Could underwater cameras save the photo industry?

(Image credit: Olympus)

There's no doubt that the photography industry has had some major setbacks. The industry has been in decline for a number of years and the pandemic has done it no favors. However, a new report is suggesting that we might be about to see a massive boom in one part of the industry – underwater cameras.

Fior Markets is a consulting company that produces in-depth market reports. The company is predicting a huge boom in underwater cameras, expecting the market to reach a staggering $15.3 billion by 2027.

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Underwater photography is currently quite a niche, with several of the major manufacturers not having any real offerings for this kind of photography. The few cameras that are waterproof are mostly action cameras such as the GoPro or the Olympus Tough TG-6.

Due to its highly niche status, the market size is currently $4.8 billion, based on figures from 2019. However, Fior Markets is expecting this to grow by more than three times over the next 6 years. This level of predicted growth might cause the major manufacturers to consider entering the waterproof camera industry more seriously.

Fior explains its reasoning by saying, “this growth is attributed to the rapid urbanization and increasing consumer spending capacity of the consumers, increasing penetration of the internet and the rising influence of social media, and rising adoption of underwater cameras.

“The global underwater camera market is expected to witness significant growth, owing to the growing trend of sharing videos and photos over networking sites, advancements in technology, and the growing popularity of smart action underwater camera. "

Fior expects the major companies in this industry to be companies such as Sony, Canon, Nikon, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Ricoh, GoPro and OM Digital Solutions (formerly known as Olympus).

It will certainly be interesting to see how much truth there will be to Fior's prediction. With camera phones and action cameras already beginning to incorporate waterproof technology, we wouldn't be surprised to see a stronger focus on this in the future as consumers start to return to beach and adventure holidays.

Usman is a commercial and architectural photographer based in West Yorkshire, who has been working professionally for over seven years. He has also spent over four years as a writer for the biggest photography sites in the world, including Staff Writer for Digital Camera World, senior staff writer for FStoppers, and tech writer for Petapixel.

With a particular interest in technology developments, high-resolution imaging and the high-end cameras, Usman has been on the cutting edge of camera news as well as writing features about medium format systems and global shutters, and has reviewed some of the latest Leica cameras as well as a tripod that’s even taller than Andre the Giant!

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