Nikon shuts down camera factory in China, blames 'the rise of smartphones'

[skorpiius]

https://www.dpreview.com/news/41348...ctory-in-china-blames-the-rise-of-smartphones
Nikon shuts down camera factory in China, blames 'the rise of smartphones'
Published Oct 30, 2017 | DL Cade

Earlier today, the Nikon board of directors announced plans to close Nikon Imaging (China) Co., LTD (NIC)—a subsidiary based in Wuxi City, Jiangsu, China, where NIC employed some 2,500 workers at a factory that produced compact digital cameras and DSLR lenses. The closure, says Nikon, is due to "the rise of smartphones" and the "rapidly shrinking" compact camera market.

Nikon's announcement of the closure lays the blame for this cut squarely on the shoulders of the smartphone revolution.

In recent years [...] due to the rise of smartphones, the compact digital camera market has been shrinking rapidly, leading to a significant decrease in operating rate at NIC and creating a difficult business environment. In this context, the Company conducted rounds of thorough reviews and discussions on the global manufacturing structure optimization measures stated in the company-wide restructuring plan announced by the Company in November 2016. The Company has decided to discontinue operations of NIC.

Nikon says expenses related to the closure of the factory and "discontinued operations of the consolidated subsidiary" are expected to reach about 7 Billion Yen (~$62 million USD).

Of course, the end of Nikon Imaging (China) doesn't mean the end of Nikon cameras in China. According to Nikkei, Nikon controls 30% of the digital camera market there, and Nikon itself says it will "continue proactively developing business and services in China." This move is simply in keeping with a harsh if unsurprising (and "old news") reality: the smartphone has killed the entry-level compact.

 

[Peter Schrager]

My heart only goes out to the workers losing the jobs
If corporate had any brains they would start making some nice film slr..cameras
Maybe they would be around for the next 10 years...otherwise the future may be bleak

 

[mshchem]

A lot of business is going to Fuji and Canon too. The world is moving too fast for me. 3000 people losing their jobs, tough times.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I do not like the way this is developing.

 

[benjiboy]

The average person in the street with a smartphone sees no reason to own a camera or a watch, My son's and their wives who are in their forties all have high-end smartphones and tell me they have no reason to own a camera.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

The average person in the street with a smartphone sees no reason to own a camera or a watch, My son's and their wives who are in their forties all have high-end smartphones and tell me they have no reason to own a camera.

Well, for the purpose that most people own a camera (taking record snapshots to share with friends), a smartphone IS all they need. The picture quality is far better than the picture quality of a Brownie/box camera/instamatic/point-n-shoot that most of us had around the house growing up, and the better ones offer features that many folks like and want that are not offered on higher-end SLRs or other full-featured cameras. Most of us on this forum probably care more about cameras than most of the buying public does - our opinions, reflecting a minority of a minority view, don't carry much weight with either camera makers or the general public. And I'll freely admit that I have an iPhone 7plus, and that I use it often while out and about, to take photos of things I find on my walkabout. Will it ever replace my Fuji X-T1, or any of my film cameras? Of course not. But when I want to take a photo of my lunch to post to facebook, or that random stalk of grass growing up between cracks in the pavement that's casting an artistic shadow (and I wasn't planning on photographing, therefore I left the RZ67 or the Rolleiflex at home), it takes a more than acceptable photo. So even serious photographers can find smartphone cameras useful and valid as image-making tools.

 

[Craig75]

Having to scrap their,on paper, amazing DL compact line months before launch because they couldnt get them to work didnt help matters and their fixed lens compact lost out to Ricoh's equivalent so compact division was in a mess even without phones.

 

[Wallendo]

Entry level compacts offer few advantages over current smart phones. Since most people currently carry around smart phones, why buy a compact?

 

[Sirius Glass]

The average person in the street with a smartphone sees no reason to own a camera or a watch, My son's and their wives who are in their forties all have high-end smartphones and tell me they have no reason to own a camera.

Well, for the purpose that most people own a camera (taking record snapshots to share with friends), a smartphone IS all they need. The picture quality is far better than the picture quality of a Brownie/box camera/instamatic/point-n-shoot that most of us had around the house growing up, and the better ones offer features that many folks like and want that are not offered on higher-end SLRs or other full-featured cameras. Most of us on this forum probably care more about cameras than most of the buying public does - our opinions, reflecting a minority of a minority view, don't carry much weight with either camera makers or the general public. And I'll freely admit that I have an iPhone 7plus, and that I use it often while out and about, to take photos of things I find on my walkabout. Will it ever replace my Fuji X-T1, or any of my film cameras? Of course not. But when I want to take a photo of my lunch to post to facebook, or that random stalk of grass growing up between cracks in the pavement that's casting an artistic shadow (and I wasn't planning on photographing, therefore I left the RZ67 or the Rolleiflex at home), it takes a more than acceptable photo. So even serious photographers can find smartphone cameras useful and valid as image-making tools.

Sad but true. Maybe some of them will drift into photography. Well we can hope.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Nikon has misread the market and ignored cues, much like Kodak did. Too much emphasis on big and over-hyped DSLRs while ignoring the ordinary snapshooter.

And the Big N is now hedging its bets on the D850 carrying it through. Maybe not, much like the stalled and cloudy-futured Pentax 645Z from Ricoh-Pentax. Big cameras sell better than small compacts, and they are better marketed at enthusiasts and active professionals. Olympus seems to do much more advertising of digital compacts than Nikon. So too does Sony.

We should all enjoy and participate in the future, here now. Phones will progressively out-fox cameras of any persuasion -- they're damned good now, so what will they be like in 3-5... 10 years' time? Will DSLRs actually still exist then? I don't think so. Especially since offerings today provide more than a modicum of power, spontaneity and convenience and at a fraction of the cost and physical footprint of a cumbersome camera.

I will be upgrading my phone next year from a 3-year old LG G3 to either a Google Pixel or something else, and yes, I will be looking at individual cameras. This shift away from compact cameras to smartphones isn't a sudden one, but one which has been going on for at least 4 years and gaining momentum with each new iteration of phone. Today's offerings certainly are a long way ahead of the first iPhone's rudimentary camera. I still have that, and get a chuckle at how simple yet "powerful" it was for its time (2009).

In the meantime, my existing LG phone connects wirelessly to my Fuji digital (which comnes along on most production shoots) for transferring images of location shots that I can use in Messenger for family and friends. Everything else such as day-to-day on the fly snaps is handled with the phone, and its the inherent, dated features that have set me on the course to examine the new kids on the block.

Nikon must have factories scattered around the globe. Curiously, my 2013-vintage Nikon Coolpix (drowned in New Zealand, May 2015) was made in the Phillipines. Others I have seen have been made in Taiwan, and lenses in China.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Big companies eventually fall into the trap that they know better than everyone else.

• Kodak ignored Polaroid.
• Bosch and Lomb dropped out of the optical instrument market to make contact lens solutions.
  
• Xerox paid to develop a wonderful Unix based operating system that they give to Steve Jobs because there was no money to be made from it.
• Kodak invented and perfected the digital camera and thought that film was so great that no one other than spacecraft builders would be interested in it.
• Canon and Nikon were so sure that they knew the digital market and what people would buy that they let Steve Jobs and smart phone take away their business.

 

[Wallendo]

The low-end digital market is a very competitive field with very low profit margins. I was always surprised than Nikon would lend it name to some of the very cheap sub $100 cameras, thinking it would dilute their brand.

There will likely be a continuing market for higher-end cameras with larger profit margins, but the DSLR's and ILC's from the major manufacturers are now so advanced, that all but the most demanding users have any real need to upgrade. My current DSLR is now 6 years old, and still has all the performance I need for those situations where a DSLR is still the best tool for the job (which is less and less frequent these days).

 

[bsdunek]

Yep, I'm so old I still use camera to take photos...

 

[MattKing]

The most recent Kodak branded camera might actually be closer to what the market wants than a lot of the compact digital cameras.
Instant inkjet prints and a 10 Mpixel file for later use, all for less than $70 USD:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod..._printomatic_instant_print_camera_yellow.html
And it even comes in Kodak yellow!

 

[Sirius Glass]

Yep, I'm so old I still use camera to take photos...

 

[mshchem]

I'm going to duct tape my phone to my Crown Graphic.

 

[removed account4]

they should just make smartphones
or a digitral camera that is the size of
a smartphone with the same technology
or a cheap like disposable cameras that
just take a flash drive and costs like 4 bucks like
a disposible camera
these companies aer dopy=

 

[Colin Corneau]

Phones will only ever go so far in picture quality...their main advantage comes in convenience. That advantage isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Manufacturers have pretty much reached maturity in chip technology and any real advances in picture quality there will come from software -- think the iPhone and iPhone X's advances in AI and being able to overlay different lighting effects onto a scene, or the fake bokeh effect they can create. Tiny chips will never be any good in low light, for example...but they can fake it and for the average person who can't be bothered to read 10 seconds to learn who they're voting for for President, that's good enough.

Far as China goes, job losses are nothing new there. Labour relations are a little primitive there, compared to what we are used to.

 

[Craig75]

I only use my phone for photos very occasionally but its extremely tricky to get a good quality photo. However, some people are next level with a phone and can do some great work with them. Anyone who thinks its not photography, try going toe to toe with the people who use their phones seriously.... you will struggle heavily against them

 

[RalphLambrecht]

https://www.dpreview.com/news/41348...ctory-in-china-blames-the-rise-of-smartphones
Nikon shuts down camera factory in China, blames 'the rise of smartphones'
Published Oct 30, 2017 | DL Cade

Earlier today, the Nikon board of directors announced plans to close Nikon Imaging (China) Co., LTD (NIC)—a subsidiary based in Wuxi City, Jiangsu, China, where NIC employed some 2,500 workers at a factory that produced compact digital cameras and DSLR lenses. The closure, says Nikon, is due to "the rise of smartphones" and the "rapidly shrinking" compact camera market.

Nikon's announcement of the closure lays the blame for this cut squarely on the shoulders of the smartphone revolution.

In recent years [...] due to the rise of smartphones, the compact digital camera market has been shrinking rapidly, leading to a significant decrease in operating rate at NIC and creating a difficult business environment. In this context, the Company conducted rounds of thorough reviews and discussions on the global manufacturing structure optimization measures stated in the company-wide restructuring plan announced by the Company in November 2016. The Company has decided to discontinue operations of NIC.

Nikon says expenses related to the closure of the factory and "discontinued operations of the consolidated subsidiary" are expected to reach about 7 Billion Yen (~$62 million USD).

Of course, the end of Nikon Imaging (China) doesn't mean the end of Nikon cameras in China. According to Nikkei, Nikon controls 30% of the digital camera market there, and Nikon itself says it will "continue proactively developing business and services in China." This move is simply in keeping with a harsh if unsurprising (and "old news") reality: the smartphone has killed the entry-level compact.

damn phone cameras and phone pictures with their terrible quality

 

[Billy Axeman]

The first thing I thought when reading this news is that Nikon is afraid that too much of its knowledge is stolen, and that they invented a reason (the bad smartphone) everybody can agree on as a valid reason to close a factory.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I only use my phone for photos very occasionally but its extremely tricky to get a good quality photo. However, some people are next level with a phone and can do some great work with them. Anyone who thinks its not photography, try going toe to toe with the people who use their phones seriously.... you will struggle heavily against them

Me too. But even with grab shots [aka snapshots] I still take the time to compose and frame properly.

 

[Craig75]

Me too. But even with grab shots [aka snapshots] I still take the time to compose and frame properly.

I find even that hard as phone isnt exactly the most ergonomic camera, then you can have glare off screen so its not simple to see if its under or exposing. Touch screen focus point is cool though. Once youve battled through that then there is the processing apps and different apps that can override cameras automatic functions if you want max control. Phone photography is an art in itself - those committed to it can do really nice work but like subminiature, 35mm compact photography, or low end digital compacts you have to believe in the artform to maximise it.

 

[faberryman]

But when I want to take a photo of my lunch to post to facebook...

Why does anyone want to take a picture of their lunch and post it to Facebook?

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Why does anyone want to take a picture of their lunch and post it to Facebook?

Haven't you ever traveled somewhere and had a fantastic meal, and when you get home, you tell your friends about it and they glaze over because they can't imagine what it was actually like? Now you have proof.