Back in January, DailyTech reported that Nikon had decided to abandon its film camera business to focus solely on its digital efforts. For Nikon, digital camera sales represented 95% of its business -- change was inevitable. Today, Canon is faced with the same dilemma.
Japan-based Canon will halt development of its P&S and SLR film cameras as the market is quickly shrinking. The rapid move to digital technology is putting a choke-hold on the film camera industry and the ease of obtaining hardcopy prints is also playing favorably to digital cameras. Consumers can print their photos out on home printers or upload their digital images to a wide variety of online photo services and have prints mailed back to them. Also, most drug stores and large chains like Wal-Mart and Target allow you to drop off your memory card and come back to pick up your prints. The ease of use, ability to immediately view picture you’ve taken directly from your camera and on your PC and relatively affordable prices have made digital cameras hugely popular.
It’s a tough market out there and long-time player Konica-Minolta has already bailed on its camera and photo film businesses. Sony gladly gobbled up Konica-Minolta's film and digital camera assets and will produce D-SLR cameras which are compatible with Maxxum/Dynax lens mounts.
