Lemak Lemang

The dSLR war zone

Aug 23, 2006 21:59

This Christmas shopping season is going to be a battle zone for digital SLR (dSLR) cameras. While the consumers are going to be spoilt for choice, the marketers are going to slug it out to grab customers. And the first landing for new models is sighted for October.

Hot on the heels of Sony's July launching of its Alpha 100, the "re-brand" of Konica-Minolta, Nikon has announced the October release of the D80 to replace the D70s. Panasonic followed suit last week to reveal the October availability of its first-ever dSLR, the Lumix L1. Soon after, I was put on alert that Canon would be announcing, also in October, the replacement model for the popular but aging 350D. Who else is coming?

Evidently, the market for point-and-shoot digital cameras has saturated, and profit margins have plummeted. Every manufacturer is scrambling for the Blue Ocean (remember BOS, Blue Ocean Strategy?), and everyone thinks the dSLR is the segment for upgraders. Even the tech journalists seem to think so.

LensaPress picture by Leonard Yang

The day Panasonic introduced six new models--including four compacts, one prosumer and the Lumix L1--all questions during the Q&A were centered on the dSLR.


Market size
Industry players regard the digital still camera market to be segmented into three categories, with 64 percent made up of entry-level point-and-shoots, 33 percent comprising the mid- to high-end compact and stylish category. The prosumer and dSLR segments take up the balance of 3 percent of market share.

Gazing into the Asia and Oceania market crystal ball, demand is expected to grow 23 percent in 2006 to reach 800,000 units. It is expected to grow another 13 percent in 2007 to reach 900,000 units. Well, that's the figure that Panasonic gave me.

So, where is the battlefront for the dSLR?

1. Higher megapixels for the entry/mid-market level--Nikon D80 will have 10mp; Sony Alpha is also 10 megapixels like Nikon's D200; Lumix L1 has 7.5 megapixels; and Canon is rumored to have 10 megapixels for the 400D.

2. Image stabilizing mechanism--while Canon and Nikon have this built-in on the lenses, Sony and Lumix have it built on the camera body.

3. Better noise reduction.

4. Four-Thirds system--Lumix L1 is emulating the Olympus E-330, using a Live-MOS sensor that comes with an auto-dusting feature.

Next, price points with sexy lenses. Sony Alpha carries a suggested retail price (SRP) of RM3,499 with the option for a Carl Zeiss lens and Minolta's G lenses. Lumix L1, which sports Leica's first-ever autofocus DC lens for digital format (14-50mm, F/2.8-3.5), will have an SRP in the region of RM9,000.

Digital AV Networking
Is that the best positioning for Panasonic to enter the dSLR segment, not withholding the fact that it is a relatively late entrant? Its prosumer flagship has been the FZ20/FZ30 series that gave it a 6 percent market share in Malaysia.


Lumix FZ50... LensaPress picture by Jeff Ooi

Panasonic Malaysia managing director Hiroshi Nakamura took my question and answered: "Panasonic is not a one-trick pony that sells only digital cameras.

"Lumix L1, together with other prosumer models, will complete the entire digital AV networking products that comprise plasma TVs, Blu-ray-ready DVD recorders, and photo printers all linked to the SD memory card used in the dSLR," he added. Precisely the same strategy that Sony has adopted for its HD World range of products.

We later discovered that Panasonic had tactically overcome the immediate-term lens choice shortage by opting for the Four-Thirds system. Lumix L1 users can leverage on the series of Olympus lenses and several third-party products. Apart from the provided Leica 14-50mm lens that comes in the standard kit, there is a choice of 25 lenses available on the market that use the Four-Thirds system.

But bearing in mind that a Nikon D200 body retails at only RM5,500, why then the SRP of about RM9,000 for the Lumix L1 standard kit? A Panasonic spokesperson quipped that it's targeted at the collectors' crowd, not dSLR newbies.

Is that the Blue Ocean for dSLR?

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