Camera sales are booming. But what about the lenses? Actually, this specific category of lens is doing strangely well

(Image credit: Future)

Lately, it seems as if there have been a number of unusually exciting lens announcements – and it turns out, I’m not alone in my thoughts, as the latest data shows a spike in Japanese lens sales. The lens category growing the most? Optics mode for crop sensor cameras.

CIPA data for October – which was shared at the start of December – indicates that interchangeable lens shipments from Japan were 105.6% of the previous month and about 103.9% compared to the same month last year.

That tracks with the increase in camera sales that CIPA also reported. However, the category that’s seeing the biggest growth in 2025 so far is lenses made for cameras smaller than full frame – in other words, APS-C and Micro Four Thirds lenses.

Comparing shipments for the first ten months of 2025, lenses for crop sensor cameras are at 108.7% of last year’s numbers, while lenses for full frame and larger sit at 96.0% of last year’s numbers so far.

It’s not unusual for brands to ship more crop sensor lenses than full-frame, as the smaller format is typically the more affordable option – and crop-sensor body shipments also tend to outpace full-frame. So far this year, CIPA-participating brands have shipped around 4.48 million lenses for crop sensor cameras and just under 3.65 million for full-frame cameras.

Looking at the charts compared to last year, lenses as a whole are about 102.6% of 2024’s numbers so far. Outside of a steep drop in August, 2025’s numbers so far have beaten out 2024’s numbers nearly every month.

While multiple regions had declining shipments in August, shipments to the Americas had the steepest drop that month, which makes me wonder just how much tariffs made an impact.

This year has brought a number of exciting lens choices to crop-sensor cameras (exactly what we were hoping for back in January!). There’s the Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 DC, for starters, a lens that brings prime-level brightness, but wrapped in a compact zoom lens. For Micro Four Thirds, there’s the new OM System 50-200mm f/2.8 IS Pro that brings an exceptionally bright aperture to a telephoto zoom.

That’s not to say that 2025 hasn’t been an excellent year for full-frame lenses, with optics like the Sigma 200mm f/2, not to mention the growing number of zooms with an f/2 aperture like the Sony 28-70mm f/2 GM that began shipping in December 2024.

All-in-one zoom lenses are also seeming to become even more prevalent, alongside f/2.8 workhorses that are more compact by shrinking down the zoom range a bit.

There are still two months left of data to collect, as CIPA tracking takes about two months before sharing the results, but the latest numbers have me excited to see what’s in store for 2026.

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