Japanese CSC sales reveal interesting stats

It's been a big year for compact system cameras, with every manufacturer now having something to offer to the market.

2012 was the year Canon finally decided to enter the picture, with the long anticipated Canon EOS M.

Already, after just a few weeks of sale, it is sitting in third place in the Japanese CSC sales charts, behind the Olympus E-PL3 and the Sony NEX-5N.

Looking at these figures gives a reasonable indication of how the rest of the world may adopt certain products, as Japan tends to be ahead of the global market.

At the moment, compact system cameras equate to between 45% and 52% of the total number of interchangeable lens cameras sold in Japan, a bigger share than the majority of the rest of the world.

Trends

The UK is ahead of most of Europe when it comes to adoption rates, with estimates suggesting that CSCs account for around a third of total sales. The US is known to have an even slower uptake.

Also interesting is the fact that the Olympus E-PL5 appears in tenth spot on the list, despite just a couple of weeks of sales. The latest PEN camera from Olympus features the same impressive sensor as the high-end OM-D camera.

Interestingly, Panasonic, which takes the lion's share of CSC sales in the UK only appears once in the list, with the beginner level GF5. The Nikon J1 appears at number six. The Nikon 1 system has been incredibly popular in Europe over the past year.

With every manufacturer having at least one compact system camera in its arsenal, it seems likely that 2013 will see the market expand even further.

Watch this space.

via PhotoRumors