From Instagram to a DSLR: Smartphone photography driving DSLR sales in India says Nikon, Canon
posted Wednesday, August 24, 2016 at 3:30 PM EDT
According to the Hindustan Times, smartphone photography might actually be driving DSLR sales rather than cannibalizing them. Kazuo Ninomiya, managing director of Nikon India, says that the company has been using interest in photography generated by smartphones to promote photography and higher-end, dedicated cameras to customers.
Canon India's CEO Kazutada Kobayashi echoes Ninomiya's sentiments, too. "With the advent of smartphones, the number of clicks has increased considerably," he notes, "and the market for the imaging industry is set to expand. With so many images being uploaded every moment, the differentiator becomes the quality. And this is where a DSLR camera scores heavily."
Canon India saw its DSLR sales increase 26% in the first half of 2016. But while DSLR sales, at least in India, are increasing as a result of a greater interest in photography generated by smartphones, the compact camera market is suffering. Nikon India's senior vice-president of corporate sales and strategy Sajjan Kumar has said that smartphone cameras have adversely impacted the sales of beginner point and shoot cameras.
It makes a lot of sense that as more people are taking and sharing photos with their smartphone, they might be interested in getting more serious about photography. It's also reasonable to think that people will have a smartphone that takes pretty decent pictures and think that a compact point and shoot camera doesn't represent much of an upgrade, opting instead of an entry-level DSLR camera. As smartphone camera technology continues to improve, however, it'll be interesting to see if the trend observed in India continues. It will also be interesting in the coming years to see if India is a sign of things to come elsewhere in the world or if they're an outlier.
Readers, did you or anyone you know become interested in photography due to using a smartphone to take photos? Let us know in the comments below.
(Seen via DIY Photography and Fstoppers)