop.

So a slump in camera sales is just a reflection of the current product and other non-camera related factors. Fairly much less of everything sold in 2015. Mobile phones were probably the exception. But even then iPhone sales dropped and continue to do so, as an indicator as well.

[dolina]

Mark the stats only concern dedicated still cameras like mirrorless, SLRs and point and shoots.

Tablets, notebooks, smartphones, webcams and the like are not included

[arthurking83]

The market is a strange one.
I think this LensVid website needs a proper mathematician to to the graphic next time tho .. the drop in DSLR's produced is (just a snick under) 5% .. not 9% they show in the graphic.

The 17% drop in camera sales is not really relevant to use, enthusiast types, as the majority of that figure is the cameras with fixed lens figures anyhow .. most if not all, or more! .. of that figure is in the cheap P&S market, as there are high end cameras(eg. Fuji X100/Sony RX100 type models) with lenses built in that would surely have increased in sales volume, if only by a small amount.

The collapse in the market is sure in the cheap low end P&S market, where a smartphone with cam is probably good enough for most folks.

Also, if you look at the lens market properly .. and not just generalise, 35mm format lenses haven't moved much in terms of production overall, and in some markets have increased in volumes shipped.
In 4 out of the 5 areas listed in CIPA data, DSLR lens shipped have all increased, even if only by a very small margin, but in 'Asia'(which I assume means any Asian area excluding Japan) .. it collapsed(by nearly 20%!!)
But the underlying feature of these numbers is still missed!
And that is, as has been for a couple of years now, that whilst physical numbers have dropped slowly here and there, values(of what products are made/shipped) have generally increased significantly.

it makes sense then that volumes will decrease if the value of the product increases.

People are buying few but higher quality products!

As for the increase in mirrorless sales vs the decrease in DSLR sales, also inevitable and the lens sales also gives us a clue as to what may be happening here too.
DSLRs have been bought for a long time compared to mirrorless type cameras.
Some people have already got a 'good quality camera' .. and by this I mean average Joe/Jane has a DSLR in the cupboard with a kit lens they use every now and then for special occasions.
This is the market on the whole! Nikon's D3000 series and Canon's 1000D series camera with a kit lens. This market segment accounts for nearly 50% of DSLR volumes.
There are only so many numbers of these products that a non enthusiast household require! .. they aren't buying any longer as they already have that 'good quality camera' they they sometimes use.

But what's also happening is that some of those folks are also buying better lenses for the DSLR, and hence paying more for that better quality lens now.


I never take notice of these generalised figures charts, which are a 'dime a dozen'!
What's more interesting in terms of sales figures are those that properly analyse them.
Thom Hogan is a good source, otherwise if you're interested in such data go straight to the source at the CIPA website and interpret the data for yourself.