Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/08/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Japans photo industry produced in 1999 33.9 Million 35 cameras, -6% compared to 1998 Of these were 766 thousand SLR, +3.6% 25 Thousand medium format, -9% 1.7 Million digital cameras, +41% The 33.9 M. is a bit clouded as it also encompasses the Single Use Cameras, and will also cover the countless numbers of small compact cameras. Remarkable is the # of SLR's, which is down from 3 million in its heydays in the '70 en '80. It is stable for the moment, so it seems. The medium format market is very small, as it is carved up by many companies, like Hasselblad Xpan, Contax, Mamiya, Pentax, Bronica, Fuji and the 4x5 inch field cameras. In a recent note, Zeiss remarked that the Contax 465 is a great success, so that must be at the expense of the others, Digital is no surprise, but monthly figures for early 2000 show around 300 thousand/month, that wold make more than 3.5 million for 2000. The value for digital cameras in 1999 is three times the value of the SLR market, so it is easy to see where the Japanese are heading. APS has a figure of 1.5 Million, -2% and in value is far below the SLR segment. Some food for thought I suppose. Reflect on Leica which sells 12000 M and 6000 R a year, and compare to the full medium and over market. Erwin