We are used to get detailed data about the Japanese market but little if not zero info about the rest of the world. But at last MirrorlessRumors got his hands on the German digital camera market report from GFK. In 2014 there was a huge drop in the system camera market. But the good news is that this was caused by the imploding DSLR sales. The mirrorless system cameras still managed to have a considerable growth form 230.000 to 270.000 cameras sold.
That said it’s clear that the classic camera market is in a deep crisis. Smartphones, Wearables and Action cameras are booming and making the real money nowadays!
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The king is dead, long live the king!
The iPhone? 😉
Google Glass.
Oh pllllleeeease … you’ve made me spill my cup of tea now
Got one = they’re not that good, but that’s what most folks use 😀
Maybe in Germany all that pent up demand from having 0 camera sales between 2002 and 2009 is starting to wane?
Tom Hogan favorite topic.
Let’s be honest here gentlemens, DSLR’s are DEAD.
Not yet, but eventually all things come to an end.
I would rather say the whole system camera market (DSLR and Mirrorless) is DEAD.
Not dead yet, last hurrah perhaps. I was told on good authority that the best thing was a 7Dii … and then we checked its specifications (dynamic range, noise level, usable ISO range, etc) against my GH4, guess what, it lost. What it does have is long lenses available and there’s the rub: lens selection.
Gas burners are dead, combustion engine cars probably, too, etc. etc. The time scale is the important metric to make comments like this. In your case it sounds like fan-boy talk. Right now, no, I still prefer my DSLR. But I use mirrorless on some occasions, too.
If this trend keeps going, in 3-4 years DSLR is like a memory, and few really have a system camera, a mirrorless one.
Olympus should start making lenses for iPhone, it’s the only chance…
The japanese ad-men and developers need slapping; they don’t understand global markets. Who on earth let them target the GH4 at the video market only when quite simply it is first and foremost a brilliant stills camera. The videographers are a tiny slice of the market and are already converted. Utterly brainless.
That’s Germany only. So don’t extrapolate from that to the world wide situation.
Exactly. Does not mean much on it’s own. Nothing to get excited about.
Indeed we don’t need to get excited. We can just wait and see what happens.
People said the same about Japan numbers. Here we are with a second set. DSLRs will go extinct.
Both Japan and Germany are among the richest countries on the planet.
That means amateurs living there can afford bodies that cost around $1000 and that’s the price point where mirrorless cameras shine brightest.
this doesn’t mean the trend will continue, because it won’t. But in such countries we can expect to see something like 1:1 market share in under 5 years.
But the simple fact is: mirrorless cameras are too expensive for most people.
Sure, some of us can replace a FF DSLR with the A7. And in few years there will be a mirrorless alternative to any DSLR – even the $5000+ pro models.
It might turn out that making a pro mirrorless is much easier than offering a $400 entry-lever one which would have what basic DSLRs offer (EVF, proper grip, acceptable battery life).
And the market for cheap DSLRs is huge – Canon and Nikon can’t ignore that.
So if you’re looking forward to the end of DSLRs (which is weird, but whatever…), forget about the expensive stuff and AF performance. Concentrate on low end. When Olympus is able to sell (with profit) something like the E-M10 for around $350, DSLR’s days will be over. Until that happens, DSLRs will still sell far better worldwide.
“So if you’re looking forward to the end of DSLRs (which is weird, but whatever…)”
Where was that even implied?
Germany: the whole of western Europe are pretty well off, just that the other countries have less population. Most casual photos are taken on mobile phone, those that want to take more serious pictures will probably happily drop £700/$1000 or more on a camera.
Germany seem to like big cameras, in France they like small ones, here in the UK we like both.
Why would they go extinct? I see no reason for that happening.
Germany, France and UK make up the vast majority of sales in Europe, the same happened all across Europe. Panasonic won some huge award for camera sales in Europe. http://www.cipa.jp/stats/documents/e/d-2014_e.pdf
The asian is by far the largest sector followed by european and then americas.
Compare the ratio of reflex to non-reflex to non-interchangeable tyes.
I remember in MTB …5 years ago the 29ers were niche product and everybody was saying it will not be succes etc
Now they dominate sales and almost nobody buys 26″ bikes… and you already can have problem to buy spares for 26 wheels( eg tyres etc) …yes they already says for small people is 27,5″
theoretical if C & N goes serious mirrorless route …then DSLR will drop quickly
RIP dslr. RIP moving parts, RIP unnecessary prism, matt screen, mirrors, levers, fat big bodies. RIP big lenses. In two years, the DSLR market will collapse as fast as film market collapsed. Lucky those who will manage to sell their dslr earlier.
Yup. In maybe 2 more years the iphone camera will be advanced enough that no one will need a DSLR. Right now it’s just most people don’t need it compared to what the iphone can produce. But that percentage of people will only grow. Sell your interchangeable lens cameras now while you can
“…iphone camera will be advanced enough that no one will need a DSLR…”
just like the computer screen has become so advanced it has effectively replaced paper? so what’s all that stuff in my mailbox everyday and on the shelves of all those bookstores?
sure, the iphone can replace the point&shoot camera – as well as those (countless) DSLRs that were bought just to take snapshots – but not for its merits as a photographic device.
if your photography is just an extension of your social network, as it is for a majority of people these days, then an iphone makes perfect sense.
I believe what we are seeing is a global readjustment – people who don’t take their photography very seriously and bought expensive, heavy, unpractical, demanding cameras, and dont know very well how to use them even, are moving to the iphone, an all-in-one photo/communication device.
For the core photocamera users – enthousiast, amateur and pro photographers – the iphone is certainly not a replacement, perhaps a handy addition, a wanna-have gadget that they will get alongside their camera.
And now we’ll get to see just how many of those cameras were really sold for using them. The photocamera has had it’s best days as a consumer device – the fad is over, has moved to smartphones and action cameras and what not.
The papers are from those who send it and are out of date.
And what happens the day when Canon and Nikon takes Mirrorless SERIOUSLY and everyone jumps back to the big two?
Because if Canikon makes a camera in the same vein as Sony’s FF mirrorless, with the lens selection they have, you may just be saying RIP to M43 AND Sony to an extent. They’ll still be able to make sensors.
I know you’re just trolling, but why would anyone:
1) Buy into Canon mirrorless if they had to use longer than necessary DSLR lenses in them?
2) Sell their other mirrorless camera just because Canon arrived at the party?
You’re more than a bit weird.
allcrap is number one m43 hater
The problem is that people will do that. Don’t underestimate the power of brand names and going with what you know.
They may gain little size benefit (though will gain some functional benefits of an EVF) but will sell by the bucket load.
And if the focusing is as bad as the current Canon mirrorless they will assume that all the others are the same because ‘Canon are the best’ and couldn’t possibly make a bad camera,
Sad but true.
The so lovely smooth FULL FRAME* bokeh?
(*I don’t want to burst your bubble with medium and large format, the Large Format is the true “FF”)
Large useless lens selection you mean. Or they need to have enormously thick adapters to keep same angle of view and focal lengths.
Why is DSLR sales “imploding” good news? That view is shortsighted and pretty ignorant. Mirrorless is not enough to keep the entire industry afloat and the big players struggle to turn a profit. Panasonic, Olympus and Sony are pushing innovation to try and attract potential DSLR buyers and to get CaNikon users to buy in as a second system or switch. More competition means better products for the consumers. CIPA numbers tell the real story with worldwide sales, not just one small market. Mirrorless sales are flat over the last couple years.
Flat is better than declining…
CIPA numbers indicate that mirrorless was flat last year, but was still down 16% from 2012. Not nearly as bad as the drop for DSLRs, but not what I would call good news. And, BCN data show that Sony’s share of the mirrorless market in Japan has grown from 20% in 2012 to 34% in 2014, while Olympus has declined from 30% to 22% and Panasonic has dropped from 23% to 12%.
ERROR “In 2014 there was a huge drop in system camera market” this is incorrect.
The way I read that chart and the german translation, 2104 was the best year ever (270) for compact system cameras (Kompakte Systemkamerars)
This is just Germany, CSC sales were also up in France and the UK.
system camera = any camera with exchangeable lenses, including DSLR
Isn’t m43 sales also decreasing? Hurray, celebrate Sony’s and Fuji’s growth?
“But the good news is that this was caused by the imploding DSLR sales.”
How on earth is this good news? Why are fellow photographers forced to have only one designated choice? Why is it good that there are fewer and fewer camera fans? How does the death of a hobby make our own situation somehow better? How is it that less competition and less choice for first world consumer luxury toys is bad?
Because Admin is a Fanboy, that’s why.
It cracks me up on how people judge the WHOLE market of an industry, by only looking at two markets, and not even the largest markets at that!
Very entertaining.
no he is an idi*t…
Largest market is Asia (Japan, China, SE.Asia, India, Middle East, etc), smallest main market is the whole of The Americas (that’s north and south with the Caribbean thrown in)
Germany has the largest population of Western Europe but France, Germany, UK, Holland, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and so on are fairly well off and can drop serious money on serious cameras. What I see here is anyone wanting to step up from a mobile phone will skip the cheap point ‘n shoot types and spend 2-3 times more for a better tool.
The CIPA shipments give similar results.
Mirrorless is fairly steady at the moment with around the same number in total being sold as the previous year. I’m not suggesting this is sufficient btw.
DSLRs are down around 30% over the last couple of years.
As far as the big markets are concerned, Asia, excluding Japan, is the largest, European Union next and the North American region the third largest.
Japan as a standalone market comes fourth but sells nearly as many mirrorless as the USA region but a fair bit less DSLRs.
It will be interesting if South America continues its growth trend of the past ten years as they have a similar population to North America and could become a big market
Couldn’t have said it better. We are in the best of years for digital system cameras folks and the decline in all camera sales will not be good for any of us. It will reduce choice, reduce competition, reduce production and increase prices. None of these things bode well for future investment into R&D for standalone imaging devices that we enjoy. Heck, I should have kept my old Canon 20D just in the chance that it would be an heirloom or something.
Actually, I suspect you’re wrong on most counts, except for prices. The last years of film cameras produced some absolute gems.
> It will reduce choice, reduce competition, reduce production and increase prices.
Too much “competition” and “price reduction” caused decrease in quality: in my country the most sold cameras were basic DSLR without stabilization!
Becasue of doped DSLR garbage (unreasonably cheap, because of “monopoly”, who “can” afford it) people thinks mirorless are expensive, and not buying it.
learn to read moron.. it´s “compact cameras” not mirrorless…
Its compact system cameras. Another name for mirrorless cameras.
Mmmm.., somebody is upset
Very good news indeed! Good news because it means progress. The flapping mirror has been holding back camera progress for way too long. Just like leaf spring rear suspension and recircling balls steering in barge like cars in the 70s, the mirror must go. When the major brands can finally move on and embrace digital technology, we should see even better performance, more computerised WYSIWYG features, UI and advanced features.
Typewriters, paper encyclopedia, LP players, CRT TVs, … … … DSLRs…
Camera progress…..I suppose that matters to gear dirks but true artists could really care less if their cameras have a mirror, a plate…a spoon…no mirror,….12 mirrors. It does not affect your final image one bit. You do. You are the creator. You are the photographer. Enjoy your modern gear but there is no reason to denounce a camera. There are many people using wet plates still making fabulous work..and so on and so on.
You mean could not care less
Camera can work for a long time, why will people buy expensive system camera every year? The graph appears to me DSLR isn’t innovative enough recently.
SLR can work decades, but the isn’t a single DSLR that would last same usable status, as megapixels have been reached only now on 12-16Mpix to “more is too much” levels.
The mirrorless bring features that DSLR can have.