Not that demand was booming.

At the time of the quake, the Japanese camera industry was in the middle of its 48th consecutive month of declining shipments.

The ever-increasing quality of cameras on smartphones had been steadily eating out the bottom end of the dedicated camera market, where compact cameras were once the high-volume staple of the industry.

Period of decline

By November of 2016, according to the latest figures from Camera & Imaging Products Association, CIPA, the peak body for the Japanese camera industry, that period of decline in the number of cameras shipped had extended to 55 consecutive months.

An April 2016 earthquake in Kumamoto, Japan, had wide-reaching implications for the camera industry. Taro Karibe

Figuratively and literally, the ground has been falling out from under the feet of the camera industry.

But there are signs of recovery of sorts.


The number of dedicated cameras may be in steady decline, but the value of the cameras that are sold has been going up. In November, when the total volume of cameras shipped to retailers was down by 17 per cent compared to the same month a year prior, some segments of the market nevertheless did well.

Compact system cameras – cameras that have interchangeable lenses like a dSLR, but are smaller and lighter due to not having the dSLR's prism and mirror – were up by just 1 per cent on a volume basis compared to November 2015, and on a value basis they were up by a healthy 10.3 per cent.

Fujifilm's GFX 50S leads the camera maker's charge to higher prices.

That's in line with the trend that Frank Bite, the divisional manager in charge of Fujifilm Australia's camera business, says he's been seeing in Australia.

Fujifilm, together with Sony and Olympus, has been pushing high-value compact system cameras at the expense of low-value compact cameras (which don't have an interchangeable lens) for seven years now, to the point where it's now exited the failing compact camera business almost entirely.

Where the Japanese camera maker had 19 compact cameras in its range in 2010, it now has only one compact camera left: the waterproof, shock-proof XP120, ruggedised cameras being the last gasp of the compact camera business as it gets swallowed up by smart phones.

High-value cameras

With low-value compact cameras having all but disappeared, and with the price tag of high-value cameras climbing ever upwards, the average selling price of Fujifilm's cameras has been steadily rising by about 10 per cent a year, Mr Bite says, making up for the steady decline in the number of cameras sold.


The X100 could soon be Fujifilm's last compact camera.

We may be buying fewer cameras than we used to, but what we do buy is more expensive than ever.

In mid-January, Fujifilm went a step further than that, announcing what is arguably the first medium-format digital camera designed for ordinary (if rather well off) consumers. Its GFX 50S camera, which has an image sensor 70 per cent larger than the sensor on other high-end, so-called "full-frame" cameras, costs $9999 just for the body alone.

With lenses costing $2000 or $3000 each, camera enthusiasts could well be spending close to $20,000 before they feel they have a complete kit.

Though, it's equally arguable that the GFX 50S isn't designed for well-off enthusiasts looking to upgrade so much as professionals looking to save money compared to other medium-format cameras.

Unlike the rest of Fujifilm's camera range, which has a decidedly retro, collectors' feel to it, the GFX has more of a professional studio feel to it, so much so that rumours have already begun to swirl that the company will follow it up with a retro model, possibly with an old-fashioned rangefinder on it, that will appeal more to enthusiasts.

But just how high the price of cameras can go, and whether it's a sustainable answer to the threat of the mobile phone, very much remains to be seen.

March of technology


The same relentless march of technology, that killed off the film camera business in the early 21st century and that has killed off large swathes of the digital camera market in the years since then, will inevitably drive down the cost of even high-end cameras.

In the same way that Fujifilm has followed up its enthusiast models with cheaper versions designed to have a broader appeal, so too will its medium-format technology trickle down to lower and lower price points, says Fujifilm Australia's Mr Bite.

At the same time, the camera technology on mobile phones is expected to improve. Apple has already launched a dual-lens mobile phone, that for at least some consumers will obviate the need to buy a dedicated camera with a zoom lens, and that technology is expected to become more widespread in 2017, as the cost of dual-lens camera modules comes down.

Launching the GFX 50S at Ninjyo-jyo Castle in Japan's former capital, Kyoto, the same castle where the shoguns passed rule back to the Japanese emperor in 1876, Fujifilm's chairman and chief executive Shigetaka Komori said his company's move into medium format marked a "great historical turning point" in photography, just as the castle marked a turning point in Japanese history.

But is it the start of a new era for the Japanese camera industry, or just the passing of an era? Is Japan's camera industry the emperor in Komori's story, or are they the shoguns?​

John Davidson attended the launch of the GFX 50S as a guest of Fujifilm