LAS VEGAS--Panasonic's camera group isn't happy with its U.S. market share and is working on a new marketing plan to improve it, executives said Tuesday at a photography show.
Panasonic's video-capable DMC-GH1
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)"In looking at the U.S., we have not positioned the Lumix brand to our satisfaction," said Panasonic Executive Vice President Robert Perry at a press event at the Photo Marketing Association show here.
The company has No. 1 digital camera share in France and routinely is first or second in various other areas, but it's working to fix its sales problem in the United States, he said. Specifically, the company has begun a market review, he said.
"Over the coming months, we will see many changes," trying to win the hearts and minds of buyers and trying to fire up the resellers "whom we need to get behind the product and support it and make sure they communicate our value proposition," Perry said.
... Read moreCompact-camera manufacturers have begun testing the waters with a wealth of high-end features as they search for new ways to gain revenue, market share, and recognition.
In earlier digital photography days, a camera with an extra megapixel of resolution, face recognition, or image stabilization could stand apart from the herd. But now that herd has grown larger, most folks who'll buy a digital camera already have done so, the economy has put consumer spending on ice--and camera makers are making some bolder bets with high-end features.
Among them: Nikon's built-in GPS support to record where a photo was taken, Casio's high-speed video, and the Micro Four Thirds camera system from Panasonic and Olympus.
Premium features aren't an easy sell. They tend to appeal to market niches rather than the mainstream. Early implementations are often rough around the edges. And it's hard enough to convince people to buy a new camera, much less one with the higher price of premium features.
But winning those customers can have a good payoff with better profit margins. And that's critical in this day and age. Market research firm IDC expects that after years of growth, the shipments of digital cameras will decline in 2009.
"It's crowded, and it's getting crowdeder," IDC analyst Ron Glaz said of the digital camera market. "We're anticipating that with the slowdown in economy and disposable income, we'll start seeing consolidation of the vendors." In other words, even though something in the neighborhood of 38 million digital cameras are sold annually, some companies will throw in the towel.
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Panasonic's DMC-G1
(Credit: Panasonic)Panasonic's $670 G1 and Olympus' $540 E-520 and $450 E-410--that show both the advantages and disadvantages of the Four Thirds standards the companies use.
The Four Thirds system governs image sensor sizes and the mounting mechanism for interchangeable lenses on the companies' SLR cameras, and the companies announced a new variation called Micro Four Thirds for smaller cameras that have SLRs' interchangeable lenses but not SLRs' "reflex" mirror, which directs light through an optical viewfinder before a shot is taken.
Four Thirds SLRs have a smaller sensor than lower-end SLRs from market leaders Nikon and Canon, which poses image quality challenges because there's less surface area to gather light. However, the sensor size is the same for Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds, which means that cameras using the latter have a much larger sensor than typical compact cameras have.
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Panasonic's 32GB SDHC card, with a 20MB-per-second transfer rate, will cost about $700.
(Credit: Panasonic)Panasonic announced a new SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) flash card on Tuesday that offers both high speed and lots of space for those willing to pay.
The 32-gigabyte card, called the RP-SDV32GU1K, is due to ship in April for about $700. It's a high-speed "class 6" card that can transfer data at speeds of 20MB per second--the world's first at the 32GB capacity, Panasonic asserts.
SD is the dominant format for flash memory, and with the newer SDHC technology that extends capacity beyond 2GB, it's begun spreading into space-gobbling videocameras. SanDisk, a top flash card brand, announced a 32GB SDHC card costing $350 in January, but it transfers data a notch slower, at 15MB per second.
One major flash card alternative to SD, CompactFlash, can transfer data at a maximum of 45MB per second. However, top transfer speeds are often more useful when copying files from a flash card, since cameras and videocameras often can't write data at those top speeds.
This image, from a Panasonic paper at the ISSCC computer-chip show, shows a sensor with a better ability to span bright and dark areas in a photo. It works by combining three shots into a single high-dynamic range image using a new Panasonic image sensor.
(Credit: Panasonic)SAN FRANCISCO-- Panasonic showed technology on Monday that could shift the digital photography trend of high-dynamic range photos off the computer and directly into a camera image sensor.
And it works through a variation of a familiar photographic technique called exposure bracketing. For years, photographers challenged by tough lighting conditions have taken multiple pictures of the same scene at different brightness levels--bracketing--to help ensure one photo has a good balance shadow and highlight details.
More recently, with the advent of computers, these bracketed exposures can be combined into a single high-dynamic range (HDR) image that captures both bright and dark areas--for example both the subtle tones of both a bride's white wedding dress and a groom's tuxedo--that lie beyond the abilities of the camera taking a single shot.
In research shown here at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, Tokayoshi Yamada of Matsushita Electric Industrial--better known as Panasonic to most people--showed technology that he said lets an image sensor capture that high-dynamic range information.
With today's sensors, "You can get either highlight or shadow detail, depending on the exposure time. To get much wider dynamic range images, we need to combine these different-exposure images," Yamada said.
Yamada showed a 177x144 pixel image sensor that takes three photos of the same scene in rapid succession. In one example, he said, the first exposure lasts 1.5 microseconds, the second 150 microseconds, and the third 15,000 microseconds (not far from a 1/60 second exposure). Extra circuitry built into the sensor records the data from the multiple exposures and uses an assortment of electronic capacitors to combine it into a single image that spans a greater dynamic range.
The image can span a dynamic range of 140 decibels compared with ordinary sensors with a 60dB range when working at a frame rate of 15 frames per second, the researchers said.
In his presentation, Yamada showed a resulting image taken of a regular incandescent light bulb. With conventional sensor technology, a few of the words printed on the bulb were visible, but most were washed out in a blown-out white patch near the bulb's filament. In the Panasonic sensor's image, not only were most of the words visible, but also the helical coil of the filament was.
Combining multiple exposures has been possible before, but only using technology that recorded the multiple exposures in separate areas called frame memories, Yamada and his Panasonic colleagues said in a paper on the subject.
Despite efforts such as Fujifilm's SuperCCD sensors, camera buffs are often frustrated by the image sensor dynamic range of that's significantly weaker than what the human eye can detect. Although the Panasonic research shows some promise, though, photo nerds should rein in their hopes: the research showed only a black-and-white images so far and is suited "for automotive and security cameras," according to the researchers' paper.
Panasonic's DMC-TZ5, with a 10X zoom lens in a compact body, is among a bunch of compact cameras introduced Tuesday at PMA, the Photo Marketing Association trade show.
(Credit: Panasonic)LAS VEGAS--Panasonic is a relative newcomer to the camera business, but the electronics giant outlined strong ambitions for the business Monday.
"We will try our best to achieve 15 percent market share by 2009," Tokihazu Matsumoto, director of the company's digital still camera business unit, said at a news conference at the Photo Marketing Association trade show here. "We aim to become one of the top camera brands in the industry."
The company also is hoping to reach 15 million units globally during the fiscal year, which for Panasonic runs through March 2010.
That's a big step up from the 10 percent share the company said it had for fiscal 2007. To reach its goal, Panasonic said, it hopes for 13 percent share in 2008, Matsumoto said.
Panasonic's goal is "aggressive," given that the digital camera market isn't growing much and most sales are to repeat buyers, said InfoTrends analyst Ed Lee.
"To get to 15 percent means they're going to have to climb over a few manufacturers to get there," Lee said. Specifically, that means Sony, with a market share percentage already in the high teens, and Canon, with market share exceeding 20 percent.
Panasonic is investing to try to realize its ambition, though, he added. "They are putting money behind cameras and imaging as a corporation."
At PMA, Panasonic unveiled several new compact models that put a major emphasis on automation. For example, a feature called Intelligent Exposure divides a scene into 3,000 regions as it's shot and analyzes which are likely to be underexposed. Panasonic's new Venus Engine IV image processor then increases the exposure level in dark regions, Matsumoto said in an interview.
The exposure boost takes place gradually so there aren't edges or visible artifacts, Matsumoto said.
The company also hopes to stand out from the crowd by use of wider-angle lenses to better capture crowd shots. Several new models announced Tuesday sport a 25mm wide-angle lens.
Panasonic's newer L10 SLR uses the company's own image sensor.
(Credit: Panasonic)Panasonic plans to spend 94 billion yen, or $860 million, to add a new facility to its image-sensor manufacturing plant in Tonami, Toyama Prefecture, Japan, the company said Thursday.
The consumer electronics giant will begin construction in September and manufacturing in August 2009, the company said. It will use the plant to build sensors for digital cameras, vehicles, camcorders, broadcasting gear, and medical equipment, Panasonic said.
The 48,000-square-meter plant will be able to manufacture 30,000 200mm-diameter wafers per month. Silicon wafers are large circular crystals from which processors are made.
The Lumix FX55 is a newer camera, but Panasonic hasn't yet detailed its upcoming WiFi-equipped model.
(Credit: Panasonic)Panasonic announced a partnership Monday by which customers will be able to use forthcoming 802.11-equipped Lumix digital cameras to wirelessly upload photos to Google's Picasa photo-sharing site.
Panasonic announced the partnership at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Buying the camera comes with a 12-month subscription to use any of T-Mobile's 8,500 wireless hot spots for free, similar to an earlier deal that Nikon announced with the telecommunications company.
Panasonic didn't share further details about the Wi-Fi-enabled camera.
View complete CES 2008 coverage from CNET.
Eastman Kodak will receive royalties from Matsushita Electric Industrial through a settlement of a July patent infringement suit, according to a regulatory filing Thursday.
On December 21, Kodak settled suits with Matsushita, better known in the United States by its Panasonic brand, and with a Matsushita subsidiary, Victor Company of Japan (JVC).
Under terms of the settlements, the companies signed cross-licensing agreements granting each company access to the others' patents, Kodak said in the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Both settlements are "royalty-bearing to Kodak," the company said.
Update 8:12 a.m. PST: We added Fujifilm to the poll.
Canon and Nikon dominate the SLR camera business, but if you're entering the market or buying a new camera, it would behoove you to look at other options, too.
One interesting question, though, is who's got the best alternatives today. It's a relevant question for someone buying a first SLR or deciding whether to stick with an existing brand or change. From another perspective, who should Nikon and Canon be fretting about most among competitors?
I'd love to see your vote and hear your likes and dislikes, and other thoughts in the Talkback section below.
News.com Poll
There are two broad classes of alternatives. First, the companies that already have an established presence in the camera market: Fujifilm, Leica, Olympus, Pentax, and Sigma. Second are the newcomers from the consumer electronics realm: Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony.
There are some alliances here that make that rough division more complicated than might appear at first blush. First, Sony's SLR effort is built on the assets it acquired from Konica-Minolta, a longtime SLR maker. Second, Samsung's SLRs at present are basically rebadged Pentax models with some minor differences, such as a blue ring around the lenses rather than a green one. Third, Panasonic has a technology partnership with Leica, and both those makers' lenses use the Four Thirds system that Olympus founded when it introduced digital SLRs.
Those partnerships all are important not just because the newcomers can get a technological boost, but also because it means buyers have a wider choice of lenses. A lot of people never buy any lens besides the basic "kit" lens that came with the camera. But for those who want to grow, it's good to have a bunch of telephotos, wide angles, fixed-focal length primes, macros, and fisheyes to choose from.
I'm not sure if this is a coincidence, but one thing that unites all those chasing Nikon and Canon is the decision to build image stabilization into the camera body rather than into the lens. With that approach, the image sensor shifts side to side and sometimes rotationally to compensate for the photographer's shaky hands. It also means that image stabilization works with older lenses and doesn't have to be built into new ones. On the flip side, Nikon and Canon argue for putting image stabilization into the lens, which they argue produces better results.
Another big difference is that only Nikon and Canon so far have models with full-frame image sensors.
If you're wedded to the big two, you might be curious to know how users voted earlier this month in our Canon vs. Nikon SLR poll: Nikon beat Canon with 55 percent of more than 11,000 voters. (Yes, we do employ measures to prevent people from voting multiple times.)
But for those evaluating the alternatives, here are some other tidbits to consider.
• The Four Thirds allies have the benefit of a clean break from the film past, with all-new lenses designed for the sensors that are smaller than a full frame of 35mm film. That means they could design lenses that are smaller and cheaper than those who have to worry about supporting older film cameras or who are planning on offering full-frame models in the future. And it means customers can intermix nice lenses from one company with cameras from another, a nice break from the usual SLR lens incompatibility barriers.
• Images from Four Thirds cameras have an aspect ratio of 4:3 (surprise!), the squarish proportions used in standard-definition TVs. But 35mm film cameras, as well as the digital SLRs from Pentax, Samsung, Sony, and Sigma, use a more 3:2 ratio. Personally, I prefer the latter, since it permits more dramatic vertical or horizontal orientations. And bear in mind that HDTV uses an even wider 16:9 ratio.
• Fujifilm uses the same camera bodies as Nikon, meaning that the lenses are compatible, but it uses its own sensor design, called SuperCCD. These sensors employ an unconventional pixel layout that in effect devotes two sensor sites to each pixel, expanding the dynamic range of the image at the expense of a lower overall pixel count.
• Sony not only has benefit of its Konica-Minolta history, it also has a lot of in-house manufacturing expertise--notably image sensors. That allows it to control more of its own destiny, plump up profit margins, and tightly integrate components.
• Sigma uses Foveon's unusual image sensor in its SD14 digital SLR. Most image sensors have a checkerboard pattern of red, green, and blue pixels; the camera processes the data to produce red, green, and blue values for each pixel after the fact. In contrast, Foveon's sensor captures red, green, and blue data for each pixel. In theory that could mean images with finer detail and fewer pesky artifacts, but in practice it's hard to overlook the conspicuous absence so far of Foveon chips elsewhere in the industry.
• Panasonic and Sony have released only two SLRs each so far, one in 2006 and one in 2007, but bet on them to flesh out their product lines to reach a broader market. Sony in particular has promised a new professional-grade model--an ambitious move--but the company already has released a sizable number of new lenses.
• Olympus and Pentax may not have the professional-market clout of Canon and Nikon, but they're trying hard to appeal to higher-end users. Olympus' new, top-end E-3 and Pentax's flagship K10D both are designed to resist water and dust, for example.
