Camera sales hit highest levels for three years, according to CIPA

In a rare snippet of positive news, Japan’s Camera Imaging Products Association (CIPA) has released its latest industry figures, revealing that more cameras were shipped between January and May 2024 than during the same periods in 2022 and 2023.

The figures show that 2.3 million interchangeable lens cameras (ILC) have been shipped from Japan so far this year up until the end of May, an 9.8% increase over the same period in 2023, and a whopping 11.9% increase compared to 2022.

On top of this significant swell in shipping numbers, average unit prices have also started to rise.

Things appear to be on the up, as earlier this week we reported that, incredibly, the increasing use of smartphones is actually driving the digital photography market .

CIPA reports have long been considered an important barometer for assessing the industry's overall well-being. Its members include Canon, OM Digital Solutions, Ricoh, and Sony. The current CIPA president, Hiroyuki Ikegami, is from Nikon, and the vice president, Masato Yamamoto, is from Fujifilm.

Unsurprisingly, Asia is dominating the market in both terms of value and units shipped by Japanese manufacturers, and in absolute terms, the largest ILC market is China, followed by the Americas.

Also to be predicted, the ILC data shows that sales of DSLRs have declined and mirrorless cameras now make up 83.75% of the ILC shipments by volume, and 92.9% by value. The graphs released also show that sales tend to peak between the months of September and November.

The total value of ILC sales increased 28.6% year on year, to ¥251.8B (US$1.6B, £1.6M), which was helped by the weak Yen increasing the value of overseas sales. Interestingly, the value of fixed–lens cameras soared to ¥37.6B ($233M, £1.8M) , an increase of 34.7%.

There is high demand for the latest generation of digital cameras such as the Fujifilm X100VI and Nikon Z6 III ,  which could mean the industry is looking at its strongest upcoming sales years for some time.

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 .