Nikon Working On Mirror-less Digital Camera

Nikon | Home(7731), one of the world’s  biggest makers of high-end cameras, is all set to cash-in on the industry’s greatest techno-revolution ever since film rolls were no longer used. Nikkei business daily announced that Nikon would be releasing its first lightweight, interchangeable and mirrorless design sooner this year.

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Image source: CNET

Initiated by Panasonic and later on followed by Sony, this is one domain that Canon and Nikon both have steered clear off so far. Other companies to have developed compact cameras include Pentax, Olympus, Ricoh and Samsung. Nikon is finally touching this region, while Canon is yet to respond. It is believed that Nikon took this up after the collective market share has declined by 35%, while rival Sony is enjoying a hundred percent growth in its market share. Sony explained that though mirrorless cameras are extremely popular in Japan, they have failed to attain the same level of acceptance in Europe and the U.S. as "the big camera makers" still haven't got into the market. It was just last month when Sony publicly declared two new mirrorless models for its NEX range, including the Sony NEX-7 which is equipped with a 24.3 megapixel APS-C sensor and an advanced electronic viewfinder.

The Nikkei Business daily also #-Link-Snipped-# that Canon too is researching the technical aspects and other practical applications to evolve small, lightweight digital cameras and could get into this market in the time to come. As prices of these digital compact cameras are rapidly falling, mirrorless SLRs would be more desirable to the camera manufacturers to tone up their profits a bit.