2019 was turbulent, 2020 was turbulent: The corona pandemic severely shook the camera industry and many other developments. We look back at the most important developments and dare to look forward to what the next year could bring.

The unexpected, expected departure I Our annual review 2020 begins just like that of 2019: with Olympus and the exit from the camera business. A year ago that was a rumor that was still often denied, at the latest since September 2020 it is officially a certainty. Olympus has spun off its camera division into a subsidiary. 95 Percentage of the shares in this company go to January 1st 2021 to the Japanese financial investor Japan Industrial Partners (JIP). The manufacturer is saying goodbye to the photo business after more than 80 years. The main reason for the departure must have been the bad numbers, because they have been deep red since 2011. The manufacturer did not manage to put its imaging division on an economically viable footing despite innovative products. Olympus now wants to focus entirely on the medical sector.

In the past few years it was misplaced Olympus already has a high-quality range of models. Cameras like the OM-D E-M1 III pictured here are aimed at nature photographers and offer a huge variety of functions that are sometimes found in vain from other manufacturers.

(Image: Olympus)

The agreement concluded between Olympus and JIP extends to all development and production facilities that have so far been in the service of Olympus’ Imaging -Division stood. As before, production will remain at the Vietnam location. Support for devices, still manufactured and sold by Olympus, will be handled by OM Digital Solutions. The next year will show what that means in concrete terms for the further development of the Micro Four Thirds system around mirrorless system cameras with Four Thirds sensors. Olympus and JIP confirmed that they wanted to build on the previous product range. According to rumors, JIP wants to focus on high-quality models, such as those found in the OM-D line. In this way, the investor would follow the path that Olympus had already taken in previous years.

The unexpected, expected exit II And another constant in the industry is likely to break down: At the end of November, Koelnmesse announced that it would suspend Photokina until further notice. The leading trade fair for the photo industry will therefore not take place in May 2022 as planned. Those responsible at Koelnmesse state that the general conditions in the industry currently do not offer a sustainable basis for the leading international trade fair.

That was not entirely unexpected. For a long time – and not just since Corona – the imaging market has been struggling with massive declines and the Photokina with self-discovery. 2018 those responsible tried a new concept that integrated smartphone photography and videography as well as social media – including changes to the cycle and dates . However, this did not improve the situation at the fair. On the contrary: for an edition planned for May 2020, well-known manufacturers such as Leica, Nikon and Olympus had already 2019 canceled – the appointment ultimately never materialized. Thus, since the end of 2018 the fair has been repositioned or postponed again and again. So now a suspension for an indefinite period.

The numbers of the year In fact, 2020 has reached a new low point in the development of the photo market. This is particularly evident in the figures from the Japanese photography industry association CIPA. All of the major camera and lens manufacturers cavort here. While March to May were among the strongest months in the past few years, this year the sales curve has made a dramatic bend down here, even reaching its lowest point in May. Of course, manufacturers attribute this slump to global anti-corona measures, which resulted in stores having to close and consumer sentiment darkened. Although the curve has recovered significantly since September, it is still below the previous year’s level. It is still unclear how the worldwide increasing corona numbers and the associated restrictions will affect the last quarter of the year.

The Canon EOS R6 is a mirrorless system camera with full-frame sensor. She puts an emphasis on speed. Like the professional DSLR models, it also works with a lower resolution of 20 megapixels.

Some manufacturers are at least cautiously optimistic, like market leader Canon. In its latest annual report from the end of October, it even presented surprisingly good figures. The market has shrunk considerably because of Covid 19, but it is recovering better than expected . According to Canon, this is mainly due to the fact that the demand for recording devices has risen sharply because, for example, people spend more time in the home office and in video conferences. Canon still expects to sell significantly fewer cameras this year than last year, but despite the lower sales, a higher profit could be generated. According to the manufacturer, this is made possible by high-quality products such as the EOS R5 and EOS R6, which delivered strong sales figures and are in the upper price range of over 2000 Euro move.

Nikon also states in its annual report from the end of November that the market is recovering faster than expected. But the manufacturer also calculates that this is only a small consolation. From 2016 to 2022 the market will overall by just under 60 percent. As in the annual report from the spring, the manufacturer emphasized that it was facing significant restructuring measures. The imaging division wants to make the switch to a sustainable business model faster. For this, Nikon wants to use the red pencil – business costs should fall faster than the market shrinks. In addition, they want to concentrate more on professionals and ambitious hobby photographers and to rely primarily on mirrorless and high-quality models in product planning and development.