Canon announced last week that it has manufactured 250 million digital cameras since it first introduced the EOS DCS 3 to the market in 1995.
Notably though, it didn’t pass the 100 million unit mark until 2008 – back when the 40D and Rebel XSi were hot stuff, and just as the 5D Mark II was introduced. In 5 short years, Canon broke the 200 million unit mark in December 2013. Just over a month later, on January 31, 2014, Canon hit the 250 million threshold thanks to an introduction of several new compact cameras like the PowerShot G1 X Mark II and PowerShot N100. Canon also points out that 50 million of those digital cameras are interchangeable lens cameras, which would encompass EOS DSLRs, mirrorless and cinema cameras.
Canon has since introduced the Rebel T5 and we expect at least a couple more DSLRs this year, along with several more point and shoot cameras.
You can read the full press release from Canon below.
MELVILLE, N.Y.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Canon U.S.A. Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, today announced that its parent company, Canon Inc., has reached a camera manufacturing milestone as combined production of the Company’s compact digital and interchangeable-lens digital cameras surpassed 250 million units on January 31, 2014.
Canon, a company that has continuously produced cameras since its founding in 1937, began producing and marketing digital cameras in the mid-1990s. In 1995, when film cameras were still the preferred camera type, Canon launched its first digital camera, the professional-model EOS DCS 31 Digital SLR camera.
Compact cameras were leading the digital shift within the camera industry when, in 1996, Canon announced its market entry with the introduction of the PowerShot 600 digital camera, the Company’s first compact digital camera. In 2000, amid the market’s rapid growth, Canon launched the PowerShot S100 Digital ELPH camera featuring a groundbreaking compact, stylish body design that set the trend for Canon compact digital cameras.
Subsequent models released by Canon reflected the diverse evolution of compact digital cameras with models becoming increasingly compact and lightweight, achieving higher sensitivity, incorporating more enhanced automatic functions, and realizing greater network connectivity. This evolution fueled robust growth as Canon’s cumulative production of compact digital cameras surpassed the 100 million unit mark in 2008, and broke through the 200 million unit threshold in December 2013. Aiming to further extend its production volume, in 2014 Canon launched a new lineup of feature-packed, compact digital cameras including the PowerShot G1 X Mark II digital camera and the PowerShot N100 digital camera.
As for interchangeable-lens digital cameras, while the market in the mid-1990s had consisted primarily of professional models, the consumer digital SLR camera segment began to grow as Canon launched the EOS D30 Digital SLR in 2000. Developed as a “next-generation standard digital SLR camera” the EOS D30 DSLR was built to satisfy the needs of a wide user base, from advanced photo enthusiasts to professional users. In 2003, Canon again led the market with the introduction of the entry-level model EOS Digital Rebel, which set the stage for a dramatic expansion of the consumer market.
Since that time, Canon has successively launched innovative products that capitalize on the Company’s strengths in CMOS sensors, image processors and EF lenses, such as the professional-model EOS-1 camera series and game-changing EOS 5D camera series, including the EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR which sparked the DSLR revolution in moviemaking. As a result, in 2005, production of Canon interchangeable-lens digital cameras reached 25 million units and, in February 2014, surpassed 50 million units. Among the new products contributing to the realization of this milestone were the EOS 70D digital SLR camera, featuring innovative Dual Pixel CMOS AF technology, and the entry-level EOS Rebel SL1 digital SLR camera, the world’s smallest and lightest digital SLR2 camera equipped with an APS-C size sensor.
Canon will continue to refine its diverse imaging technologies based on its core optical technologies, striving to produce exceptional and reliable cameras and lenses that cater to the varying needs of photographers—from first-time users to advanced amateurs and professionals—while contributing to expanding the culture of photographic and video imaging.
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