Toyokeizai published an article that sounds very worrisome for Nikon. They think that Nikon might be “the next Olympus”. Nikon reported a historic $720M loss this year and if they don’t turn around things they might be force to sell their imaging business just like Olympus did. There is a nice summary on Petapixel that describes the situation.

Ikegami, in an interview with Toyo Keizai, says that Nikon’s poor showing can be directly tied to its slow transition to mirrorless. While Sony has experienced nothing but huge growth, Nikon was too late to the game.

“I wasn’t afraid of conflict (with SLR cameras), but rather I wasn’t looking at the market calmly and objectively,” he says, translated from Japanese. “I was most concerned about how much the performance of the electronic viewfinder (EVF) can be improved, and the number of shots can be increased.”

Ikegami says that he was unconvinced that mirrorless cameras would be able to compete with the number of photos per battery that DSLRs could manage, saying that the 500 photos a mirrorless camera could capture did not look favorable compared to a DSLR’s 1000 shots.

“I was wondering if it would be accepted by… professionals and high amateurs,” he says.

Nikon says that its latest round of restructuring, including moving camera production out of Japan, is expected to reduce operating costs by 59% for the fiscal year ending in March of 2022.

However, as Toyo Keizai writes, it is not enough to reduce operating cost: Nikon must also turn sales around.

Now the question is if Nikon can suddenly find a way to become profitable. I guess they will still stay in the camera for the next couple of years…but I don’t think they can be a serious challenger for Sony and Canon yet…

Tamron 17-70mm 2.8 | Ultimate Crop Sensor Workhorse Lens

Sigma 35mm f/2.0 FE review at Lenstip.
8 Tips for Improving Framing and Depth in Your Landscape Photographs (Explora).
Sigma Art lens | 85mm f/1.4 | First look (Wexphoto).
Sony ZV-1 Wide Angle Lens Unboxing (TheDigialDigest).
Vintage Canon Lenses vs Modern Sony Lenses on Sony A7S III: Class vs Science (Camera Conspiracies).
Tamron 70-300mm FE test at Capa.

Personal photos and tests from SAR Admin Andrea on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and 500px.

Join the new Sony Alpha Camera Facebook group.
To get news from our Forum subscribe that RSS feed.
I kindly invite you all to follow our RSS feed, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to not miss news and rumors

BCN announced their 2021 market share awards.

In the mirrorless segment Sony finally surpassed Canon and now is the new market leader:

In the fixed lens market Canon still leads but Sony managed to increase their share:

These were the most sold used cameras at KEH in 2020:

1. Sony Alpha a6000
2. Canon EOS 5D Mark III
3. Nikon D750
4. Canon EOS 5D Mark II
5. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
6. Fujifilm X-T2
7. Canon EOS 7D
8. Nikon D90
9. Nikon D810
10. Sony Alpha a7III

According to the newly published BCNranking data those were the most sold cameras in Japan during 2020:

1. OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 Mark III EZ Double Zoom Kit Silver
2. EOS Kiss M Double Zoom Kit White
3. OLYMPUS PEN E-PL9 EZ Double Zoom Kit White
4. s6400 Double Zoom Lens Kit Black
5. EOS Kiss M Double Zoom Kit Black
6. OLYMPUS OM-D E-M10 Mark III EZ Double Zoom Kit Black
7. a6400 Double Zoom Lens Kit Silver
8. LUMIX GF9 Double Lens Kit Orange
9. Z 50 Double Zoom Kit
10. a6100 Double Zoom Lens Kit black