Nikon, a major precision equipment manufacturer, has stopped developing single-lens reflex cameras that have been in operation for over 60 years.
With the spread of smartphones and mirrorless cameras, sales have declined, and there is no prospect of resuming development.
Nikon began selling SLR cameras in 1959, and has been praised for its quality of taking high-quality pictures, and together with Canon, has a large share of the global SLR camera market.
However, with the advent of smartphones that can easily take high-quality pictures, sales of the entire camera are declining, and the sales volume of single-lens reflex cameras is declining due to the growing demand for small and light mirrorless cameras. is.
For this reason, the company has stopped developing single-lens reflex cameras that have been in operation for over 60 years.
According to the company, there is no prospect of resuming development, but the production and sales of the single-lens reflex cameras developed so far will continue.
Nikon plans to devote its management resources to interchangeable-lens mirrorless cameras, whose demand is expanding and growth is expected in the future.
Mirrorless cameras account for a large proportion year by year
According to the Camera & Imaging Products Association, the number of digital cameras shipped by Japanese manufacturers reached 121.46 million units worldwide in 2010, when it peaked, but it has been declining year by year due to being pushed by smartphones, and last year. It has dropped to 8.36 million units, which is less than one-tenth of the peak.
Of these, single-lens reflex cameras used to be the mainstream of interchangeable-lens digital cameras used by camera enthusiasts and professional photographers, but mirrorless cameras are becoming more common year by year.
Looking at the breakdown, 10 years ago in 2012, there were about 16.2 million SLR cameras, about 3.95 million mirrorless cameras, and SLR cameras accounted for 80%.
However, the number of mirrorless cameras is about 2.93 million and the number of single-lens reflex cameras is about 2.37 million.
Shipments of mirrorless cameras reached the highest level at 37% in the digital camera market as a whole last year, and manufacturers are focusing on development while demand for cameras continues to decline.