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07-05-2020, 12:11 PM - 3 Likes   #1
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Camera business May 2020: uh oh

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Maybe Olympus was just smart:


The market collapse will drive changes. That is for sure. No way things are going to continue as if nothing happened.

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07-05-2020, 12:18 PM   #2
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..... maybe, but there is always someone who exits at the bottom.
07-05-2020, 12:29 PM - 4 Likes   #3
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I guess this was to be expected, given the pandemic... and, since many folks will now be less well off financially, or - at the very least - more cautious about the future, I suspect any potential recovery of the market will take some considerable time
07-05-2020, 12:55 PM - 2 Likes   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by BigMackCam Quote
I guess this was to be expected, given the pandemic... and, since many folks will now be less well off financially, or - at the very least - more cautious about the future, I suspect any potential recovery of the market will take some considerable time
Pretty much.

Even though (knocks on wood), still working here, I'm not running out to spend $1-2k on any camera gear, and with the lack of a strong federal response, some people don't wear masks or do social distancing, COVID will be sticking around for awhile.

It looks like sales plateaued between 2015 and early-mid 2018, and then just started slipping, the pandemic has probably just sped it up; I wonder how bad the bottom will look...digital vs film users can battle it out to whom is more quaint/hipster in the face of smartphones.

07-05-2020, 12:58 PM - 1 Like   #5
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Automotive and aerospace businesses: Hold my beer....

According to that graph, mirrorless outsold DSLR for the first time in Jan to April in a tanking market?. Means nothing of course. Demand will still exist and the ability to acquire may be dampened for a while but sales will recover eventually.
07-05-2020, 01:25 PM - 7 Likes   #6
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Between "no money," "no travel," "no weddings," and "no big gatherings," it's not surprising that people aren't buying expensive cameras with the money they don't have to take the pictures they won't take.

But it's not dooms day for cameras.

Some day, travel will return. Some day, weddings will happen. Some day, cameras of existing photographers will get old and break. Some day, people will realize that their personal finances are going to be OK (even if others are poorer after the pandemic).

Some day, camera sales will go back up.
07-05-2020, 01:25 PM - 2 Likes   #7
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Maybe the pandemic will continue to diminish sales, or maybe not. My art materials supplier has had a bumper Covid as more people turn to isolated hobbies. Perhaps camera suppliers will benefit, after all wondering around with a camera in the landscape is safer than many city pursuits, especially DSLR, which are mainly purchased by older folk who feel more at risk. You can see similar patterns in sales of camper vans which have soared, bikes & camping gear too.

(As an example, my wife and I bought two fantastic lightweight, hiking chairs to sling on the bottom of our sacks so we could change the pattern of our walks and not end up in a pub/town. Since we bought them at the start of this crisis they have doubled in price. Guess others are thinking the same. You can find them at TREKOLOGY YIZI GO Portable Camping Chair - Compact Ultralight Folding Backpacking Chairs, Small Collapsible Foldable Packable Lightweight Backpack Chair in a Bag for Outdoor, Camp, Picnic, Hiking: Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Outdoors if you are interested.)

I think we have to start looking at all futures with a different mindset. Maybe camera equipment will do OK?????

07-05-2020, 01:44 PM - 2 Likes   #8
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Besides buyer uncertainty I would guess that all production was shut down so it is not really unexpected if these are manufacturer figures. If they are retail figures, many outlets were closed, Those open could have been low on inventory. Most of the camera manufacturers are part of diversified companies that should be able to weather a bad stretch, but on the other hand losses can be dealt with rather harshly in modern companies. As far as I know ( and it is speculation) Sigma may be the least diversified photographic manufacturer, and then maybe Nikon, although Nikon is diverse it may not be as much as. Some of the bigger players like Panasonic, Ricoh, Canon, and Sony. And I’m not suggesting doom for any of these companies, there are different ways to look at it, and every company is run differently.
07-05-2020, 02:34 PM - 1 Like   #9
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The thing that bugs me about all of this is that people are looking at charts that show abnormally high camera sales at a certain point in time.
Maybe look at charts that go back to 1950....Now, if certain companies began to think that those highs were normal, then the execs were indeed high. I can't handle stuff that strong anymore....
07-05-2020, 02:34 PM - 1 Like   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by guinnessman Quote
I wonder how bad the bottom will look
It will look very bad, bottoms of markets always do. Then they turn.

Either that or our DSLR's will end up in a museum next to the Breville sandwich maker.
07-05-2020, 06:19 PM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by pschlute Quote
It will look very bad, bottoms of markets always do. Then they turn.

Either that or our DSLR's will end up in a museum next to the Breville sandwich maker.
I had never heard of the Breville, so I looked it up and they still make them. It looks as though they are pretty high end. Or is that a restart of something gone.
07-05-2020, 06:22 PM - 1 Like   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by pschlute Quote
It will look very bad, bottoms of markets always do. Then they turn.

Either that or our DSLR's will end up in a museum next to the Breville sandwich maker.
The chart ends at April. May was the beginning of the (long) bottom - the rate of decline began to diminish (second order improvement). There will be a long, volatile net-flat period. Pentax released the DFA* 85/1.4 now for a reason.

Don’t expect any sustainable turn before 2022, and it will remain volatile until then.

Last edited by monochrome; 07-05-2020 at 06:48 PM.
07-05-2020, 06:36 PM   #13
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Thank you, @beholder3, always informative from you. And I like your moving trend curves ... those polynomials ...
07-05-2020, 06:58 PM - 1 Like   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by ramseybuckeye Quote
I had never heard of the Breville, so I looked it up and they still make them
In the 1970's they produced one of the first sandwich toasters. Big television advertising campaign. It was a huge success, everyone had one, really popular. I think I remember the European business floated on the stock market.Then the fad ended.
07-05-2020, 08:13 PM   #15
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Breville is huge here and in Australia. Especially for espresso machines, grinders, kettles and, yes, sandwich toasters.
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