- Related Stories
-
Panasonic plans lower-end SLR camera
March 9, 2007 -
Sony plans two higher-end SLRs
March 8, 2007 -
Olympus, Nikon shoot for lower-end SLRs
March 7, 2007 -
High-end Canon SLR counters Nikon
February 22, 2007
SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras offer snappy response, higher image quality and a range of lenses, but they also cost more and are much bulkier than compact models. They offer better profit margins than compact models, but consumer electronics companies are injecting new competition into the market.
Sony wasn't in the market in 2005, but its 326,000 SLR shipments in 2006 were enough to vault the consumer electronics company over established camera makers Olympus and Pentax into third place overall, according to IDC data released Monday. Samsung and Panasonic also debuted to the tune of 43,000 and 36,000 SLRs, respectively, giving the newcomers 405,000, or 8 percent, of the 5.3 million total SLRs shipped.
However, Canon remains king of the SLR heap by a wide margin. Its 31 percent growth--a 578,000 camera increase to 2.46 million in 2006--added more new cameras than all three newcomers combined.
No. 2 Nikon cut into Canon's SLR lead, with 36 percent growth to 1.74 million shipments in 2006.
The overall SLR market grew 39 percent from 3.8 million shipments to 5.27 million in 2006, IDC said.
The overall camera market grew 15 percent from 92.3 million shipments in 2005 to 105.7 million in 2006, IDC said. The compact market grew 14 percent from 88.5 million to 100.4 million.
For compact cameras, Canon remained No. 1 with 22 percent growth to 17.3 million units shipped in 2006.
- More from News.com on this story's topics
Digital cameras
Sales/revenue
See more CNET content tagged:
SLR,
shipment,
Canon Inc.,
digital camera,
electronics company
Business web hosting from Aplus.Net
What about Leica and the M8?? It may not be the best seller but it
is by fat the camera that the true pro is going to look at. Not all
the best cameras carry the Canon or Nikon name. This is coming
from a professional Nikon shooter that lusts after Leica.
Good Luck
Thanks for the great article. I also enjoy your news alerts...
Best, - Marek
Combined, Konica/Minolta would have had on their own something approaching what Sony sold in DLSRs last year.
Sony normally designs its own products, some successful, some not (remember Betamax?). It couldn't design it's own in a reasonable period of time much less introduce an entirely new lens mount, so it bought an also-ran in the DSLR market.
I guess Sony advertises too much with Cnet for us to get insightful reporting.
The reality is that they bought Minolta (which was the #3 player in the marketplace) and so it makes sense that Sony would now be in third place, true the Alpha camera was a Sony product but it was largely leveraged from all the Minolta products/resources. I think it's great that Sony, Samsung, etc. are in the DigitalSLR marketplace, as it drives innovation at Canon/Nikon and results in lower prices for everyone.
So while nothing you say is untrue, it's not as complete a story as it should be...
The reality is that they bought Minolta (which was the #3 player in the marketplace) and so it makes sense that Sony would now be in third place, true the Alpha camera was a Sony product but it was largely leveraged from all the Minolta products/resources. I think it's great that Sony, Samsung, etc. are in the DigitalSLR marketplace, as it drives innovation at Canon/Nikon and results in lower prices for everyone.
So while nothing you say is untrue, it's not as complete a story as it should be...
For one, the 1D's live preview only works in Manual Focus mode. Plus the meter mode is fixed. Thus you can't change the distance between the camera and the subject without refocusing, so basically it can only used in still/studio type settings with the camera fixed on a tripod and shooting a static object.
Also when shooting at night (or whenever you need a flash), there is considerable extra lag since TTL metering doesn't work with the mirror up. So when you press the shutter release, the mirror has to come down, the shutter closes, TTL happens, mirror goes back up, and only then the shutter releases.
When not using flash there is a small additional lag (the shutter has to close, then open again) but probably not significant.
What live preview is really intended for is still-life macro shooting on a tripod, when you have very narrow depth-of-field. The live preview lets you (manually) achieve critical focusing before taking the picture.
Even then, the 1D's LCD is probably too small for critical focusing... so live preview is probably best used while the camera is tethered to a computer (so the image can be viewed on the computer's larger monitor.)