It’s pretty insane to think that very soon, a very big camera manufacturer could fall–or at least that’s what being hinted at with a new report about Panasonic’s dwindling profits. In fact, six of the businesses under Panasonic aren’t doing so great and one of those listed is the digital camera business. Indeed, things really have changed over the years. The Micro Four Thirds coalition used to be #1 in the mirrorless camera sales world but they’ve fallen behind when it comes to sales. Sony now dominates with Fujifilm following in on a close second place.
According to Asia Nikkei:
“Three other businesses units — digital cameras, private branch exchange telephone systems and optical disk drives — will be dismantled. Each will be scaled back and placed under the umbrella of other operations, with headcount to be reduced.”
The report continues to talk about Panasonic reporting over 1.5 trillion yen in losses during 2011 and 2012. The restructuring will mean a whole lot of cuts in the businesses.
Tracking Panasonic’s Performance
So how did this all happen?
Back in 2013 and 2012, Panasonic was having problems with their finances and did some restructuring. So to help, they sold off 51% their camera division and reported a massive profit in early 2014. A quarter later, things again looked pretty positive for Panasonic but not from the camera business. From an industry standpoint, there really wasn’t a whole lot of buzz or hype around the company’s products. But when Photokina 2016 came around and they announced the development of the Panasonic GH5, it turned a whole lot of heads. Initial reviews are proving to be very positive; but in today’s day and age that really isn’t saying a whole lot. Every single camera manufacturer these days are making great cameras and lenses and for what it’s worth there isn’t a whole lot to distinguish them all from one another.
When you look at CIPA stats though things don’t look all incredibly too bad for the industry. But Panasonic isn’t the only one hurting right now. Nikon is doing a massive restructuring to really focus on their higher end cameras.
Alternatively, the analog film photography world is looking really good right now. Pretty strange, huh?
