A Digital Single-lens Reflex Camera War Erupts in Japan

Digital Single-Lens Reflex camera war; Canon EOS Kiss Digital (left) and Nikon D70 (right)

   Japanese camera manufacturers are in a hot competition to become the leader in the sale of the digital single-lens reflex (SLR) camera -- digital cameras that accept interchangeable lenses. It is an internationally competitive product in which Japanese camera manufacturers can fully exert their technological expertise.

The Popularity of Digital Single-Lens Reflex Cameras; Capitalizing on Reputed Japanese Technology

   It is an internationally competitive product in which Japanese camera manufacturers can fully exert their technological expertise.
   It all began in the autumn of 2003 when Canon Inc. launched the Canon EOS Kiss Digital (Rebel Digital in the U.S. /EOS 300D elsewhere outside of Japan). Up to then, the price of digital SLR cameras had exceeded 200,000 yen, but this new camera lowered prices to the realm of 100-thousands of yen. Nikon Corporation met this challenge by releasing the Nikon D70 at a similar price in March 2004. This was the beginning of the digital SLR war.
   Digital single-lens reflex cameras, which until then had been for professionals and a small number of amateur photographers, became affordable for the ordinary user, and the market expanded in a burst. In the autumn of 2004, Konica Minolta Photo Imaging, Inc. entered the digital SLR war with its Konica Minolta alpha-7 Digital (Konica Minolta Dynax7D/Maxxum7D) equipped with anti-shake technology. Olympus Corporation counteracted by releasing a digital SLR camera priced in the low 100,000 thousands of yen range (its upper end DSLR camera is priced at more than 200,000 yen). Meanwhile, Pentax Corportion introduced a digital SLR camera that costs less than 100,000 yen.

   With the fall in the sales of film cameras, great expectations for constant growth had been placed on digital cameras. However, according to statistics compiled by the Camera & Imaging Products Association, domestic shipment of digital cameras for the month of June 2004 fell 13 percent as compared with the same month of the previous year. This was the first time since the association began compiling digital camera related statistics in 1999 that there was a year-on-year decline in shipments. Japanese newspapers reported that digital cameras, which had been hailed along with flat-screen TVs and DVDs as one of the "new three sacred treasures" of Japanese households, was in the danger of dropping out of the race. Consumer electronics manufacturers, such as the Sony Corporation and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., poured huge volumes of compact, light digital cameras into the market. With the advance of price reduction, ownership rates surpassed 50 percent, and digital cameras became a saturated market. Concern erupted that the digital camera market would follow a downward path tread by the personal computer market in Japan.

You can Use Your Prized Camera Lenses

   This is why there is great expectation placed on digital SLR cameras. Camera manufacturers are anticipating that seasoned amateur photo enthusiasts, who own film SLR cameras and various interchangeable lenses, will switch from film to digital cameras in hordes. For amateur photo enthusiasts who own a number of camera lenses, being able to use their favored lenses in a digital camera is something that goes beyond the simple realm of cost.

Counter of digital single-lens reflex camera where various new models are displayed

   Digital SLR cameras provide advantages for manufacturers as well. Although prices have been reduced, digital SLR cameras still cost three to four times more than compact digital cameras, and they offer a high profit margin. There were forecasts that Canon, which spearheaded the affordable digital SLR camera market, would proceed to launch cameras that are even less expensive than the Kiss Digital. However, the company released a higher rank model, and one cannot help but read in this move an ulterior motive meant to maintain the price of digital SLR cameras.
   Digital SLR cameras require core capacities in sophisticated optical technology, such as lenses. This is something that consumer electronics manufacturers cannot easily match. In the past half century, Japanese camera manufacturers applied themselves to developing film SLR cameras and peripherals so that they may become a player in the global market. It remains to be seen whether this tradition will be repeated in the digital field.
   Canon is taking a bullish position, and it forecasts that the global digital SLR market, which reached 850 thousand cameras in 2003 (year-on-year growth of 400%), will become 2.3 million cameras in 2004. 20 percent of its sales are in Japan while overseas countries, centering on North America and Europe, account for 80 percent (Asia is an up and coming market). It looks like the major battleground for digital SLR cameras will now be areas outside of Japan.