Japan's Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA) has released its July figures, reporting the highest shipments of the calendar year so far for DSLRs, mirrorless and compact cameras, along with lenses for cameras with smaller than 35mm sensors.
Now the bad news.
While total camera units shipped in July were 801,240, up from 741,734 in 2023 and 725,944 in 2022, the report reveals that DSLR units are down 38% compared to the same period in 2023.
CIPA has predicted shipments of 5.89 million interchangeable lens cameras (ILCs), 1.52 million compacts and 9.57 million lenses for the entire calendar year. Based on 2023’s shipping patterns, Nikon Rumors predicts that ILCs could potentially come in at 5.9-6.5 million units.
According to the site, body and lens sales peaked in 2012 during the camera boom at 20.16 million and 30.4 million respectively, and have steadily fallen in the years since as other technologies, especially the best camera phones, have seen huge advancements. In 2023, 6 million DSLR and mirrorless camera bodies and 9.6 million lenses were sold.
This comes as BCN Retail reported that the Sony ZV-E10 took the top three spots in the best-selling bodies in Japan for July, only to be knocked off those same spots by the Canon EOS R10 and EOS R50 in August.
Chinese lens manufacturing has taken an upward swing in recent years, as consumers begin to discover that they are actually worth using, and are often cheaper than their Japanese counterparts. Crucially, CIPA does not report shipments for these increasingly popular lenses – nor does it report the recordbreaking sales of instant cameras, for that matter.
We reported back in March, after the release of that month's CIPA figures, that compact cameras had seen 7% growth in sales and a 41% growth value year on year, fuelled by the popularity of all-in-one vlogging cameras and the astounding success of the Fujifilm X100VI premium compact.
CIPA reports have long been considered an important barometer for assessing the industry's overall wellbeing. Its members include major Japanese manufacturers like Canon, OM Digital Solutions, Ricoh and Sony. The current CIPA president, Hiroyuki Ikegami, is from Nikon, and the vice president, Masato Yamamoto, is from Fujifilm.
Take a look at our guides to the best cameras for vlogging, the best DSLR, and the best Sony cameras.
