Mike Peterson
Camera maker Nikon will reportedly shift its business away from making single-lens reflex cameras and instead focus on mirrorless options.
The Japanese firm's shift away from traditional DSLR-style products comes amid intensifying competition from smartphone cameras like those found on an iPhone, Nikkei has reported.
Nikon has been losing ground to smartphone cameras that have become much more capable over the years. Instead of DSLR cameras, Nikon plans to focus on mirrorless cameras with more advanced digital and "unique features."
It appears that the shift in strategy may have already been taking place. Nikon hasn't released any new SLR models since it debuted the Nikon D6 SLR in June 2020. Nikkei says that Nikon has already stopped production of compact digital cameras.
Although the Japanese camera maker plans to focus on mirrorless cameras, the company will still produce and distribute SLR models — at least for a time.
SLR cameras use a mirror to reflect the image seen through the viewfinder. Mirrorless cameras, as their name suggests, achieve this digitally without a mirror or optical viewfinder.
Mirrorless cameras have a number of advantages over traditional mechanical cameras, including reduced size and weight, faster operation, and real-time image previews. They can also incorporate advanced features like facial and pupil recognition, and the ability to idetify animals or objects.
They also already contribute nearly half of Nikon's imaging product revenue, compared to just 30% for SLR cameras.
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10 Comments
Perhaps too late.
Still like using my Nikon DSLR, but more often than not I rely solely on my iPhone.
This isn’t exactly news. They’ve been moving away from DSLRs for three years now, as has Canon. Sony, because they failed at DSLRs, began the move years before that, and as a result, owned the market, except for the small 4:3 segment. Now, it’s a fight between Canon and Sony, with Nikon trailing significantly. 4:3 is less relevant than ever.
"focusing on mirrorless digital cameras", cute.
I've never understood the SLR transition in favour of a mechanical mirror vs an internal electronic viewing screen, although I guess reflected light is the most accuarte real time option. With AR, AI, ML and Meta how much will 'reality' matter any more anyway...?
OM-1 is still my (vintage) benchmark for analogue, and I have found it tough to find anything that rivals the Zuiko UWA lenses for image sharpness, compactness and build quality. I still use a Zeiss adapter on a standard iPhone lens vs the Apple OEM UWA offered - I have not tested the 13 pro, however I could see pronounced softness on the base model even on the iPhone screen (!) which I understand has been left unchanged since the 'pro' bandwagon rolled out the UWA on the 11. That said micro UWA I understand as very, very tough to design due to physics... Sigh...