Is Nikon In $$$ Trouble Too?

sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
Granted, this article was from 1 year ago. What it does do is explain why Nikon and Canon are both hurting. That sort of explains why Nikon has been pumping out new bodies as fast as they can. The whole industry has a dilemna. It's not just Sony.

Read this:
 

J-see

Senior Member
When I'm out there I rarely meet someone with a DSLR or mirrorless.

What I do see is that everyone is taking shots with their phone. Kids and grannies alike. In the end, it's that mass of the consumers that pays all the bills or brings the profits.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Less profit does not mean "going out of business". Besides, Nikon is not just a camera company, they're an imaging technology company that got its start making photographic equipment.

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J-see

Senior Member
I just read something stating Nikon makes most of its profit from cameras so what hurts those, hurts good. News on Reuters of last year so things could have changed.

There's a mentality change when it comes to cams. Before the digital age, every family had at least one sort of cam. Now most use their phones.
 

crewchief227

Senior Member
You may not see that many DSLR's compared to cell phones, but as long as there is professional photography there will be a need for Nikon and Canon. That is their current market, that and the enthusiast and no cell phone will take that away.
 

Browncoat

Senior Member
A company the size of Nikon could restructure 20 times before they would be insolvent. I won't say they're "too big to fail", but it would be extremely unlikely that Nikon is in any real kind of financial trouble.
 

J-see

Senior Member
You may not see that many DSLR's compared to cell phones, but as long as there is professional photography there will be a need for Nikon and Canon. That is their current market, that and the enthusiast and no cell phone will take that away.

I'm not saying DSLR will disappear but it is all in decline. Ten years ago we had 4 professional photographers here, studio and store included. Now we have none. Some will still be shooting but apparently not enough to pay the bills for that store and studio.
 

Ruidoso Bill

Senior Member
I'm not saying DSLR will disappear but it is all in decline. Ten years ago we had 4 professional photographers here, studio and store included. Now we have none. Some will still be shooting but apparently not enough to pay the bills for that store and studio.

The public needs to become more informed on what an acceptable image is versus what a great image is. I went on a trip recently and thought my phone would be ok for some snapshots, even a 16 mp galaxy s5 sucks compared to any nikon dslr I have owned. Sometimes it's more what folks find acceptable but be it your wedding anything less than good glass on a capable body will lose.
 

J-see

Senior Member
The public needs to become more informed on what an acceptable image is versus what a great image is. I went on a trip recently and thought my phone would be ok for some snapshots, even a 16 mp galaxy s5 sucks compared to any nikon dslr I have owned. Sometimes it's more what folks find acceptable but be it your wedding anything less than good glass on a capable body will lose.

I fear the public doesn't care. Their stuff looks good enough on their phone or facebook and that's all they want.

Sure for weddings many still hire a professional but weddings are in decline for half a century or more. I'm living close to the city hall and see people getting married maybe once every three weeks, during the good months of the year. The other major source of income for photographers was print media. That's heavily in decline since quite some years here. Less readers, less advertisers, less income. Less photos needed. And in cutting costs, there's an increase in them buying cheaper stock photos. Every amateur can take a decent shot these days, if lucky even good ones. Those are sold much cheaper than what a pro would cost.

Even selling gear doesn't bring much. You can't risk having too much stock since prices can drop fast and severe and a good part of the population buys their stuff online.

It isn't looking good and it won't be improving unless something drastic changes.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Most everyone likes to take pictures; it's fun to do. Most everyone does *not* want to be a photographer however, nor do they care about white balance, color correction or RAW vs JPG. Most will never own a DSLR or a Mirror-less format camera nor will they ever care about either. They take photos because it's FUN and they'll use whatever is convenient. Now that it's more convenient to do so because of cell phone cams, more people are doing it. But these people don't represent "lost business" because they never would have bought a DSLR or Mirror-less format camera to begin with. They take pictures with their cell phone for one reason: because they can.

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J-see

Senior Member
If those people don't represent lost business, considering the continuous increase of world population, logically, DSLR and other cams should have been going up each year.
 

STM

Senior Member
Pretty much every major corporation, regardless of business sector, is hurting. Lets face it, the economy is in the crapper. Cameras and lenses are major high dollar expenditures and people are much more likely to spend money on necessities rather than luxuries when money is tight, which photography gear most definitely is unless you make your living with photography. Nikon will be fine, they have deep pockets and are diversified. They make a lot more than just cameras. They make binoculars, rifle scopes, spotting scopes as well as lots of different types of optics and associated systems for research and health care that a lot of people don't even know they make. They make $35,000 inverted fluoroscopic microscopes which outpace Leica by a good bit. Olympus does too but Canon does not.
 

TedG954

Senior Member
Chicken Little likes to walk in the woods. She likes to look at the trees. She likes to smell the flowers. She likes to listen to the birds singing.
One day while she is walking an acorn falls from a tree, and hits the top of her little head.
- My, oh, my, the sky is falling. I must run and tell the lion about it, - says Chicken Little and begins to run.
She runs and runs. By and by she meets the hen.
- Where are you going? - asks the hen.
- Oh, Henny Penny, the sky is falling and I am going to the lion to tell him about it.
- How do you know it? - asks Henny Penny.
- It hit me on the head, so I know it must be so, - says Chicken Little.
- Let me go with you! - says Henny Penny. - Run, run.
So the two run and run until they meet Ducky Lucky.
- The sky is falling, - says Henny Penny. - We are going to the lion to tell him about it.
- How do you know that? - asks Ducky Lucky.
- It hit Chicken Little on the head, - says Henny Penny.
- May I come with you? - asks Ducky Lucky.
- Come, - says Henny Penny.
So all three of them run on and on until they meet Foxey Loxey.
- Where are you going? - asks Foxey Loxey.
- The sky is falling and we are going to the lion to tell him about it, - says Ducky Lucky.
- Do you know where he lives? - asks the fox.
- I don't, - says Chicken Little.
- I don't, - says Henny Penny.
- I don't, - says Ducky Lucky.
- I do, - says Foxey Loxey. - Come with me and I can show you the way.
He walks on and on until he comes to his den.
- Come right in, - says Foxey Loxey.
They all go in, but they never, never come out again.

images.jpg


Moral to story: If Nikon owned all those talking animals, they'd never have to worry about money again.
 
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Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
If those people don't represent lost business, considering the continuous increase of world population, logically, DSLR and other cams should have been going up each year.
Sounds logical, but, simply put, it doesn't work that way. Increase of population does not automatically equate to an increase of sales of... Well... Anything really. Especially luxury consumer goods like expensive cameras.
 

J-see

Senior Member
Sounds logical, but, simply put, it doesn't work that way. Increase of population does not automatically equate to an increase of sales of... Well... Anything really. Especially luxury consumer goods like expensive cameras.

Certainly but then again, kids here buy at least two smart phones a year, often more. Many of those cost what an entry DSLR or mirrorless costs. I'm not saying Nikon will go down. I certainly hope they won't. But just like with film, progress and change doesn't care about what anyone wants.

Photographer here is in the top five professions going extinct. I wish it was different since I'm getting sick of going to a store and being served by people that can only sell. If that's a cam, lens or a pair of socks is all the same to them. Don't ask them anything since they haven't got a clue about anything. When my macro arrived, I went to pick it up and the guy asked me what sort of photography I was doing. I had already bought a pseudo-macro and close up lenses. I guess those weren't good enough clues.
 

Rick M

Senior Member
I think we are in the middle of a 20 year buyers market for serious photography equipment. The 5-6 largest manufacturers are doing whatever it takes for market share. In ten years all the new releases will start to drop off as the market /interest collapses. High end photography will become a niche and very expensive as economies of scale grind to a halt. Enjoy it while it lasts gentlemen.

The companies will survive as they meld into different imaging fields/technology.
 

sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
I think we are in the middle of a 20 year buyers market for serious photography equipment. The 5-6 largest manufacturers are doing whatever it takes for market share. In ten years all the new releases will start to drop off as the market /interest collapses. High end photography will become a niche and very expensive as economies of scale grind to a halt. Enjoy it while it lasts gentlemen.

The companies will survive as they meld into different imaging fields/technology.

You could be right about a lot of what you wrote here, Rick. My question is with the rapid deployment of good cell phone cameras, we may be near the end of the cycle, however long it is....be it 10, 15, or 20 years. No one knows how long the buying boom will go on. What I do see is Nikon pumping out a lot of similar sized rigs in their lineup. I think they're really getting desparate to show how far their technology has come, but unwilling to add the real brand new technologies....and you have to wonder....why isn't Nikon ahead of Sony with a FF mirrorless that far exceeds Sony's R & D? They're behind the curve in the fastest growing segment of enthusiasts, which makes up the largest portion of new camera purchasers.
 

AC016

Senior Member
I would have to disagree with the statement that "every" major corporation is hurting, because that is just not true. You only have to look at Apple to realize that. Others include: exxon/mobil, gazprom, chevron, jp morgan, wells fargo.... I will stop because i know u can read fortune yourself. There are hundreds of major corporations who are doing just fine. If anything, nikons camera division will shrink. Leaner just may mean meaner. Big is not always better.
 

PapaST

Senior Member
This reminds me of the music medium industry. Arguably the best sound reproduction comes from vinyl records. But the market doesn't care so much about sound quality as they do portability, compression rates and of course cross-platform interchangeability. The iPod help transform the music industry and now the iPhone is helping transform the photography industry. If the "vinyl record" guys like Nikon and Canon are interested in staying relevant in the market they should concentrate a little less on making a better record player and concentrate on what the market is actually using. So far Nikon's prototypes I've seen on the net are not very promising.

camera phone.JPG
 

SkvLTD

Senior Member
Agreed on the saddest part being that even reputable media beginning to not really care about quality that they present these days. Newspapers are starting to mess with video more, ask readers to submit images for stories.... and it's all good enough since good majority of people spend their faces in facebook on their smartphone that say, 10 years ago, no one even knew about (as well as forums that were the early social media out there). Bringing higher-end technology into the main market is a huge, huge mistake overall.
 
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