Canon's imaging division reports an 81% drop in Q1 operating profit amidst a 23% drop in sales; smartphones are to blame

[ThePointblank]

4 hours ago, TetraSky said:

No real surprise. When a phone can make some pretty good pictures, is with you at all time and can do more than just take pictures, no point in buying a camera and lens for multiple thousand dollars.

 

Maybe if they lowered their profit margin to something a bit more realistic like 20% instead of their 10000000% margin on God damn lens, maybe they'd sell more. (I get that there's "R&D" costs involved in there as well.... I'm exaggerating, still insanely pricey for most of us mere mortals)

Canon L series are expensive for a reason; their build quality is absolutely top notch, and they are made by artisan technicians, with many lenses still being manually hand grinded and polished:

 

https://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/latest/articles/behind-scenes-canon-lens-factory-utsunomiya-116546

https://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2017/03/20/canon-factory-tour

[D13H4RD]

8 hours ago, BuckGup said:

The A7SIII which is suppose to have 4K 60 and have a global shutter will be a game changer

Yeah, a lot of people are waiting on that. Even Sony reps seemingly said that it'll apparently exceed expectations. 

6 hours ago, TetraSky said:

Maybe if they lowered their profit margin to something a bit more realistic like 20% instead of their 10000000% margin on God damn lens, maybe they'd sell more. (I get that there's "R&D" costs involved in there as well.... I'm exaggerating, still insanely pricey for most of us mere mortals)

Very high end glass are pricey for a reason. It's not just a bunch of glass stuck in together. It's a highly precision-engineered piece of optical equipment made up of specific glass elements that are shaped and engineered to give the best possible image output with controlled distortion and aberrations. Many of these glass elements are also coated with multicoated/nanocoated AR coatings. 

 

Professional-oriented glass like Canon's L line and the Fujinon XF Red Badges also feature excellent build quality and a more hands-on manufacturing technique. The L glass and XF Red Badge are also made in Japan as of now, which certainly adds to their manufacturing cost. 

[D13H4RD]

8 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

What about camera apps that do give you the raw photo? Most modern flagships can shoot raw. 

Less malleable compared to the output from a larger camera sensor. 

 

It can be done and on some phones, the dynamic range is wide enough to provide a decent safety net, but it's ultimately something that not many people tend to appreciate.