2024 is on track to have the best camera and lens sales for years

Japanese camera and lens maker trade body Camera Imaging Products Association (CIPA) has released its export figures for July, showing that 2024 camera and lens shipments to date are exceeding those from the past couple of years. And with over  half the year gone, this year promises to be significantly healthier than the preceding couple of years, should this trend continue.

In fact, the figures for the month of July showed the strongest monthly worldwide shipments of both cameras and lenses so far, with the figures showing steady month-upon-month increases throughout the year, aside from a slight dip for June. With July 2024 showing an 8% increase over July 2023, the market is looking very healthy indeed.

The figures show that 801,240 cameras were shipped in July 2024, compared to 741,743 in July 2023, and 725,994 for the same month in 2022. Of these, 630,128 were interchangeable lens cameras (that's mirrorless cameras and DSLRs combined) in 2024 compared with 592,646 (2023) and 556,176 (2022).

Meanwhile, shipments of compact cameras totalled 171,112 for July 2024 – a massive 14% rise year on year. So that's more proof of the resurgence of these fixed-lens cameras.

Delving a little deeper into CIPA's convoluted tables of stats, it's no great surprise to see that mirrorless camera sales are the main drivers in camera sales, no doubt buoyed by the recent launches of the Nikon Z6 III and Canon EOS R5 II , with a 12.9% increase over the same time last year. And equally unsurprisingly, DSLR sales continue to decline, with a near-25% decrease compared to 2023 – as the choice of DSLRs in the market continues to shrink.

Lens shipments are also showing an increase compared to the preceding years, with the July figures showing a total of 898,637 (2024), 866,038 (2023), and 862,336 (2022) lenses shipped.

These figures only represent shipments of cameras and lenses originating in Japan – but then again, as the CIPA represents the main Japanese industry players (Canon, Cosina, Fujifilm, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Sigma, Sony, Tamron, Tokina, Ricoh and Zeiss) it's by far the vast majority of the traditional enthusiast camera market.

If the trend follows that of previous years, we would expect to see shipments continue to increase until the peak in September-October, before tailing off for the last couple of months of the year.

Take a look at our guides to the best mirrorless cameras , and the best compact cameras .

We've also go guides to the best Fujifilm cameras , and the best retro cameras .