Via Engadget, Canon had a tough time last quarter -- Canon had a tough year, in fact. While net income rose slightly (just under 1%), profit fell almost 14% compared to the year-ago quarter. This leaves Canon with almost a 2.5% decline in comparison to the 2010 fiscal year. With this news, COO and President Tsuneji Uchida announced he is stepping down.
Canon has some long-awaited replacements for professional DSLRs coming up this year, but their earnings projections are still shy of any growth. Canon is a large company with product lines that reach far beyond that of professional and consumer imaging, however, so there could be several industry areas struggling within the company. Meanwhile, Canon chairman, Fujio Mitarai, will be taking Uchida's place.
While I doubt they will go the way of Kodak (at least any time soon) this does concern me a little. Let's hope this is due to one of their none photography related revenue streams
I'm betting it isn't their camera manufacturing that is struggling.
I'm sure the Tsunami and nuclear emergency had NOTHING to do with it........
I don't know how is it over the Ocean, but in Romania, Canon almost has no advertising, no internet community, almost nothing.. while Nikon organizes workshops, seminars, open-days, contests, has great internet community, great forum and so on..
I'm just saying, I have nothing against Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax or whatever.. but this things really matter :)
Not sure why Canon is struggling, with the 5DMKII I thought it was a logical success but maybe their price was too agressive? Not sure... Something I find so strange is that on kijij.ca there's often a post of someone willing to exchange their 5DMKII for a Nikon D700, I mean huh? I don't get it.... but.... there must be something that people hates from Canon I don't know... Personally, if someone was giving me a Canon 5DMKII, I'd be very happy.
Nikon for the win! Kidding... Canon is a big company and cameras reflect only a small part of that. If camera sales have slowed the 5DM3 will change that.
Only if they put a better AF engine in there... because the complaints are getting bigger and bigger...
Honestly, I think Canon and Nikon needs to push the bar a little. FX camera are way too expensive for what they bring right now. Take an example the D1X and the D4, does speed and HIGH-ISO worth really 6k and more? Does speed, buffers, FX Sensor and HIGH ISO performance cost that much?
I am so hoping for a change in mentality right now... Less features, better IQ, easier to use/Setup.
right now I feel like selling everything I have, get 2 D5100 with Tokina lenses for video and for my studio work, I should get a Mamiya 22MP or an used Hasselblad at 9k - 15k
I'm buying a D4 based on the video and audio improvements alone. While I love the look of my D700, I'm perfectly happy with the quality of my D7000s and D300ss. Lee infact sold his D700 years ago and switched completely over to D7000s.
I think you have to look at the total improvements and options a camera offers. For me it's not about high ISO, Continues shooting, or having an FX sensor. The truth is I'll probably sell my D4 as soon as the D400 and D700 replacements come out if they can do the same audio and video tricks the D4 currently displays.
The D4 might be out of stock for so long because of the olympics, chances are you may get your D800 before your D4! :)
that's what I'm thinking too.... maybe FX isn't the way to go, stay DX all the way, save money and go Medium format for studio shoot. Have you tried Peter's Hasselblad for stills?
I think you're right, maybe the D7000 is good enough for High ISO performance....
I have a hunch the FS team might have a few D4s in a few weeks :)
Speaking from experience, shooting with a digital hassy system is WAY different than with a 35mm dslr. It's process -- much slower AF, no crazy ISO performance, heavy, click...............click..............click.........
Wonderful, large, beautiful files, but it's for a handful of very specific uses. So comparing a dslr with a digi hassy...apples to oranges.
Profit didn't fall 14%. Here's what engadget had:
In the wake of a relatively strong Q3, Canon today unveiled a slightly less rosy earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2011. Net sales for the quarter reached ¥964.8 billion (about $12.6 billion), up from the ¥916 billion the company reported last quarter, but down about 9.7 percent from Q4 2010. Quarterly operating profit, meanwhile, rose 14.2 percent on the year, to ¥94.6 billion ($1.2 billion). Profit for the full fiscal year, however, declined by 2.4 percent to ¥378.1 billion (approximately $4.9 billion), compared with the ¥387.6 billion ($5.1 billion) Canon raked in for all of 2010. Net income, on the other hand, rose by nearly 14 percent over Q4 2010 (¥61.4 billion from ¥54 billion), but only 0.8 percent over the full fiscal year (¥248.6 billion in FY 2011, ¥246.6 billion in FY 2010).
So basically instead of $5.1 billion they made $4.9 billion. I have a feeling things are going to be okay.
Canon need a change in attitude:
1) The iPhone will be cannibalising the point-n-shoot market. Either get out of that game, or focus efforts to two or three devices that are *really* exceptional. And I mean, with built in photo editing and WIFI. I mean iOS style applications on the camera, for editing and sharing instantly.
1) Canon still don't have drivers out for their current line of SELPHY printers on OSX Lion. 6 months of waiting, 6 months of no action. This is indicative of a lazy company with poor focus on consumers.
2) Their website's are dire - try to find anything useful on there. Go find some drivers or firmware for your devices. Half the time the site just stops responding.
Unfortunate that Fstoppers is so heavily swayed towards Nikon. Makes me take them much less seriously. Who really cares about cameras? End result is what is important.