Today we are going to take a look at what happened to the camera industry in 2022 compared to the previous pandemic years and the pre-pandemic area.
As with every year that we cover the camera industry, all the numbers that you will see are based on the most recent CIPA (the Camera, and Image Products Association) numbers published in early 2023.
Total cameras sold
The first number that we are going to look at is the total number of cameras sold globally (it’s actually the total number of produced cameras but the difference is quite negligible).
Looking at what happened in the past 4 years we see that in 2019 we were looking at almost 15 million cameras sold globally going down to only 8.7 million in the first pandemic year and down again to 8.3 million in 2021.
What we see in 2022 is another small decrease to just over 8 million cameras. This might not sound that bad but if you think about an industry that a decade before was selling 100 million units or more that’s a very hard pill to swallow.
Interchangeable lens vs. fixed lens cameras
The total number of cameras is no longer the most important factor to consider as the balance of sales within the industry has shifted in recent years from fixed lens cameras (also known as compact/point and shoot etc.) to interchangeable lens cameras.
Starting from 2020, we have seen more interchangeable lens cameras sold globally than fixed lens ones and in 2022 the difference has increased significantly with only 2 million fixed lens cameras sold vs. almost 6 million interchangeable lens cameras. We expect this difference to increase even more in the coming years.
DSLR vs. Mirrorless
Another big sign that things are changing dramatically in the photo industry is the ratio of DSLRs vs. mirrorless sales. While all manufacturers except Pentax have basically stopped developing new DSLR cameras, many DSLRs are still manufactured and sold, especially many of the entry-level models which are quite affordable.
With that said in 2022 the ratio of mirrorless to DSLR sold had changed dramatically in favor of mirrorless cameras with 4.1 million mirrorless units vs. only 1.8 million DSLRs compared to 3.1 million mirrorlesses to 2.2 million DSLRs in 2021.
Camera lenses
When it comes to lenses it seems that the industry has more or less plateaued at around 10 million lenses in the past two years (9.8 million in 2021 and just over 10 million lenses in 2022).
Interestingly we are seeing a split of 5 million FF vs. 5 million APS-C or smaller lenses sold in the past year.
What next?
We are not in the business of predicting the future however the way things look now 2023 could very well be a year of recession (or very low growth) worldwide. Add this to increased inflation in most countries and increasing camera prices and we will be lucky to see even similar camera sales in 2023 compared to 2022.
Is this low sale rate sustainable for the camera industry? tell us what you think in the comments.
You can check out all our previous videos/articles about the camera industry below:
- What Happened to the Photography Industry in 2013?
- What Happened to the Photography Industry in 2014?
- What Happened to the Photography Industry in 2015?
- What Happened to the Photography Industry in 2016?
- What Happened to the Photography Industry in 2017?
- What Happened to the Photography Industry in 2018?
- What Happened to the Photo Industry: 2010-2020 – The Big Fall
- What Happened to the Photo Industry: 2020-2021
You can check out more LensVid exclusive articles and reviews on the following link.
Iddo Genuth 
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