Digital Camera News: Casio Says No to SLRs, Exports From Japan Down, Digital Camera for Children, New CEO for Canon

[Brian]

Casio has announced they have no intention of fighting in the digital camera SLR space

With its focus on the mid-range digital camera market, the next logical step for Casio would be to move up to higher-end camera, perhaps in the lucrative Digital Single Lens Reflex (SLR) space. But Clough says its value in the consumer market that his company is after.

"We are not trying to invade the Digital SLR space and we are not trying to be the lowest price out there with the highest number of megapixels. We are trying to go after the consumer value -- value not defined as lowest price, but benefits we bring that are real benefits given the price."

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/mc/20050330/tc_mc/casiopresidenttalksdigitalcamerastrategy


For the first time ever, digital camera exports from Japan saw a decline

Exports of digital cameras from Japan fell 0.9 percent in February, declining for the first time due to a sharp drop in shipments to Europe, an industry group said on Friday.

Japanese digital camera exports totaled 3.29 million units in February, the first year-on-year monthly decline since Japan's Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA) began compiling data on exports in 1999.

CIPA data covers only cameras manufactured by Japanese companies but is considered the industry standard as Japanese makers account for about 80 percent of the global output of digital cameras and own most of the world's top brands.

February's data is the latest bearish report on the digital camera industry, which is experiencing growing pains after years of expanding at break-neck speed.

The household penetration rate has already topped 50 percent in Japan and is climbing rapidly in the United States and Europe.

Exports to Europe dropped 10.7 percent in February, reflecting a move by a maker to limit shipments in order to run down excess inventories.

Domestic shipments of digital cameras fell 0.8 percent in February to 560,000 units, marking the fifth straight month-on-month decline. Shipments in Japan rose 4.6 in value terms, however, due to an increase in single lens reflex models.

Total shipments of Japanese-made digital cameras fell 0.9 percent to 3.85 million units in February, CIPA said.

HS Design is marketing a puck-like digital camera for children

The cameras are wrapped in Ultrasuede to give them a soft feel. With a reasonably sized LCD panel and several colors, surely the "FirstSpot" can find an audience outside of children even with a low resolution lens. There is no pricing or timeline for release available.

Canon USA has brought in a new CEO

Yoroku Adachi, president and CEO of Canon's China and Hong Kong markets, will move to Canon USA as its new chief, Canon said on Friday.

As president and CEO of Canon USA, Adachi will replace Kinya Uchida, who is shifting to Tokyo as the company's adviser. Adachi will also be a managing director at Canon's board of directors. Canon USA is responsible for operations in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean.

http://news.com.com/Canon+USA+gets+new+chief/2110-1047_3-5650355.html

[Eliwood]

I'm a lot more interested in hearing Sony's word on whether it will enter the DSLR market. Every other major player (Canon, Nikon, Kodak, KM, Olympus, Fuji, Pentax) has already entered yet the former digital camera market leader leaves us hanging without any response. It'd a be a killer combo if Sony got together with Zeiss to make its lens lineup. That'd be an instant winner.

[Brian]

Everything about Sony is consumer oriented though, I'm not sure they'll go for such a comparatively small market.

[Eliwood]

In relative terms, it's still small compared to the consumer market, but in terms of growth, it's growing much faster, doubling in shipments every two years now. Price (as in falling prices) is the entire reason behind the growth of this segment. I wouldn't be surprised to see the first $500 DSLR arrive by next year.

And with the advent of the "compact DSLR's" like the XT, Pentax's *ist DS, and the upcoming D50, the cheaper DSLR's which are now in the $600-$700 range are poised to wipe out the high end all-in-one market. We'll still hopefully see Sony's F939 if that ever comes and maybe a few other ultrazoom cameras, but that's all I see coming. It's no longer profitable to make cameras for that segment of the market in light of what's going on right now.

The users who are using the 8MP cameras today are being lured towards these entry level DSLR's (which are smaller), and are known to stick to the basic modes and one lens. It defeats the purpose of interchangeable lenses, but you gain the two other compelling advantages of DSLR's over fixed lens cameras - lack of shutter lag and superb image quality that doesn't degrade as you crank up the ISO. DSLR is one of those things where once you have it, you don't want to do back to normal. I can't think of an ideal notebook analogy, but one that works is the enhanced screen. After you see an XBRITE or Crystal View screen (and aren't annoyed by the reflectiveness), you don't want to go back to normal.