Cheap MFT cameras are the most sold in Japan.

Image source: BCNranking.

BCNranking disclosed the full camera sales rankings in Japan from January 1st til the December 24th. By watching the ranking there are multiple surprises. Of course, the first one is seeing that the Nikon J1 is actually on top of the ranking. As you see a good marketing sometimes works better than the camera “WOW” factor.  The bets selling Olympus and Panasonic MFT cameras are right behind the Nikon and these are all GF and E-PL entry level cameras. The more advanced E-M5 and GX1 models lag behind them and are even behind the Pentax Q! Hands-up if you ever thought the tiny Pentax would outsell the E-M5!

Of course the Japanese market is quite different from EU and US markets. But outside Japan we usually don’t get these kind of exact camera sales numbers. You only get purely unscientific rankings from Amazon. But they change hourly and often reflect current deals status:
US ranking (Click here).
DE ranking (Click here).
UK ranking (Click here).
FR ranking (Click here).

Anyway, this year is now over and 2013 will quite an important year for all camera makers. There is a complicated economic situation that will force plenty of companies (and I mean all worldwide companies) to take some drastic if not dramatic decisions. I hope we can recover from the troubling times we are having now.

I Wish You a Happy New Year!