Severe crisis at Nikon

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HHPhoto

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Hi,

unfortunately quite bad news from Nikon. Their crisis is increasing:

http://www.photoscala.de/2017/02/13/nikon-steckt-tief-in-der-krise/

Short summary:
- revenue decline in "Imaging products" by another 29%
- declining profits
- only 50% of the company's revenue is now from the imaging/camera sector
- demand for their new action cams ("KeyMission") much lower than expected
- the complete DL line is cancelled
- 1143 Nikon workers have to go (that is about 10% of the whole workforce).

Cheers, Jan
 
HHPhoto said:
- only 50% of the company's revenue is now from the imaging/camera sector
Click to expand...

As much as 50%? Its been about 45% - 50% for some time, with the bulk of the remainder coming from photo-lithography equipment and a small percentage coming from instruments and medical.

HHPhoto said:
- 1143 Nikon workers have to go (that is about 10% of the whole workforce).
Click to expand...

Most of those are getting cut from photo-lithography equipment sector, not the imaging/camera sector.
 
It would be sad to see them go, or be subsumed by Sony
I've always preferred them over Canon, probably as they are more of a pure-player imaging company rather than it being 1 of many product lines.

However, the last 5-10 years have not been kind to Nikon, and it is largely their own doing.
They watched 3 of the biggest "new developments" go by, without much of a response - mirrorless, video & premium compact.
The Nikon 1 line was always priced too high for the chip size they chose. They then have left it on life support for years. The EVF, AF and responsiveness were good for its time but everyone caught up and used bigger sensors. Given the fast readout & EVF, it would have been a good line to experiment in video, instead they let it languish.

The Nikon A, fixed-28mm Ricoh GR killer turned out to be mostly a dude to many. Not much to offer over the GR, more expensive, and quickly killed off.

No attempt to attack the Sony RX100, Fuji X100, Sony RX1, Leica X, etc.
 
No surprise. If, in 1975, I told folks 'The Great Yellow Father' (Kodak) was going to go bankrupt, they would have been skeptical I'm sure.

Disclaimer; Not that I ever said such a thing. I have no more insight into these things than the next guy.
 
waileong said:
What new reality is that? They are already a major digital camera player.
Click to expand...

The reality is: the market for new, non-smart phone still photography has morphed in to conglomeration of niches.

The DSLR is now simply one of these niches. Niches do not automatically translate into profits (but they can be profitable when marketed as a niche).

Nikon has operated and apparently continues to operate as if the DSLR is no monger niche. Their stock price history alone reveals this is a tragic mistake.
 
jsrockit said:
Ah, Jan is here with his favorite type of news story... the death of digital! 😉
Click to expand...

I've never said that!

I am doing both film and digital. And in digital it is currently 100% Nikon, so it is not good news for me.

We all have to face the reality with the significant problems in the digital camera market. It is affecting lots of us. Some of us more more, some of us less.

It would be very naive to ignore these massive market problems. There will be much more bad news in the coming years. From several companies.

Cheers, Jan
 
Last edited:
Nikon might have predicted that action cameras and high-price compacts would cease to be a viable path for a high price brand manufacturer. But what other options would they have had? Effectively any path they go means downsizing - and downsizing into the SLR niche may indeed be the best they can do.
 
Part of the problem is their attempts to enter different markets.
The key mission is, in my opinion, wasted time and money spent on an already shrinking market.
Just look at GoPro for how well that market is going.
And the DL is too little too late.
Sure the 18-50mm version would be nice, but the Sony RX100 series is readily available.

It seems Nikon should focus on what they do best.
Make great DSLRs and great lenses.
Or somehow create a mirrorless camera that could surpass Sony and Fuji in price and performance.
 
willie_901 said:
The reality is: the market for new, non-smart phone still photography has morphed in to conglomeration of niches.

The DSLR is now simply one of these niches.
Click to expand...

Willie, the DSLR market is not a niche.
Concerning unit sales, it is the second biggest segment behind digital compact cameras.
And concerning value/revenue, it even is by far the biggest segment.
Just look at the data:
http://www.cipa.jp/stats/dc_e.html

Cheers, Jan
 
It's fair to say that Nikon's profitability in the short-term is heavily impacted by the cost of the workforce reduction scheme. "In the field of imaging, Nikon will focus on highly profitable products." and "In the near future, Nikon will probably sharply reduce, if not completely abandon its compact camera business, especially since Nikon's market share in this segment is declining." If so, I suppose that DSLR's will then become another 'niche' market and the price of its high-end DSLR's will increase...?
 
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