Sony overtake Nikon in US camera market

[Andrew Reid]

Thanks to strong sales of the Sony A7R II and A7S II, Sony has announced a 23% year on year growth in sales to catapult the company into second place on the market.

Source: Sony press release

[mercer]

Nikon needs to source their sensors from someone other than Sony or start producing their own. 

[webrunner5]

Well Sony said they wanted to be number 2, and I think they may be number 1 if they come out with some killer stuff this year. I hope already at NAB!

20 minutes ago, mercer said:

Nikon needs to source their sensors from someone other than Sony or start producing their own. 

I think it is Way too late for Nikon now. They better have the best products they have ever made this year, or they are done. You can't live on your past reputation like you use to in this day and age. Technology moves Way to fast for the old turds that are running Nikon now. It's a Shame it is looking like the end is near for them though. They just seem clueless as of late?

[Mattias Burling]

Is there any source to back up the statement that they have over taken Nikon? (The press release does not show this)

Is there a source that shows number of cameras sold? (The press release does not show this)

Is there any numbers showing how it usually looks since this is just for the first three months of 2017? (The press release does not show this)

What would also be interesting is to see the FF vs Crop sales and of corse where the profit is?

Either way its interesting news. I hope every single day that Sony will get their shit together. Because they deliver excellent still cameras. They just need to nail video and quality control.

[andrgl]

49 minutes ago, Mattias Burling said:

Is there any source to back up the statement that they have over taken Nikon? (The press release does not show this)

Is there a source that shows number of cameras sold? (The press release does not show this)

Is there any numbers showing how it usually looks since this is just for the first three months of 2017? (The press release does not show this)

What would also be interesting is to see the FF vs Crop sales and of corse where the profit is?

Either way its interesting news. I hope every single day that Sony will get their shit together. Because they deliver excellent still cameras. They just need to nail video and quality control.

Estimate based:

https://www.npdgroup.ca/wps/portal/npd/ca/home/

You'll need to pay to access the data.

[Don Kotlos]

Using simple high school level math from the following graph that was part of the release, we can see that Sony represents 33% of the total sales and since Canon has higher than that, Nikon is less than Sony.  

 

[Wulf]

57 minutes ago, Mattias Burling said:

Either way its interesting news. I hope every single day that Sony will get their shit together. Because they deliver excellent still cameras. They just need to nail video and quality control.

Freudian slip?

The big issue is quality control in my eyes.

They went too cheap in their production like the 600's and the 750's shutter problems and that backfired. Therefore loosing not only margins, but a lot of reputation and customers, too.

edit: But hey, they were nearly dead in 2008, too, before they launched the lowlight king D3. They have allready a chance to come back, it depends all on the next bodies (take the new 7500 not in account)

[Arikhan]

Great news for FF shooters - more and stronger competition is very good for us all. Manufacturers have to adapt - or die.
Inspired by this thread, I began a small poll within my WhatsApp-Group, asking 16-19 years old German teenagers which kind of photos they like or/and they would pay for.

As we are on Eastern vacations at the moment, there were 36 people who answered. Quintessence: "We like photos we can NOT shoot ourselves with our smartphones...."

They like:

• Night photography
• Night / low light portraiture (hard to do with small sensored devices)
• Night street photography
• Creative lighting and Contre-jour photos (eg. HSS portraiture with sunset in background)
• Spectacular photos of fast moving objects (bikes, cars, runners)

They don't like:

• "Documentary style photography" - because boring and "dead"
• Instagram-like post as done by many smartphone apps - not original and creative at all
• "Selfie-style" shots - they can do it theirselves and many of them are tired of

What all of them like, are expressive photos - with a "personal touch" - telling a story. And nearly all of them like a shallow DOF. And Black & White photography with creative lighting...

This is not a scientific or representative poll, but it could suggest what the young audience likes/prefers. And as most professional photographers don't shoot for their private collection, they will have to follow the requirements of their potential customers. 

[Mattias Burling]

2 hours ago, Don Kotlos said:

Using simple high school level math from the following graph that was part of the release, we can see that Sony represents 33% of the total sales and since Canon has higher than that, Nikon is less than Sony.  

 

It doesn't show the number of cameras sold (it shows dollars). It doesnt show brand by brand. It doesn't show compared to APS-C.

Lets say Sony sells 10 FF and 5 APS-C cameras. Nikon sells 1 FF and 500 APS-C. Lets say the profit of one FF is $1 and the profit of the APS-C is $100. 

Reports like these are made for investors and shareholders. The only way to see if they really are a success is in their bank accounts.

But again, I wish Sony well, as long as they start addressing their quality control.

Imo, The original A7/r/s are awesome cameras. So was the Nex and maybe the a6000. A7ii/rii/sii, a6300/6500 suck. And I really hope they don't get comfortable and stop improving just because their competitors are fading away. The need to push on.

[Don Kotlos]

4 minutes ago, Mattias Burling said:

A7ii/rii/sii suck

Well those sales even if in dollars tell a different story. 

[Wulf]

keep also in mind that Sony had just released a new fullframe body ...

so, while we could see a tendency, it's more or less PR clickbait atm.

[Don Kotlos]

19 minutes ago, Wulf said:

keep also in mind that Sony had just released a new fullframe body ...

so, while we could see a tendency, it's more or less PR clickbait atm.

"The popularity of key models including α7RII and α7SII has been paramount to this success."

But I do agree, this is PR in order to inspire confidence to Pros for their upcoming release which I guess will target 1Dxii/D5 users. 

[noone]

52 minutes ago, Wulf said:

keep also in mind that Sony had just released a new fullframe body ...

so, while we could see a tendency, it's more or less PR clickbait atm.

If anything, that makes it worse for Nikon.

The body they just released (A99ii) would likely have very little impact on the market and at the same time the previous year.

  Sony would have got a bigger boost from the A7Rii (released  in June 2015) but that is a bit of time passing and Nikon had just released the D5 (Jan 5 2016) and people would have been holding off purchases in some cases from before that a bit..

Does it really matter as long as they all make cameras people like and can pick and choose between?

[Wulf]

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

[bertzie]

Nikons are just housings for Sony sensors anyways. Canon still holds the biggest single share in the market at over 50%. If Sony overtook Nikon that would put them both likely somewhere in the low 20%s or even lower. Takes more than a pea-shooter to topple a Canon.

[ND64]

in mirrorless market, Sony was #1 in Japan, but now its #2, overthrown by Olympus which was in financial difficulties. in the US, and in Full Frame segment, Sony is still a single player. Wait Canon (and even Nikon) enter the ring, and things will be different. 

[David Bowgett]

Are Sony actually #2 in the U.S. market overall, or just the second highest-selling full frame camera maker? The article suggests the former, but Sony's own press release seems to suggest it's the latter.

[k-robert]

17 hours ago, mercer said:

Nikon needs to source their sensors from someone other than Sony or start producing their own. 

Nikon needs wild dogs!!!
They have to change, think differently. Otherwise, but only if they are lucky, NIkon will end up as Hasselblad, bought by a capital-strong Chinese company.

 

 

 

 

 

[SR]

Sony cameras are quite baffling to use for photography. Last time I tried it, took me half an hour to figure out how the ISO had changed on the A7R when I was trying to adjust the AF point. And they are winning in spite of that. Wish Nikon would join the videography game seriously.

[IronFilm]

On 15/04/2017 at 7:12 AM, Wulf said:

edit: But hey, they were nearly dead in 2008, too, before they launched the lowlight king D3. They have allready a chance to come back, it depends all on the next bodies (take the new 7500 not in account)

D7500 is a solid progressive update for Nikon. But yeah, won't be setting the world on fire. It is at least a year too late for that.

However, D750 and D810 are both overdue updates which should happen this year or early next year. As they're both very excellent cameras that are still top of their class now, then if Nikon pulls off a big update for them then they should have something very special on their hands when they get released.