Nikon confirms entry into interchangeable market

The market for cameras with interchangeable lenses continues to expand with news that Nikon plans to introduce a new type of DSLR camera later this year. 

Nikon president Makoto Kimura told financial news service Bloomberg that a “new concept” model (most likely to be released at Photokina in September) will probably have an enhanced function for video recording and may adopt the so-called mirrorless structure.

Nikon, Japan’s biggest SLR camera maker, has been intensively focusing on development of the product to fuel revenue growth of digital SLR cameras, Kimura said in an interview last week. 

The company aims to boost sales of cameras with interchangeable lenses about 80% to 6.65 million units in three years to March 2013, Nikon announced last month.

Currently, Olympus and Panasonic are represented in the  Micro Four Thirds category. Samsung has the NX system while Sony's new Alpha NEX line-up is the most recent entrant in the mirrorless interchangeable lens market. Canon is expected to announce several new cameras within the next few weeks.

Meantime, sales in Japan of cameras with interchangeable lenses rose 35% in unit terms and 26% by value in May, partly because of the introduction of the new models, according to research firm BCN Inc. 

Global camera shipments

Worldwide shipments of digital cameras rose 21% in the five months to May 31 from a year earlier, according to Tokyo-based Camera & Imaging Products Association.

Revenue from cameras with interchangeable lenses jumped 42% while that from compact cameras gained 14%.