Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/08/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I have some related industry statistics and manufacturing info at: http://www.smu.edu/~rmonagha/mf/photostats.html photo industry stats page http://www.smu.edu/~rmonagha/brondeath.html Death Spiral of Amateur Photogr. http://www.smu.edu/~rmonagha/third/economics.html economics of 35mm SLR mfging http://www.smu.edu/~rmonagha/mf/semipro.html photogr. wages etc. stats http://www.smu.edu/~rmonagha/mf/glassmfg.html Optical glass mfg issues The photo industries seem to be in "sunset" mode, being phased out, and moved to low wage countries in a "hollowing out" of Japan's manufacturing industry familiar to many of us. With the expected shift to digital cameras, I would not expect major R&D expenditures for new tooling, technology, and other radical 35mm SLR/RF improvements - but would like to be proven wrong! ;-) In any case, we have seen postings on the LUG that stocks like Nikon and Leica etc. are not doing well. And most of Nikon's profits are reportedly from its point and shoot sales, not Pro F5s! Rollei makes more from one submarine periscope than its entire medium format lines by other estimates. The German's recently shut down their 35mm pentacon/praktica factories, figuring it was cheaper to send workers home on welfare than go on selling cameras that cost $650 but sold for $165 (Death Spiral article). I would like to find other photo industry statistics, esp. about items like market share and related issues, as these could highlight some trends that impact all of us... regards bobm