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The latest financial results: there are no winners in the camera industry
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Feb 10, 2019 18:10:18   #
gwilliams6
 
The latest financial results: there are no winners in the camera industry


https://photorumors.com/2019/02/10/the-latest-financial-results-there-are-no-winners-in-the-camera-industry/?fbclid=IwAR3uXfZG6__VaKu7Bcah7SaiFCI9z8KxfevIKjctFck-Q5n3dG1dU5UlZgg

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Feb 10, 2019 18:14:02   #
BebuLamar
 
Perhaps UHH members don't buy cameras any more.

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Feb 10, 2019 18:25:06   #
CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City
 
BebuLamar wrote:
Perhaps UHH members don't buy cameras any more.

The fixation on point-release upgrades and "backup" bodies would tend to say otherwise ...

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Feb 10, 2019 18:28:46   #
BebuLamar
 
CHG_CANON wrote:
The fixation on point-release upgrades and "backup" bodies would tend to say otherwise ...


I do feel that way when reading the posts here!

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Feb 10, 2019 18:33:17   #
ken_stern Loc: Yorba Linda, Ca
 
For the industry it's been a nice almost 20yr high profit ride but unless someone comes-up with a real wiz-bang idea then this is a mature industry as it was prior to the advent of digital

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Feb 10, 2019 18:36:13   #
larryepage Loc: North Texas area
 
Ok...first...these are not results...they are updated forecasts for the period that doesn't even end until March 31st.

Second...it is standard practice in most industries when business is "off" to issue defensive advance warning around potential bad news. Investors hate surprises worse than they hate bad news, and rapidly falling stock prices can affect a company's ability to borrow money or can risk their shares being bought into unfriendly hands.

Third...if you read carefully, what's down is the projected sales of entry level and middle grade cameras. They don't say what's going on with the reduction in lens sales. This is a concern, because it means that new people are not coming into our discipline as rapidly as in the past. We can help fix that. But for you MILC folks, maybe it's not a big deal...neither Nikon nor Canon has a base of comparison to last year on MILCs, and none of their cameras in this category are entry or mid level products.

So my suggestion is to stop panicking and find a new person to introduce to photography.

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Feb 10, 2019 18:39:19   #
BebuLamar
 
Just some news not panicking. I wouldn't care if the entire photographic industry goes out of business tomorrow. I don't work for them so no lay off problem there.

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Feb 10, 2019 18:43:34   #
CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City
 
larryepage wrote:

So my suggestion is to stop panicking and find a new person to introduce to photography.


Why do that when the general UHH population's most popular answer is to suggest the newest high-end equipment rather than even a basic analysis of the OP's technique and / or current equipment? The wider world recognizes even high-end photography is no longer limited to the ownership of luxury goods known as interchangeable lens cameras.

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Feb 10, 2019 18:53:51   #
MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama
 
I think one of the most interesting things in the report was that has Sony invested over 600 million in Olympus and now their total holdings are 12% of the company. How does " Solympus or maybe Olympason " sound...

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Feb 10, 2019 19:11:06   #
ArtzDarkroom Loc: Near Disneyland-Orange County, California
 
When I was a child in the 60's very few people even owned a camera. In my group of high school buddies at a social function, there were few if any camera's to memorialize the gatherings. No evidence... lol. Nowadays, cameras on smartphones are ubiquitous. Maybe those pix aren't museum quality and certainly not "Art" but the users are offered a plethora of interesting filters to adjust the image. Selfies feed the ego and desire for quick approval. Photography has truly made it to the general population and point&shoot is common. Memories captured digitally fill social media and people are happy enough with that to sacrifice buying high end cameras. Well, that's my guess. I could be wrong.

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Feb 10, 2019 19:25:52   #
rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin
 

The sky is falling, the sky is falling ...

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Feb 10, 2019 19:59:11   #
PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago
 
rjaywallace wrote:
The sky is falling, the sky is falling ...
Do you have a shelter?

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Feb 10, 2019 20:13:12   #
Bill_de Loc: US
 
BebuLamar wrote:
Perhaps UHH members don't buy cameras any more.


Sure they do, but are always advised to by used or refurb.

--

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Feb 10, 2019 21:09:55   #
srt101fan
 
BebuLamar wrote:
Just some news not panicking. I wouldn't care if the entire photographic industry goes out of business tomorrow. I don't work for them so no lay off problem there.


Sounds pretty cold. How about the other people who get laid off?

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Feb 11, 2019 08:18:52   #
camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.
 
"Sure they do, but are always advised to by used or refurb."

It is no secret that the prices on new cameras and lenses are today very expensive. Even the new mirrorless cameras are as expensive as dSLR cameras and they have less parts. Today independent lenses are as expensive as OEM lenses.

The market is saturated with used and refurb products. Modern cameras have all the bells and whistles we could ever need and in a majority of the cases we will not be able to use all of those features built into the new cameras. Using the same lens, the majority of the images made by a modern dSLR are not different from those of cameras of the past if the same lens is used. Better noise performance yes but not necessarily better image quality.

Used cameras and lenses bring a financial relief to many users who otherwise would not be able to afford the new cameras and lenses. In my case NONE of my photo gear was bought new and instead it has offered me over the years excellent and reliable service.

People are using their cell phone cameras more than ever and that has been a drastic change from the past when p&s cameras were sold by the thousands. In the forum we see very often images made with old gear and their quality is superb. Even cell phone images are very good if not very acceptable.

Technology has made manufacturers to introduce on an almost yearly basis new camera models. It seems to me that photographers are saturated with technology and indeed we are aware that technology in many cases sell. When we were using film it was common for a camera to survive at least 5 years before a new model was introduced. In the 60's, as one of the members here explained, it was not that common to see people using cameras, at least not as common as today. In the 50's you had to be a photographer to use a manual camera with a hand held exposure meter. Today anyone can grab a camera and make reasonably good images. Technology at work.

I cannot predict the future but regardless of what the future holds I am very happy with what I have and use. That clearly means that I will not be an immediate candidate to buy something new and technologically advanced.
I bet there are many more like me.

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