Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

Over a year ago I read an article that was very revealing. It explained that the compact camera market, the point and shoots were taking a huge hit as cameras in phones were getting better and people were using their phones rather than the point and shoots. This caused a big profit hit to the large camera companies since the point and shoots made up a large percent of their profits. The article was aimed at explaining why this was good and bad for professional and semi-professional photographers. They said it was unlikely people would be shooting weddings with cell phones so there would be more business for wedding photographers, however to make up for the loss of profits from the sell of small cameras, we could expect to pay more for professional equipment in the future.
In line with that thinking, since the companies are loosing profits, they will cut back on research and development (which is very expensive). This means the new cameras they will be coming out with will have upgrades, but not enough to lure people with the previous model to buy the newest version. My guess is that when the D7000 was replaced by the D7100 a lot of people upgraded to get the 24mpx. over the 17mpx. D7000. I would be very surprised if as many people jumped from the D7100 to the D7200 since both offer the 24mpx. senor.

Edia Loc: Central New Jersey

Great. A discussion of camera company sales turns into a political statement about Obama. Obama has a little over a year to go. Then You will have a new President to hate.

thephotoman Loc: Rochester, NY

Those of us here in Rochester NY said the same thing about Kodak. Then one day we woke up to the announcement that Kodak is.laying off thousands of employees. Unfortunately this happens to even the biggest of companies.
I do hope the companies address the issue sooner rather than later.

thephotoman Loc: Rochester, NY

What are you talking about? I don't see anything mentioning Obama.

346pak Loc: Texas

Hey, I think I've heard that line before........

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

While the cell phone cameras are improving, they still shoot with a sensor so much smaller than a DX camera that the images are probably just approaching what could be shot with a good 10 year old DSLR (My wife's new HTC cell phone photos are just approaching the quality of her D70s photos). And again, she has better control (the camera doesn't try to guess at the photo) with her D70s than she does with the cell phone. I would guess that cell phones will replace most (and we are seeing this in camera sales numbers) point and shoot sales but I can't really see Joe McNally showing up on a big corporate shoot which his cell phone.

sirlensalot Loc: Arizona

Interesting that sales are being reported as "down" just after reading that the expected Sony a6100/7000 was delayed again because they have reached production capacity due the demand for the a7Rll.

EdM Loc: FN30JS

bingo...getting to be too late to blame bush, so just hammering on the table....

puku8849

That is why the Light L16 has 16 lenses and sensors and by combining the images taken with sophisticated software you will end up having an image of over 40MP. Go to their site and also watch the Vimeo video Gathering Light which gives you the physics of light and pixels.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

If this downturn continues I wonder if it will result in one company buying another. This happens often in many industries. Will we see a Canikon in the future?

DJO

Of course this is true. Fourth quarter sales are what matter, hence Black Friday, etc. You don't need to be an economics professor to know this.

I yawned before I was halfway through the original post but have enjoyed the ensuing discussions.

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

Much of what you say is true.

However the technology is changing and people are choosing alternatives.

Suspect that the day is not far off when affordable cameras for the general public are miniaturized without loss of image quality.

Who knows what form they will be in.

Harry Thomas Loc: Doylestown, Pennsylvania

:thumbup:

thephotoman Loc: Rochester, NY

That would certainly end the battle over which one is better.

splitwindow Loc: Grapevine TX

jfn007 wrote

Under the reign of Obama the Inept, many items have seen a drop in sales across the board. The unemployment level is between 5-6% only because 92 million Americans have stopped seeking jobs and are not reported as unemployed. Americans have seen their disposable incomes reduced by $2,500-$5,000 a year depending on which source you choose. I would not be too concerned about the health of Canon and Nikon.


Excuse me, where do you get your information? The population of the U.S. is about 330 million of which 188 million are in the work force. That number includes 16 year olds for some reason.
So you say we have 92 million Americans that have stopped looking for work, that means we have about a 50% unemployment rate. Where are the bread lines? Your numbers make zero sense.