TWICE: How is the new mirrorless interchangeable-lens
camera segment progressing?
Dennis Eppel, Panasonic:
That area is exploding for us,
including the lenses, so the attachment there is a nice piece of business for
us and a little bit of a surprise. We
didn’t think it would see that kind of growth this year, but it’s really doing
quite well.
Mark Weir, Sony Electronics:
The repeat customer for
compact cameras is becoming the majority of the market, but we also see the
emergence of the repeat customer in interchangeable-lens cameras as well. It’s really quite surprising when you consider
the life cycle of an SLR that we would see quite as many repeat customers in
the market. One thing about the repeat
customer is they certainly know what they’re looking for.
Also, we see a greater engagement in photography from those
customers not only in terms of what they can do with a camera but also new ways
to use a camera. We saw this originally
with the emergence of video, and we can see this with the emergence of new form
factors of cameras, particularly compact interchangeable lens, but also the
emergence of new feature and new shooting styles that you can realize with
panorama, emergence or the soon to emerge presence of 3D as well as new
approaches to shooting in low light that really change the way that, you know,
people can take pictures. That repeat
customer I think is really going to fuel the business.
Richard Campbell, Samsung:
The growth in mirrorless
interchangeable lens systems has us pretty excited about the prospects for the
second half.
Mark Sherengo, Pentax Imaging:
We’re going to bring to the
market a different product, as we mentioned, mirrorless Four Thirds
category. We’re going to bring something
that is just a little bit more individual, flexible, and to really penetrate
different kinds of markets from the early adopters of young female, 13 to 23,
to maybe the mother segment, maybe to corporations, so it’s just something
different.
David Lee, Nikon:
We always look to the
consumer response, and while there has been some uptick in the United States,
mirrorless adoption has not been as big as it is in other parts of the world.
