Good for them. Might be due to falling body prices and all of the special promos they've been having, so their margin numbers will be interesting. It will be an interesting year to watch with major announcements and releases coming - the new Nikons, new Sony A7000, new Canon announcements. Actually, I guess every year will be interesting as these companies fight overturn shrinking pie.
Bad news for Panasonic - they list third place to Canon in the mirrorless segment - shocking considering the offerings from Canon for mirrorless Rob
Annoying use of maths in that article... If I had gone from 22% to 34% market share, I'd call that a 50% gain! But then percentages are often used like that, and it always annoys me. I really ought to just ignore it. Rant over. Oh, and yeah, I think the Panny thing is weird too...
market share increases while profitability went to negative... did the share gain come at the expense of reduced margins?
That's really discouraging news about Panasonic. I believe they need to reduce the number of models they produce and concentrate on them. What they are doing great now isn't working. The new 100-400mm zoom should be popular so that's a bright spot.
They need to make a camera that is desirable like Olympus does. And if at all possible, include some new innovation that is also desirable, like a new sensor that has actual IQ benefits, or global shutter. Basically come up with the equivalent of Olympus's original E-M5. Personally I like what Panasonic does and their designs are good but seems looks over function, as long as that function is good enough, does better in the market place. Possibly design a Leica'ish camera. Heck, even collaborate with Leica for the aesthetics side of things (thinking along the lines of their M series). Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk
Look at the number of thread on Olympus and Panasonic forum and why I am not surprised? Some how the major push to "4K video" instead of taking stills that majority of camera buyer do makes them alienating their existing clients.
They would probably love to provide a new sensor with significant IQ gains but none are available. It's not so bad on this forum but on another more gear oriented forum there are endless posts complaining that Olympus and Panasonic don't provide more megapixels. They are stuck trying to juggle the desires of their user base and the reality of sensor design. They have been saying for years that an increase in pixel density doesn't necessarily lead to a dramatic increase in IQ. No one believes them.
It's tough to be Panasonic. They threw everything but the kitchen sink (well, weather sealing) at the GX7, and then it had all its thunder stolen in the mainstream press by the E-M1, which is admittedly a higher end body. So afterwards, they threw everything including the kitchen sink into the GX8. Newest and best M4/3 sensor on the market, DFD, new IBIS, 4K video, weather-sealing, fully-articulated screen, all the direct physical controls imaginable, the best EVF on the entire mirrorless market. Literally the only feature it doesn't have is PDAF, which Panasonic seems opposed to implementing. ...and then it had all its thunder stolen by...the GX7? The fact that it's bigger than the old model? The fact that some people don't like the looks? I don't know. I don't understand how the GX8 doesn't constitute a "desirable" model. Olympus definitely has superior IBIS, but otherwise I just don't understand why there's such a disparity in the sales of the cameras. Olympus certainly has the better name recognition as an "old-school" camera brand, I guess.
Just giving my perspective, but I passed on the GX8 in favor of the Olympus E-M5ii mostly for the "Pro" lenses with stabilization. The 12-40 has an edge over the pana 12-35 imo, and there's only one 40-150 f/2.8. So Oly it was. That being said, I seriously considered the GX8 when the PL100-400 came out. I have no objections to the GX8, and would probably enjoy using it just as much.
Actually, whilst I initially reacted negatively to the GX8, it's beginning to grow on me! If I were looking for a hump-less u43 body, I'd probably buy it in preference to the Pen F.
So are you saying that Olympus missed the boat by not using the Black Eyed Peas, "My Humps" song for their OM-D marketing.
I'm not a Panasonic user but I have to say this is shocking. Panasonic makes incredible cameras and lenses.
