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There are four companies that can do almost all of the tech in-house (sensor, processor and so on). Those are Sony, Canon Panasonic and Samsung. And if the rumors reported at Mirrorlessrumors are correct than Samsung just decided just killed the entire camera business on a manager meeting held in July.
UPDATE: Samsung just released an official statement at Imaging Resource:
“Withdrawing from the camera business is not true and there is no official plan to stop production of cameras and lenses. Samsung continuously analyzes the varying needs and requirements of consumers in each market and region very carefully. However, we do not officially comment on rumors or speculation.“
172 Responses
Keeping my eye on NX1 deals…
You would buy an NX1 if the rumors turn out to be true?
I find it strange as well, as far as I know they only have 2-3 good lenses in their system and the remaining 10-ish are average at best.
Yep, thats exactly the case.
They have 16-50 f/2.8, 50-150 f/2.8, a 85 f/1.4 for portraits, a wide-angle and fisheye for indoor. That’s phogographer’s bread and butter, what else do you need?
Quality fast primes at 35mm and 50mm? I could live without zooms, personally.
The 30/2 and 45/1.8 are not that bad. A usable 20/2.8 is there, too and a good 60mm macro. Lens-wise, quite decent.
f2.8 at aps-c is like f4 at FF yet FE cameras get bashed for lack of lenses xD
Naturally. If FE only gives you same results as APS-C, what’s the point of going full frame.
That’s not what you said.
How are f/4 equivalent lenses bread an butter on APS-C, but not on full frame? There is no difference.
Full frame will give you the option to use f/2.8 lenses and take advantage of fast primes, but that isn’t what we’re talking about. How does a 24-70ish f/4 equivalent lens suddenly become bread and butter on a smaller sensor?
If you’re fine with APS-C, it is.
If you aren’t and feel the need to go full frame, it doesn’t make any sense to do it if only f/4 lenses are availible. You won’t get any significant advantages other than dynamic range (ISO, DoF…)
Oh, really? f/4 equivalent lenses are bread and butter, are they?
What were you saying about the FE lenses again?
Since when is f1.4 on APS-C equivalent to f4?
Whut? I didn’t say that.
I was talking about the f/2.8 zooms, which are a favourite subject of our friend Duott.
Support
Have they got a macro?
Yip, adapt my manual lenses for some cheap 4K video and 28mp timelapses. Have manual nikon mount lenses. Its a great camera, wouldn’t get any of their lenses. Can’t get the timelapse app on my A7s because of country restrictions so for half my purposes that camera is useless plus the A7r2 and A7s2 are 3 times the price of the Samsung in my country, if the Samsung drops in price, it would be a steal
I don’t quite get why prices would fall faster if Samsung quits.
Meanwhile there are rumors…I do not know if they are true…that Canon is attempting to buy Sigma.
According to the rumor
Canon offered 7x the value to purchase Sigma
Sigma turned them down
Canon made a better offer
Serios talks are currently underway.
Again this is only a rumor and I do not know if there is any truth behind it.
They’d better buy Samsung’s camera business
Samsung camera business is not seperate enough from Samsung other business to sell, they will simply use the resources for other products.
On the flip side…Samsung Camera division has nothing that Canon or Sony need…..so there would be no reason to buy it.
Sony don’t need anything from Samsung, although might be interested in hiring some engineers.
Canon on the other hand should be very interested since they still don’t have a decent mirror-less competitor and the NX system could help them catch up a bit.
Yeah they do, Canon could use a decent APS-C BSI sensor. Their Rebel line up is crap.
LOL
This would make sense considering that Sigma is undermining the sales of every L-lens covered by an ART lens.
Nikon has somewhat curbed this with their recent affordable f/1.8 line. Canon has been investing heavily in fast & expensive glass, only to see Sigma selling higher IQ lenses for 1/2 the price.
Canon now has Blue Spectrum Diffraction Optics, and may want to rapidly update thier lens lineup to BR.
If Canon were to continue to make lenses for other mounts under the Sigma label, and use BR technology…they could gain Sonikon market share with lenses, even if Sony succeeds in gaining market share with mirrorless cameras.
“Blue Spectrum Diffraction Optics”
Again Barry, it’s “Refractive”, not “Diffraction” or “Diffractive”. An optic that introduced diffraction would be very bad news indeed.
If you’re going to fall for marketing spiel, at least get it right.
Seven times the value of what? Their stock’s current trading price? That would be absolutely insane.
The rumor is 7x net value.
I have no idea what that means or how it was determined.
I’ve not read the rumour, but I guess they mean 7 times Sigma market capitalisation (total number of shares x current share price in the market)
Yeah, that would be crazy, because built into the stock price is the current book value of assets minus liabilities as well as an estimation of the present value of future earnings.
I don’t know what the 7x figure is about, but even a premium of 30% over current stock price would be huge– enough that investors might try to force Sigma to take the buyout. I’m hypothesizing because I don’t know how Sigma is run. I would like to see them stay independent of Canon though.
I’m sure Canon had fun charging what they have for lenses– and because they did that for so long, they now are too inefficient to make a lens at a competitive price. The $1,800 35mm f/1.4 is nowhere near close to 2x better than the Sigma ART 35mm f/1.4. It’s very slightly better.
Seven times the value? That doesn’t make any sense, not to mention that Sigma is a family-owned business.
If that is true, they must have very deep pockets.
Samsung should start licensing their lens designs to other manufacturers, would be interesting to see Samsung designed lenses in other mounts (sony e-mount, fuji x-mount).
yeah they make a killer 85mm
I had a NX300. The main reason was the 30mm/2.0. But the lens focussed extremely slow. Way slower than any other Samsung lens I tried, including the other pancakes. This was a well known problem. I waited years for an update of the 30mm lens. I gave up frustrated. The 85mm/1.4 is indeed spectacular, but there are comparable lenses from competitors which are spectacular as well. I don’t know who would license Samsungs lens designs.
Maybe with later OSPDAF the lens focuses faster?
This was expected, although not so soon. There is very limited room for profitable camera-makers and it is already occupied by 3-4 companies. Building a camera business from the ground up requires enormous investment and years before you start getting something back.
Just look at how much Sony innovated/invested in the last 5 years and besides the excellent products there is still a lot of resistance amongst photographers to buy their excellent tools. They tend to highlight the 1-2 negatives that every tool has.
And Sony didn’t even start from the ground up, they acquired well respected Minolta.
Samsung didn’t have to become the next Sony. With just 3 really good models it seems they have the resources to carve out a profitable niche. But Samsung might not care about profitable niches. It helps to keep something in the game though. Who knows where cameras will be in 10 years.
If ti was only about good models, Sony would be having the majority of the market share by now. However, it is also about the brand and what comes with it.
Photography equipment requires insane R&D investment in order to become profitable. A company does not only need to develop a couple of good bodies, but populate a lens system which takes years even for the market leaders.
Only then their new system will be considered seriously by photographers and will eventually start generating profit, and this at very competitive margins.
Just look at how uncompetitive NX1 price is at £1200 in the UK. This is Sony A7II territory! and 50% more than Nikon D7200! This is just not competitive at all.
My guess is they sold so little cameras that they are making a loss there, or best case scenario breaking even.
I don’t think it is that easy to carve out a profitable niche.
Actually, Sony did start from the ground up and also bought Minolta.
This would be an insane move but then again it would be typical of Samsung to pull such a stunt. Too bad for people who bought into this system.
Samsung camera devision has lost money every year since they began with no indication that they will ever be proffitable.
It would be an even more insane move for Samsung to continue making cameras.
Source?
Imaging resource posted the original rumor
However the latest update is…
SAMSUNG DENIES THIS RUMOR and says they will continue to make cameras.
So this rumor is busted.
What? This is so strange. The NX1 is an amazing camera and shows so much promise regarding what Samsung is capable of.
Samsung could have arguably put the most pressure on Sony to continue to innovate because Samsung, more than anyone else, has the resources to (potentially) push innovation in mirrorless ILC cameras.
I wonder if Canon or Nikon has made a deal with Samsung to help them out of the 2000’s and into 2020 and beyond. No one has the body/ergonomic build expertise that Canon and Nikon have (though their builds lack innovation, that’s another topic)– what they need help with most is some types of sensor tech, mirrorless patents and knowledge, and sensor manufacturing. (Nikon more than Canon, I think.)
Samsung’s camera business (at least parts) will be sold to someone.
Too bad. I don’t see the TV business expanding like it has, and their phones have been losing ground to other Android sets. Sensor technology (not just cameras) is a big, growing business. But perhaps they see smaller sensors having more growth potential and smaller display technology (not TVs) being the place to put their resources. IDK. Just wild guesses. Strange.
camera business has collapsed outside of Fuji and Sony. Samsung have only been pouring money in to a loosing proposition……Olympus is in the same boat of companies loosing tons of money on photo by the way.
Samsung have all their photo done in China – R&D office and production. I would suppose they will simply realign those people into more profitable ventures e.g. phones may be even phone cameras.
Absolutely, Samsung’s only exciting camera, the NX1, is insanely expensive and not competitive on that ground at all. I just don’t see them selling enough to recover the huge investment required.
NX1 is priced very reasonably compared to Sony’s new cameras – at least here in Europe. I would get a NX1 feature wise, but for me it’s too big.
Don’t agree. Price is o.k (specs are great, at launch time, which one offered a better APSC mirrorless camera?), lenses are very good, too.
Many full frame cameras cost less at launch then the 2 year old NX1…what is great about it? 28mp and only 3 lenses to match the sensor? You do know that older Samsung lenses simply are way too soft to justify 28MP APS-C not that they do not work but they are soft across the frame
Who said the price is great? Only because an A7 or older Nikons cost less doesn’t mean anything. AF in Samsung is better in my opinion than for A7/A7r, and D610/6D, for example. Samsung has 4k in camera, too. This is why I think it to be quite a decent camera with I price I find o.k. Dpreviews review, for example, and many many others were very positive. Samsung was in the process of developing a 300/2.8. First shots existed. For most people the 16-50, 50-150 and 85 are more than enough. Who knows what Samsung would have done without this decision, if it is true ( prototypes of some others were on a roadmap: Samsung 16-80mm f/4 OIS, Samsung S 24mm f/1.4 ED, Samsung S 11-24mm f/2.8 ED OIS). What did Sony have in the beginning? If I were into the market of a mirrorless APSC body (I am not, use only FF), I would have gone for it.
How many full frame cameras cost less than $1300?
In the Canon’s case I think it’s more than bad market conditions. They’re not really innovating and have spectacularly failed to respond to the a7 series (which is eating into their market share).
Where have you heard that Fuji is profitable? Real question, not sarcasm. I’ve always wondered how they are doing.
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This was expected and predictable. The camera business is collapsing in terms of volume and profits. Canon has stated that they will divest from photography….This is Canon the company that is all about digital imaging reducing the amount of investment in photography (the art of capturing images). Samsung is not all about digital imaging and do not have big stake anyway. Samsung have moved all of their photo business to their Chinese facility to cut costs but evidently this does not help to boost revenue if the market is shrinking and they are loosing the little market they have.
Similar risk exists for Olympus if their shareholders put pressure on the management to increase profits. Olympus never made good healthy profit on photo in the last 10 years.
Fuji have been reporting good healthy profit from photo similar to Sony
Canon? Where did you hear that?
I read it in Canon’s financial report that was released in April this year. They very clearly stated that they will focus investments in other groups as the photography business is collapsing. Not that they will exit photo business just not put all eggs in one basket. Makes sense for a big company to balance investment with opportunity
Interesting and a little scary. Thanks for the link.
Sad, if true. But not that surprising to me. The NX1, even if I dislike the design, is a kick *ss camera on paper. It should have been a game changer in their not so successful camera business. But until now, it isn’t. Samsung has it still not manages to challenge Sony (their main competitor, if you ask me) in a serious way. The NX1 got much attention, and not a single review, that wasn’t raving about it. But the A7Rii eventually stole the show.
Let’s hope it is not true. Competition is always good.
They need to make small A6000-like camera
Pretty much all but NX 1 are rangefinder-style camera
With the EVF missing…
So, nex cameras (before nex 7)
So 4 years behind in development, or what did you want to say with that comment?
That Samsung was always trying to make a6000 style camera
Yeah and they apparently didn’t get that people wanted an EVF in a midrange camera.
Yes, they don’t understand photography. But don’t forget that Sony needed also a few NEX generations to realize that photographers need a viewfinder.
They released a viewfinder option with the 5N, so it was only really second generation. I don’t think Sony were really expecting enthusiasts to adopt the NEX3/5.
I have a NEX5N and I never counted the add-on viewfinder as a “real” viewfinder. The mounting is flimsy and fragile, Terribly prone to damage. Let alone the bulk it added. I had it and sold it very soon thereafter.
The first camera I count is the NEX-7.
Fair enough, although I forgot that NEX-7 was launched at the same time as the 5N, so still second generation.
I thought is was a little later, but you are right. Seems I have to agree with Christian.
I had a NX300. Neat design. Too bad, it was only available in shiny silver and they didn’t add a viewfinder to the NX500.
IMHO, The main problems of Samsung camera are price and form factor… NX1 was a beautiful piece of technology (great sensor, great AF even greatly improved by firmware) but shaped like a middle-range DSLR. So despite all of this it was in competition with very well established SLR (Canikon + pentax). The NX500 is a very compact body with the key features of his big brother, but what was the initial price? 800$ with no integrated EVF? The A6000 was very close regarding the specs, but at 500-600$… Their NX-10, 20, 30 line is also DSLR shaped…
And their price policy is strange : they sell their gear like they were leader and could charge the customer very high, then few month later, there is enormous discount and price drop…
If this rumor it’s true that’s sad, because they could have been the only real competitor for Sony from a technological POV, and who knows… maybe they could have released more balanced cameras (price, shape, functionalities).
Yep. I agree on everything you said.
Like Sony bought Olympus technology, expect a big name brand to buy Samsung tech. Maybe then there will be real competition in the mirrorless market.
Sony bought the Minolta photo division, not Olympus.
Sony bought Olympus TECHNOLOGY! It was reported to be part of the highly publicized Olympus bailout deal. Does 5 Axis IBIS ring a bell? Legacy lens Phase detect auto focus? Lens developement? Jpeg rendering…
I thought this was a technology exchange. But ok.
In fact, Sony own part of Olympus, bet they are really minority owner. Although I am pretty sure they have some kind of a deal on tech exchange.
I don’t know the terms of deal as you seem to do, but I know one thing for sure : Sony 5 Axis IBIS uses a totally different technology as the one in Olympus cameras. It has been well documented.
They made the mistake of going for low end of market, their cameras are very good but like galaxy phones people want nice things not plastic toys. NX1 is great camera though! but where are the lenses?
Samsung with all their size and manufacturing prowess is always lacking in delivering products either with incoherent features or bloated functionalities, perhaps the reason why korean products are still considered inferior to the likes of Sony etc
Seriously? Given the huge inroads that South Korean manufacturers have made in consumer electronics, like smartphones, televisions, computers and much else?
Samsung absolutely dominates in several industries. They practically stole Sony’s TV business away from them, they are the only fully integrated SSD storage manufacturer (and the best), they have the 2nd biggest share of the phone market, they make so much RAM that they move the market with their prices (sometimes illegally). :p In fact, Sony’s only competing product that still trumps Samsung, is digital cameras.
What you said could have held true in the 90’s.
I am not surprised. The Samsung cams may be great on paper but they lack the sexiness we photo nerds want.
Sexiness is the wrong word in my book, but I know what you mean. However, the same applies to Sony/Minolta. So, there must be other reasons too, I guess.
Sony always has been a lame brand to me before they started to get into the photo business. Somehow they managed to become “sexy” for me. Just look at the RX1 or the A7 and the great Zeiss lenses.
By “sexy” you mean “all black and metal”?
It’s subjective of course. The Samsung cams always lacked soul for me. I didn’t even consider buying one, no matter what they were offering. Like would you rather buy a Huawei or an Apple smartphone. You can laugh at that but people that don’t have to buy the cheapest often buy into a “brand sexiness”. And Samsung is lacking that totally in regard to photo technology.
Agreed. However, one exception: The black NX200 (the body only!) was perfect design, almost Leica-like.
The Leica T really took inspiration from the NX200… hahah, chronologically speaking!
But looking to the lens design, the Samsung are nice, compact and very sleek. The 85mm almost feel and look like a Zeiss.
I guess he means there was an actual designer involved, unlike in the case of Samsung.
YESSSS!
http://img.izismile.com/img/img3/20100511/bonus//2/marisa_miller_00.jpg
H*ll yesssss!!!
Sony made products in a range of colors always very much appropriate to the product itself.
Well (I will continue the term “sexy”, even if it’s quite silly), I have to disagree. For me, the industrial design of their HiFi equipment and TV sets in the 80s and 90s was VERY sexy. I would say back in these days, one of the worlds best and most recognizable product design came from Sony. That good design vanished during the 2000’s.
Or, are we just more used to it?
As i said, it’s subjective. I never liked Sony very much. I admit though they invented some great things in the 80s/90s.
I want to add, that Sony had never really bad or “lame” design. I think Sony is still recognized for its design skills. And I like the RX1 design too. But not the A7. The A7S will be my next camera because of the sensor and only the sensor.
You will love it i guess. I didn’t like the A7 at first either…
+1 ! Agreed !
It is not that because they have had some recent difficulties that they should be written off as a lame company in terms of innovative products. Sony has always been a great innovation brand with their Stereos, Betacam, Betamax, Trinitron, Walkman, DAT, CD, Mini-CD, Multi-CD players, Cybershot, VAIO, wireless home phones, etc, etc… In fact it was very much “You dreamt it, Sony made it” and I believe it continues to this day at the very east with the Camcorders and the Cameras products. I have not had a recent look at their other products but for sure these are high quality.
Same applies to Nikon and Canon.
Sexy = Leica, Zeiss.
Sony is on a good path if you mount those Zeiss Loxia and Batis lenses.
And they are pushing technology further in the photo branch. Sony is like Apple in the 2000s right now for photo technology.
Sony is definitely NOT like Apple.
why?
Because Sony is actually inventing new stuff instead of copying from competitors. 😉
Haha. And that in a thread about Samsung! In terms of how they approach design, Sony is definitely close to Apple.
Maybe we have a different understanding about what Picasso exactly meant with the difference between stealing and copying, but I would not say Apple is a copycat. 😉
Products, marketing and above all, corporate culture.
Exactly. If anything: Apple tried to be like Sony with Jobs being a big fan of Sony.
Yes, he was. No, I don’t think he tried to be like Sony. He unscrupulously stole ideas from everyone, but he was deeply convinced that Apple is unique and superior.
really does anyone remember SONY Computers? They were awful, and I’m guessing whomever is still working at Sony from the Computer division has a hand in designing (Loose term) the UI’s/ Menu’s of the Sony Cameras which are a horror-show.
Ermmm… no one is “still working at Sony” who had anything to do with the UI on their computers. The UI of any computer, that is not from Apple, is designed by (or should I say “design crime committed by..”?) Microsoft. (I do leave out Linux, which is negligible on PC’s)
Sony’s camera UI may be not so great or even bad, but I would not say microsoft-bad. The NEX UI was a different story, it rivals the worst Microsoft UI “design crimes”.
Vaio…way too expensive and had lots of issues.
I did like the look of their computers though.
After they left Sony, they released a mediocre phone with a high price tag and failed miserably.
They don’t seem to learn.
As Martin said, a matter of taste. I don’t like Nikon’s big clunky design of the digital era. But Nikon and Canon are still the two brands I would call good (or “sexy”) in terms of product design. (you may add Leica and Zeiss)
However, back in the 70s/80s/90s, Nikon design was light years ahead of ANY other brand in terms of “sexiness”. For the 80s I would say one of the best of any kind of product design, not only cameras.
Wtf are you talking about? The current Canikon DSLR design is seriously ugly and pretty much stems from the 80s. Sony’s design is much better and more modern.
Opinions, opinions..
Of course, the lower end cameras are not that great. But 7D, 5D and 1D and, above all, the lenses are perfectly designed.
That is my opinion.
You can’t argue about taste. My mother always asked me, why you don’t eat this or that, it tastes so good. That is a bad argument if the one she’s talking to (me), feels like throwing up.
I agree – the NX1 for example resembles a Canon Rebel in looks – and those are a dime a dozen – so of course side by size many beginner and intermediate users just go for the cheaper Rebel models – I think the looks of the NX1 has played a huge factor in sales of it – if Samsung had just copied the looks of what has been considered cool looking like the Fuji X-t1 the EM5 etc it would have appealed more to mirrorless buyers that are wanting to abandon the DSLR size and looks – the NX1 internals are super competitive to what Fuji and Sony offer in APS-C size mirror-less cameras – and even better so that is not the issue – I think Looks and Marketing – I would say to Samsung – stuff the NX1 internals in something more appealing – and improve marketing and see what happens –
The bigger fail was the NX500, that looked far too much like a P&S. Fantastic technology in a body nobody wants to be seen with.
The Minolta XD-11, the Olympus OM-2 – those cameras were fantastic tools and well, they looked and felt exceptional.
I agree. I have learnt the little I know about photography with the old Olympus OM-2 which I inherited from my father. It was a great camera and I got great shots from it.
Well Samsung was trying to interest “pro” who work with grey, dark, large dslr, so they want to be taken seriously, I guess the designer though they had to propose something serious, not sexy.
But at the end, we are not a lot of buyers that are really working as photographer, and most of us do photography as a hobby for total pleasure, and enjoy nice design.
So Sony’s only technical competition will be Panny.
I am sure both Panny and Samsung motivated Sony to deliver 4K in consumer products, sooner. If the only competition was Canon, Nikon and Olly, Sony could have happily just delivered their nice high bit rate, full sensor read-out 1080 HD for a couple more years and still led the pack.
Maybe. Canon indicated that they change their chip design now, too (imagine-resource.com) to increase DR. Improved dual-pixel-technology with their huge lens selection and market share – maybe they could again be close (although still trailing). I would not rule it out.
Sad if true. The NX1 and the 2 pro ‘S’ zooms are superb.
The video AF with the ‘S’ lenses is a joy to shoot with.
Convert from H265 to Prores 4444 in EditReady and the NX1 image is stunning.
No need for Samsung to cripple the video like Sony have to.
Samsung just need a few more pro ‘S’ lenses – 23mm f1.4, 56mm f1.2, 10-16mm f2.8 zoom, and a longer telephoto.
I’ll pick up another NX1 body for the next couple of years, by the time Sony might have caught up to the NX1.
> There are four companies that can do almost all of the tech in-house
(sensor, processor and so on). Those are Sony, Canon, Panasonic and
Samsung.
This is incorrect unless you mean “they own a fab,” and even there Panasonic’s recent changes make that a tentative statement, as they’ve been unloading fabs.
Nikon has and continues to do its own sensor, processor (ASIC or SoC), “and so on” ;~). Fabs for hire are becoming more and more the norm in the industry, including Apple using Sony for their sensors, which have Apple IP in them on top of Sony cores, akin to what Nikon has sometimes done. Fujifilm and Olympus also have sensor design skills and customize their processor. Only Leica and Ricoh/Pentax have yet to show that they can do sensor designs themselves and produce them.
Hi ! I thought that Nikon cameras such as the D810, D750 and many others had Sony sensors inside them…
Same happened in the analog era with Zenza Bronica. Owned by Tamron , they stopped 2005 a 50 years camera history , great MF camera bodies , but one moment later …out of business. Innovative lenses, bodies but business history. Yeah samsung could manage to be a niche market company, dbut FF is now nearly everwhere . So samsung perhaps is not willing to invest in the competition.
I have the Sony A7r, VG900, Panasonic GH4, Samsung NX1 and my favorite is the NX1 for it’s ultra sharp 4K video. I think since Samsung has the deepest pockets of any company that makes cameras they could be a major player if they wanted to since the NX1 is in a class by itself in that price range.
The NX1 is certainly a good product and amazing that they are pulling the plug after saying early last year that they where going to be leaders in few years – I think their marketing has been horrible – I see in the future Sony taking over Olympus camera business – Nikon is struggling and who knows how long they can keep up – So leaving Canon – Sony – Panasonic and Ricoh which I suspect might also go by the way site –
I think the looks of the NX1 has been of of the factors for slow sales – the internals are fantastic – although a mirror-less camera it more resembles a DSLR – I think if they made it more like the Sony/Olympus/Fuji mirrorless cameras it would spark more interest – but of course to late now – The NX1 has the looks of a Bridge or a smaller DSLR like the Canon Rebels – and folks look at the Rebel for a lot less and decide to by it – the NX500 just came a bit late and likewise not marketed well – as Samsung is not a big name in the camera business they should have kept their prices also lower for some time along with making their bodies look similar to the big selling mirror-less cameras like the EM5 – Fuji X-t1 – Sony A6000 – not a DSLR look – just my thought
Agreed, they made a mirrorless that looked like an APSC DSLR, then charged a huge price in a market where people are traditionally very brand-conservative. Most people in that market would just see something that costs far more than a Nikon D7200. People shooting video would see something that costs more than a GH4 and has fewer lenses. It undercut the A7s but I guess Sony are on a marketing roll.
A lot of the people who buy mirrorless are a lot more adventurous and less tied to brands, but don’t want something that looks like a DSLR.
If they’d made a body with a bit more design ‘magic’…. The Fuji XT1 has been a huge success, and the NX1 makes it’s features look antiquated. But the XT1 is something you want to own, the NX1 looks like a tool.
It sure looks like the rumor sites are rehashing each other’s hearsay here. The cynical part of me would wonder if this isn’t some sinister plot by Sony to eliminate the competition. In any case this rumor must be devastating for Samsung’s camera sales. I gave them a hard look recently, but won’t be touching them with a 10-foot pole now.
Or could be just a sneaky investor spreading misinformation so he/she can short sell samsung stocks 🙂
You’d be amazed what percentage of the market doesn’t look at these sites of the DPreview forums though.
NOOOOOOOOO, I need Samsung to rush Sony produce BSI-type A7S!!!!
Smart move by Samsung. They are struggling in the mobile space right now and they would do better to concentrate efforts there where they were once a leader rather than pursue the camera market which is already in a decline and is already dominated technologically by Sony and brand-wise by Nikon and Canon. It would be like a company trying to break into the PC hardware business right now, sure you could but why bother? There is really no room for Samsung there unless they want to play the fourth or fifth player in the game and that is not where Samsung looks to compete.
Samsung needs to regroup and start innovating in the smartphone space again, maybe some of what they learned in the camera business can be put into their smartphones to push smartphone camera technology to the next level.
I wouldn’t agree that they are dominated technologically by Sony, which is why this is a shame. Their 28MP BSI sensor has been compared very favourably to the Sony 24MP FF, even in low light. They just didn’t make terribly compelling bodies to put it in.
sad news as this just allows the rest to keep high prices and even hike their prices – Samsungs marketing was and is bad – with all their resources – I think if they at least continue to make sensors they could make some money on that part – as Fuji for example will continue with APS-C size sensors for some time and so will Nikon – Seems Sony will cut the cord on APS-C soon – I suspect the A6100 next spring will be the last one – I guess they are going to focus on the 1 inch sensor for most of their compacts and beginner to intermediate user bodies –
They are now making a M43 sensors – but I suspect they will not come up with a M43 body – assuming the M43 sensors they make will be used for instruments – but possibly by Panasonic and Olympus – especially Olympus – I expect EM2 will have a Sony M43 sensor – a more advanced version then the one in the GX8 –
Personally I have looked at Samsung cameras over the years and been somewhat tempted to get some but initially there was a poor lens selection and of course still not great –
But I recall their big chief say that they wanted Samsung to be a leader in few years – so that is a Lie – so their commitment was not that serious – with their NX1 and NX5000 they showed they could make a real competitor to the big boys – and with much larger resources than say Fuji they could have continued on and improved their products and introduced new once –
There are so many loyal Samsung cell phone users that I know would consider their cameras if their marketing was just better-
I don’t know why people keep saying that Sony will not continue with their APS-C lineup. I don’t think the third party manufacturers will continue to make lenses for a platform that is going to be discontinued. With the A6000 selling well, it does not make sense for Sony to abandon the market. Who knows though? People speculate all the time. I prefer to wait for actual announcements, though rumors can be interesting.
I agree, APS-C cameras aren’t going anywhere. They offer a size advantage, price advantage, and quality that can be really close to many full frame cameras. Taking away a-mount or e-mount APS-C would be cutting off more than half of Sony’s customers. Most people on here are an “a-mount is dead Chicken Little” type, but Sony has already invested so much in the a-mount line and its lenses and technology– so it wouldn’t make sense to not get a further return on all those fixed costs and (complaining) customers.
Sony so famous for going whole-hog on a tech or a camera and then abandoning it..(fast)
Samsung cameras are nice, but at my local Best Buys, not too many people buy their interchangeable lens cameras. And living in one of the larger cities in the U.S., I don’t really see a lot of Samsung cameras in the usual tourist spots. With Samsung profits under pressure, it may be a sound decision to leave a market that is already full of entrenched competitors. It would take a lot of investment in Samsung’s part to become competitive in the market. With the smartphone market “commoditized”, Samsung can no longer rely on high profit margins in that industry to fund the rest of the corporate endeavors. It’s amazing, really, how much less Samsung is making on their phones that they were two years ago. It’s still a large conglomerate, but it has bumped into headwinds that it must face with sound financial judgement. Leaving a market that it has little chance of penetrating successfully, with profits in that market not assured, is not necessarily a bad move on Samsung’s part.
You see a lot of Samsung Phones in Korea.
That would be what one would expect. I was, however, talking about their APS-C cameras in the tourist “strongholds” in the city I live close to. Nikon, Canon, Sony, some Olympus, but not a glimpse of a Samsung interchangeable lens camera.
I did see a lot of Samsung APSC cameras on a trip to Toronto/Montreal last year, but almost exclusively carried by Asian tourists.
The Samsung mirrorless cameras don’t have the market penetration in the U.S. (and probably in other areas of the world) that is in Asia. Still, competition is good.
i m more worried about APS-C Camera lineup because it’s obvious Sony will abandon A-mount little by little contrary to Samsun which could close ( from the rumors) straight without giving false hopes… Btw i read long time ago that full electronic lenses from samsung would be hard to adapt on other camera is it true?
Samsung abandons a sinking ship. Why would anyone be surprised??
Who’s next??
Still Pentax seems to never give up!
“Let’s just hope Sony will not do the same mistake by abandon the A-mount series.” Umm, I think that ship has already sailed…
I still wonder why they didn’t put an EVF in the NX500. They made a camera so close to the A6000 – which is the best selling mirrorless on the market, but left out the one feature that so many people see as essential. Mirrorless isn’t just about offering something better than P&S, its also great at taking sales from entry DSLR’s, which I think has been core to the NEX/A**** success. Leave off an EVF and totally wipe out that market, when when you’ve got a 90% phenomenal product. Were they high? Myopically focused on the Asian market?
The Verge did a video recently on mid-range/entry mirrorless, and they dismissed the Samsung in one sentence because of the lack of EVF.
Such an incredible sensor, even a mediocre EVF would have put it at the top of so many wish-lists.
They have some great lenses too.
I guess this is Sonyalpharumors where we talk about products that will never exist, so hey I’ll say it, if they don’t go under, and ever release an NX600 with an EVF and a slightly less P&S built, I’ll pre-order one.
I don’t understand why they entered that space to begin with. If Sony wasn’t in the business of selling sensors- I doubt they’d be making cameras anymore either. 10 years from now- totally different market for sure.
Big companies like Samsung have to expand constantly. They have to swallow other companies and/or enter new fields, no matter if they have a plan or any clue about that new field. If they won’t do that, investors would loose interest. The company that have more successful fields than unsuccessful ones, will succeed. Otherwise not. If they are sane and stay with what they know best, they will fail. There are of course exceptions, but mostly it’s a weird game.
This rumor is false:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2015/09/23/rumor-busted-samsung-is-not-exiting-the-camera-business-at-least-not-the-on
Good ok for them to exit the P&S market as (I hope I’m right) they didn’t do much in this market and it is good for them to continue in the Mirrorless market adding some good competition for Fuji, Sony, etc.
The Samsung press release is nebulous and can be interpreted in a myriad of ways. Imaging Resource had their take on it. I don’t know what to make of it. Will they continue to make cameras and lenses (point and shoots, lenses for smartphones, APSC cameras, lenses for aforementioned cameras, cameras for smartphones, etc.). We’ll have to wait on what Samsung actually does.
That official statement reads like, “We are officially in the camera business until we sell as many of the already manufactured Samsung cameras that are sitting on shelves.” This is a terrible business to be in. I contemplated selling my LX100 when I ordered my iPhone 6S. With every advancement of phone sensors they will sell less cameras. In 90% of lighting conditions the current generation of phones take excellent pictures and shoots great video. Once they figure out how to have a 24-70 lens in the current form factor of the iPhone, it’s going to be a massacre.
LOL. Well said.
……and only Sony will survive.
Bad News?
Seen a lot of NX1 reviews on youtube but I have not seen a single Samsung user in real life yet.
Same here. But still bad news.
Latest news
Samsung has officially denied they are discontinuing the camera business.
So this rumor is not correct.
Links?
Admin just updated the post and provided the links you are asking for.
Too bad if this new become true…
I was hoping that Samsung sensor tech could find its way in Fuji or Pentax body to put some pressure on the other big boy…
it is good news for sony
But bad news for the consumer…