BCNranking publsihed the exact Japanese camera sales number for the whole 2013. Mirrorless interchangeable camera market share is 40% (DSLR has therefore 60%). Within the Mirrorless world Olympus takes the lead with 29.1% followed by Sony 26.4%, 14.2%, Panasonic, Ricoh imaging 9.8%, 9.34% Nikon, Canon 9.25 percent.

That said the Olympus E-M1 and the Panasonic GX7 and Gm1 have come to market very late. And at least in USA the Olympus E-M1 seems to sell very well according to Amazon US ranking (click here to see the list).

P:S:: New Years deal: Plenty of Gold Box deals on Tripods ongoing right now at Amazon US.

Like so many other websites also Michael Reichmann from Luminous Landscape chose the Olympus E-M1 as camera of the year 2013. He writes:

Simply put, the Olympus O-MD E-M1 is that company’s new flagship camera, and while not inexpensive, provides proof that Olympus is run by engineers and product marketing folks that actually understand the needs of photographers. Sadly, this is not something that one can say for all camera companies these days.

Good job Olympus. Now let’s see if the new E-M10 will be the next praised and well selling Olympus camera…

E-M1 Store Links:
Olympus E-M1 body at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto, Amazon DE (via DL), Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL), WexUK, Topshot FI, CameraWorldUK.
Olympus E-M1 with 12-40mm Lens kit at Amazon DE (via DL), WexUK and CameraWorldUK, Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL).
Olympus E-M1 with 12-50mm Lens kit at Amazon DE (via DL), WexUK, CameraWorldUK, Amazon UK (via DL), Amazon ES (via DL).
E-M1 Hariz case in [shoplink 43405 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink] or [shoplink 43406 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink].

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UPDATED: I don’t know what this could mean for the digital camera business future. But Panasonic just announced a new joint venture with TowerJazz (press text as pdf here). The key info here is that Panasonic sold 51% of three semiconductor manufacturing facilities to TowerJazz which now owns 51% of the new created joint venture company. Panasonic still keeps the 49%.

The transferred plants are from Hokuriku:

More info: Image-Sensor-World, Bloomberg.

The New York Times reported an analysis from Credit Suisse saying that the camera market will move towards an oligopoly where only big companies like Nikon, Canon and Sony will survive. Credit Suisse imaging analyst Yu Yoshida said that mirrorless cameras “are sputtering as buyers put connectivity above picture quality“. And sales are not growing in EU and USA because “consumers tend to equate image quality with size and heft“. For them solutions like the [shoplink 43613 ebay]Sony QX lenscameras[/shoplink] are more likely to be the future.

My note: I am used to these kind of forecasts. I remember of dozen of articles published many years ago saying that Olympus or Panasonic or other small companies would close their camera business the year after. As usual analysts tend to forget t 1) see the full picture (Olympus medical needs the camera business) 2) To understand the Japanese company culture and proud of history 3) their lack of seeing what’s really the future in the tech world.

I believe there will be always be a reason for mirrorless cameras to stay in the market. You cannot cheat physics. If you want the best quality you need larger sensor/cameras/lenses. Obviously, a question could be…do we need that more quality? Most of the people certainly no. But there will be always people who want to step up from the usual (and poorer) smartphone camera quality.

43rumors readers Andras sent me that message:

“I changed my gear from 5d+40mm 2.8+50mm 1.4 to a used gf1+20mm+14mm+oly kit lens. the 5d had a wonderful IQ and i loved full frame, but it was just way to big to carry around. and very aggressive for street shooting. i make way more and better pics with the 43 setup. but at a bar i lost my lens bag. so i asked my girlfriend who makes shoes and bags to make a replacement. totally dedicated to the pana 20mm. i think it looks awesome.

pics by me if you are interested:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pentakx/“

Cool!

Sunday morning, turning to winter (Lumix GM1 footage) from Martin Wallgren on Vimeo.

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Martin: “I just received a GM1 from Panasonic, and shot a short film with it today, see what you think! The camera is a fantastic video and stills machine, love it already… Cheers, Martin in Sweden https://vimeo.com/81337124 (video on top)”

Desy: “Just wanted to share my work with the Olympus OMD EM5! http://desycheng.com/travel-journal/2013/12/7/la-2013”

Gnat: “I would be honored to have my new site and work shared. I am committing to m4/3 full time and this new site chronicles the change and my experiences. I am no pro but enjoy shooting all types of subjects all over the globe: www.olyallthetime.com”

Aaron: “I wanted to share with you a short film I had the pleasure of shooting with a Panasonic GH3, and the Rokinon Cine lenses. http://youtu.be/7cAp8UxHr2o”

John: “New video on rigging the GH3 and GX7: https://vimeo.com/81153160”

Dario: “https://vimeo.com/81284635”

Luke: “I thought I’d share with you some of my recent work using Olympus EM-1 for stills and a Panasonic GH3 for video. Hopefully it is interesting and inspiring for some of your readers. I’ve been doing model portfolio shoots for Scene Models using my EM-5 and now the EM-1, best place to view them is on my tumblr. As well as completing a music video on my GH3 a link below for a music video I made using the Panasonic GH3. The Gh3 was great because I could shoot at 50fps in 1080p and also being so small it made some of the camera moves and hand held shooting much easier.
Music video link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9uu6pDsdxg
It would be great if you could link to my tumblr, instagram and Facebook so people can see more of my work if they are interested.
tumblr: http://lukecarlthompson.tumblr.com
instagram: @ lukecarlthompson
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Luke-Thompson-Photographer/281250218945?ref=hl”

Russ: “Wanted to share with you a video we made for the state of Oregon around bicycles and tourism. It was shot all with a GH3 (a few GoPro shots), the 9-18mm Oly and 35-100 Pany. The challene of the shoot was we had to carry all the gear by bike (jib, tripod, slider), so having a small but powerful camera like the GH3 was essential! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75jT2VMjBx0”

John: “After buying the OMD EM1 I decided to do an article about extension ISO and when it’s appropriate to use…http://photolisticlife.com/2013/12/05/should-you-use-extension-iso/”

Hinting: “It is easy to see gm1 with m43 lenses with the simulation, but how about adapted lenes? I will upload a couple of albums on gplus. Here is the first one with leica lenses. https://plus.google.com/115255826572441766446/posts/3m9LT1RDiqV *** adapter lenses user should know the gm1 is forced into electronic shutter with adapted lenses. It is a suprise for my as this is not the same as other lumix G”

CPL: “Sarah [Super Slow Motion] GH3 [CCTV Lens] Anamorphic: http://vimeo.com/81279653”

Alex: “I am a fan of your website  and I really enjoy getting myself updated about  Micro four thirds systems from your website. I thought you might be interested to see this video from YouTube and share it with other fans if you want to. http://youtu.be/JFwF16RiWDc”

Marc: “This is for the Reader’s Roundup: http://vimeo.com/80173952
I did a short movie about my California Trip. All clips are shot in or around Aptos, CA. I used the Panasonic GH3, with the Panasonic 7-14, 20, 14-140 and 100-300 mm lenses. I did a little bit of everything: Lens Flare, Beach, Water, Night and Low Light, Time Lapses, Optical Flow, Frame Blending etc. I edited with Final Cut Pro X This is a nice example to show the advantages and disadvantages of the overall stunning Panasonic GH3. I hope you like it!”

Ulli: “Since 6 days my first published foliozine Six Inch Stilettos is available at blurb.com in a printed 90 pages magazine format. The series will be dedicated to one muse grade model every 2 months. Sofar 3 models have agreed with another coming up soon I hope:
http://www.blurb.com/b/4960416-the-girl-from-sukabumi?ce=blurb_ew&utm_source=widget“

After Olympus also Panasonic (Source: Bloomberg) reports  more positive financial situation after years of losses:

The company doubled its profit forecast in October to 100 billion yen ($958 million) in the 12 months ending March 2014 as it benefits from an almost 17 percent weakening in the yen against the dollar this year and boosts car battery sales.

The camera business is a small part from the company. And as we read from previous forecasts reports Panasonic plans to focus more on the high-end camera business. Therefore the GH 4K :)