There is a good and a bad news you can read within the latest Panasonic financial report (download the pdf here):
Good news: Panasonic reported the first annual profit in three years And they expect another 16% income increase by 2015
Bad news: The AVC segment which includes cameras, sensors, tablets and so on is the weakest segment showing a loss compared to 2013. But nevertheless Panasonic expects things to go better here too.
As you know Panasonic said they will drop business not having at least a 5% profit by end 2015. So let’s hope the GH4 will sell well ! And according to my sources this is happening 🙂
40 Responses
The GH4 pre-orders may be doing well, but how strong will sales be throughout its product life? Furthermore, how high are the product and development costs for their entire imaging line? These are the important factors to consider. That said, promising presales are better than disappointing forecasts. Best of luck to their success. We all know Micro Four Thirds needs both Panasonic and Olympus to survive. If not, in 2016 we might not see a GH5.
Well, so far all the reviews for the GH4 have been exceptionally favourable. That maybe is the case with all new flagship cameras these days (Df excepted), but it’s still a good sign.
For video I am sure it is excellent.But , what mFT needs is a jump in sensor quality there has been no move forward in IQ since the E-M5 .I find low MP count and poor shadow noise at low ISO to be issues as a landscape shooter . Also I find anything above 800ISO to be poor . I have the GH3 which has video good enough for me along with an E-M5 but as a primarily still shooter I can see no reason to upgrade to any mFT released in the last 20 years from an image quality perspective.
We can live with poor quality, if it comes at a low price. Instead, Panasonic asks for jewel prices, without giving us the jewel. Ridiculous huge ultrafast lenses are not the solution, either.
AFAIC, they can close down for good.
same as oly and all the other m43 and tiny-sensor-crap….
Agree, M43 is dying because it has a terrible price/quality ratio. And let me add this: it has been a con since inception, they invented that junk because they could not make larger sensors.
The original sensor manufacturer when Olympus launched Four Thirds was Kodak, and they certainly could (and did) make larger sensors. The sensor size wasn’t chosen because of some inability to make larger sensors. There are several companies that would have been happy to provide larger sensors, including Panasonic, so you’re wrong on that count.
Please, do the decent thing and keep this sort of bollocks to yourself.
So, explain what’s wrong with what I wrote, then.
The sensor size was established when Kodak was the sensor supplier, and Kodak certainly did make larger sensors, both FF and medium format. So clearly the size was decided upon based on other considerations than the inability to make larger sensors.
Ever thought of costs? M43 toymakers want to earn more and pay less. That’s why they have such offensive prices and mediocre quality. This must be obvious to the dumbest, I would slap you if you were here. Are you really so dumb or you are spreading lies?
One of the usual freaking clowns, they’ll do anything to promote sales. But they are not going to be around much longer, M43 is going down.
M43 is for millionaires, it has the worst quality/price ratio in photography. Some amateur here will say “it is the best tool for the job” or some other internet truism – which is a lie, goes without saying. Price is never mentioned.
You should follow your own advice. STFU
The IQ from an EM1, EM5 and EM10 is more than great for the vast majority of photographers… Just look at the dpreview image comparison from the new Nikon D3300 vs. those Olys. The Olys have objectively more detail than the 24mp APS-C Nikon. The only IQ bump that would be nice is better ISO performance. Otherwise, I’d focus on beefing up the overall responsiveness. Reduce the slight lag from writing to the card after taking a shot to the level of a 5D MIII and improve focus tracking. I also think they should take some queues from the new Leica and create an almost entirely well designed touch UI with a massive screen for their smaller cameras but keep the twin dial on top.
The IQ IS not more than great it is quite average and poorer than the APS models from Nikon,Fuji,Pentax, & Sony. Looking at the RAW files between the D3300 and the E-M1 the D3300 has higher resolution, better DR and lower noise at high ISO. Though DPreview with its variable shutterspeeds, different DOF and uncontrolled lighting are not exactly the best “testers”. The french test site http://www.focus-numerique.com/ gives excellent comparisons in controlled light with the same exposures etc
Personally, I am not interested in high ISO for me it is the shadow / sky noise at low ISO that is my problem with mFT. Ideally I would want a mFT sensor genuinely optimized for low ISO with a true 50 base ISO. We have a great selection of lenses and amazing video just give us a better sensor. The A7r is very attractive to me from an image quality point of view but I cannot ignore the advantage of the smaller lighter kit by the time you add lenses { plus an adapter as the current FE line up is pretty small] the weight bulk difference is very significant. I often trek many miles over rough terrain to get to pristine landscapes and the reduction in weight of my camera kit is very important to me.
Oh, we’ll see a GH5.. Probably not next year, because I’m sure the GH4 will do so well it won’t make sense to do a GH5 anytime soon. We’d probably see a GH4 MkII, if anything.
GH4 is a first generation 4K-product, I’d expect an upgraded version in a year. There will always be things to improve on a first generation product, and Panasonic need to upgrade to keep in fornt as other companies launch competing products. The only thing that could prevent an upgrade next year is if there is no competiton at all.
I’ll be doing my part by getting one of those 15mm f1.7 lenses if the reviews are good. Its up to Panasonic to bring the heat
AVC segment includes TVs, projectors, home audio… hard to tell which parts exactly are losing money. Does anyone really expect perpetual growth in such areas? Btw, I think its Sony who currently burns most money on cameras – maybe they hope that in this war of attrition they’ll eventually prevail.
As part of their cost-cutting program Panasonic dropped production of their award-winning plasma TVs, so any decisions they make will clearly be made only on economic factors, no matter how well-reviewed are the products.
Keep coming out innovative products such as GH4 , GX7 & GM1 .
The next phase of battle for Pana is tough as Sony have invent a curve sensor tech , innovative is not enough , Pana need real breakthough this time .
Perhaps an Organic sensor is the only way to go for Pana .
Product proliferation is not at all the same as “innovation.”
I love GM1, but it’s just overpriced. They should cut the price down 20% and I am sure it will sell like hot cake!
I’ve talked to several dealers, over the last 12 months or so, who no longer carry Panasonic products simply because the company has made it too expensive for them to carry, whether they are TVs or cameras. If there is no money in it, will the volume of accessories (where the profit is higher) be enough for stores?
Nikon and Canon can do this because they’re selling hundreds of thousands of their economy dSLRs, so even a couple of pennies on each is useful.
Agree with you. Panasonic cameras are overpriced. They must understand M34 image quality is below the best APS-C and now even FF are selling about the same price range as Panasonic’s top line M34 such as GH4. This is no good. And I’m still in my dream hoping M34 can improve their image quality, at least increase DR to 13 stops with good rendering on lights, which they still very poor even on the latest products (GH4/EM1). Just take a look at how Blackmagic Pocket camera render the lights, it’s fantastic and as beautiful as FF image. And don’t forget pocket is only 2.88x crop sensor. While GH4 can do pixel readout on 4K (they said “almost” is it?), with a much larger 2x crop sensor, I don’t see why they not providing a similarly gorgeous 13 stops DR output at least on Full HD and I (and many others, I believe) don’t mind if they had to crop further because we can always get ultra wide lens to compromise it. The most important thing is, they have to give us gorgeous images for such high price tag. When the price tag is high, you’d expect prosumers/experts customers. Normal people won’t buy a $1600 body only camera right?
Don’t get me wrong, I love the very rich features on all the GH line cameras. However, one after another (GH1->GH4), the image quality let me down. Sharpness is brilliant, codec is brilliant, usefulness is brilliant. But, lighting rendering and color rendering is too hard and dull, which let me down not buying it. It’s really a pity.
Blackmagic did a lot to get the dynamic range out of that Super 16 sensor. If the Four-Thirds’ (not Three-Fourths!) sensors were made to only do video, they could be optimized for better video work.
The price tag isn’t high for what it is–a hybrid camera body that can be used professionally. Tell me what other hybrid body does as well, and comes close in price?
Will a Canon 70D or Nikon D7100 or Pentax K-3 do as well? I don’t believe so, and I really like the K-3, but it has flaws. The Canon 5D MkIII is very capable, but is the dynamic range twice as good, since the price is twice as high? Is the image quality twice as good?
The e-m1 with the same relatively mediocre { compared to other formats } image quality as the GH4/GH3 etc. Was priced exactly the same as the GH4 with no advance in still image quality and compared to Panasonic pretty poor video.
Admin, correction to your bad news. Sales has dropped in terms of value as compared to last year, however profit has increased. Do read the copy as well as look through the financial statement 🙂
agree
GH4 is going to sell so well that it saves the whole M43, single-handedly. Not?
Define “well.” Is that 50k units a year, 100k units a year, 1m units a year?
The GM1 has more likelihood of helping Panasonic preserve m4/3 still cameras in their lineup, as it’s a higher volume product. If the GH4 is their best seller, the likelihood is that they’ll just relabel it a “video camera” and subsume it into the professional video division.
GM1 is a toy, I was talking cameras. Oh wait, this is M43…
And I was kidding anyway, you subsumer 🙂
I subsume you was kidding righty?
pana will drop camera biz same as sony dropped TV biz.. mark my words.
sharholders have no interest in something that yields no profit.
and compact camera market will get worse and more competetive.. don´t fool yourself pana.
the only good camera you have is the GH series. and that´s not enough…..
There is not good news and bad news, there is just bad news, at least for camera fans.
Sales for consumer digital products decreased. Their AVC segment profit is down.
Their profits arose both from focusing on the b2b side, and on jettisoning their consumer side (and some on pull-ahead sales before the big Japanese sales tax increase). This is all in their statement.
In short, what has made them profitable is exactly their turning away from money losing consumer sales, and toward consumer sales. This reinforces their stated goal, and this success will only cause them to examine their next level down of money-losing consumer product lines.
Today’s camera world is highly dependent upon the constant release of new models that deliver the same results but with slightly more features, and selling these products at a very high price.
The fact that Panasonic has just put the brakes on follow-up models in this category is very telling. Panasonic does not plan to throw more money into this game.
It’s quite possible that Panasonic is starting to realize the current price model won’t hold, and will look to skim the next level down, without undergoing the costs of new product launches. In other words, milk what they can on what they already have while they can.
This is bad news all around. Canon can get away with this strategy because they are still profitable, and never joined the frantic game.
If Panasonic goes away, there is no “micro 4/3” any more. There is just Olympus with its own proprietary line, same as every other vendor has their own proprietary line.
I hate to see this. But when you price products so high, and count on constant churn from your most loyal customers year after year, and those loyal customers are an aging demographic, the model just is not sustainable.
Read:” toward commercial sales.”
Wow. The trolls are out in force this morning. :-/
Trolls , presumably being those who point out the huge reduction in camera sales ? Which as mFT users and as a mFT website is the only point of interest.
Thom Hogan cut straight to the facts on his site: “Panasonic released their fiscal year results: camera sales down 25% year-to-year (to 69.5b yen, implying something around the 2m unit total for all compact and mirrorless cameras)”
Let’s be more clear-eyed about this and not sugarcoat bad camera news, please.
http://www.sansmirror.com/newsviews/panasonics-restructuring.html …informative article, also by Hogan