Originally posted by Zivelot Hi folks,
Since the announcement of new lenses and APS-C flagship a question has been lingering. What sort of sales figures a company/Pentax needs to return profit for their investment in R&D of a lens or a camera. I am not at all expert in economics, corporate planning, production, hi-tech etc. so would really appreciate input from those more geared in this topic.
I know the question is quite general and broad, but if you can bring examples to the table that would help me to understand. For example: how much could be the R&D (and other related) cost of the new 21mm FF lens and what sort of number they need to sell to justify production or just make profit.
Thanks!
These figures are confidential and not revealed by camera companies even to shareholders in their reports. Data is aggregated into divisions to prevent scrutiny of particular aspects of a business.
It is almost impossible for shareholders to even get a figure like 'how many Fuji XT3s did we actually sell last year?'
It may suit Fujifilm (or whoever) to not answer the question, to answer it partially 'sales declined slightly, but we are hopeful', but they will never lie. False reporting by a corporation is very serious.