# Camera Sales went down again in 2015



## dolina (Mar 10, 2016)

Source: LensVid Exclusive: What Happened to the Photography Industry in 2015? - LensVid.com


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## nerwin (Mar 17, 2016)

Meh. 

Digital cameras are starting to hit a certain point where they are so good that cameras 3 years ago are just as good as camera made today and this will continue on. Its the same thing with computers. I built my high end PC in 2012 and it's just as good as PCs made today. Software is getting so much better, hardware is getting better and more reliable. Camera sensors and software right now are so damn good that people are finding less reasons to upgrade their camera. As sensors & software progress even further, people are going to find even less reasons to upgrade their camera. So sales drop until the manufactures can come up with something that is life changing to photographers where it would be beneficial to change. 

I don't know, but this just my opinion.


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## Braineack (Mar 17, 2016)

People dont buy cameras like they buy cell phones.


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## astroNikon (Mar 17, 2016)

What amazes me in this economic world is that investors demand that companies have annual quarterly sales that are greater than the previous years quarterly sales.

To do this industries have to expand their sales regions. (and buyers have to ignore savings to just spend)

Such as Apple expanded to China and had a great zoom in sales.  but with cell phones pretty well saturated world-wide again (waiting for the next great sales region) sales have dropped. 

Cameras I think are pretty well saturated too.  It's not like toothpaste, where you are buying more and more toothpaste over time, and then you can make the tube a little smaller, and cost a few cents more (more profit on less item, thus the buyer ends up buying more and spending more without really realizing it).  Cameras are a durable good thus it should last a long time.  Plus as the market is saturated you then have the used market ever growing.

What is true is that mirrorless cameras are getting better and better.
I would love a NEW mirrorless camera to have ALL the features of a d750 but at a used price.  

Until then I'll keep using my 3 year old camera and older lenses and buying toothpaste each month or more depending how much smaller the tube gets.


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## jcdeboever (Mar 17, 2016)

Braineack said:


> People dont buy cameras like they buy cell phones.



Excellent post.


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## gckless (Mar 17, 2016)

I mean is this surprising? As mentioned, everyone has a cell phone with a camera in it. For the majority of people, their mentality is why would they need more. A lot of people look at a dSLR and think "I don't need that, I'm not a professional photographer."


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## Overread (Mar 17, 2016)

gckless said:


> A lot of people look at a dSLR and think "I don't need that, I'm not a professional photographer."



On the flipside this means that they still see the DSLR as the superior tool. Most people accept that the big cameras ARE better. None of this arguing about its all the photographer and that; most see the big camera and assume its all round better - and honestly besides size and weight mostly that is true at a purely technical level. 

So the DSLR is still the king. However as said the upgrades are getting less and less amazing and honestly the casual market only needs one DSLR every so often because they've got one and they don't need to upgrade it every year.



I also think that we have reached a somewhat saturated point where the market is not only flooded with new stuff but a lot of older generation stuff that is still very good. The 7D is now second hand selling for the price of an entry level new body and honestly the gains in ISO range are small compared to all those features you get in a 7D. Same is true for things like the 5D line. 

So there's a lot of produce out there and its hard to keep trying to upsell when its a high end product.



Honestly I share the annoyance that investors require and demand continued revenue increase year on year and I really hope that economic theory changes on that front. It makes company do utterly stupid things for those investors/shareholders that short term boost their profits; but often result in long term instability within the company that often sees their product quality and customer service go down the pan and often the company follows soon after when new-blood pushes into the market to serve the customer rather than the shareholder. 


Continued revenue increase just isn't sustainable nor possible.


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## Braineack (Mar 17, 2016)

gckless said:


> As mentioned, everyone has a cell phone with a camera in it. For the majority of people, their mentality is why would they need more.


if a camera maker can effectively convince a cell phone user to buy their product...


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## gckless (Mar 17, 2016)

Overread said:


> gckless said:
> 
> 
> > A lot of people look at a dSLR and think "I don't need that, I'm not a professional photographer."
> ...



Yeah, I think there's no denying that people regard them as the best, as they should. I was simply referencing sales. I agree with you everywhere else.



Braineack said:


> gckless said:
> 
> 
> > As mentioned, everyone has a cell phone with a camera in it. For the majority of people, their mentality is why would they need more.
> ...



Lol, I just pictured someone holding a D5700 up to their head and talking. I know that's not what you meant, but ya know, it's what I got.


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## Braineack (Mar 17, 2016)




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## jbylake (Mar 18, 2016)

Wish this thread would have materialized _before _I got skinned for approx. 4K since Christmas...


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