What are the advantages and characteristics of major brands of digital cameras?

Comment on the brand of digital camera

In the field of digital cameras, it is definitely the world of Japanese manufacturers. Except Kodak in the United States, all first-line brands are Japanese products. As for Samsung, BenQ in Taiwan Province, China, Patriot and Lenovo in Chinese mainland, there is still a big gap between their product quality and the first-line brands.

Because digital cameras combine optical technology and electronic technology, digital camera manufacturers are divided into two groups accordingly. One school is the traditional optics school, with Nikon, Fuji, Olympus, Pentax and Ricoh as the main representatives. They are all traditional imaging equipment manufacturers, with strong optical technology and their own lenses, but weak electronic technology, and most of them cannot produce their own sensors (CCD); The other school is the emerging electronics school, with Sony, Panasonic, Casio and Samsung as the main representatives. They are all manufacturers of traditional electronic products, and later entered the field of digital imaging, with strong electronic technology strength. Some of them can produce their own sensors, but the optical foundation is generally weak.

I divide the common brands of digital cameras into three grades, first-line brands, second-line brands and third-line brands.

First-line brands include Canon, Nikon, Sony, Kodak, Fuji and Panasonic. Their common characteristics are: strong technical development ability, good imaging quality, complete product line, high popularity and market share, and some of them also have strong strength in digital SLR cameras.

First of all, Canon

At present, the digital camera industry is recognized as the leader, with the strongest technical strength and market operation ability, and the market share of digital imaging products has always been in a leading position. Canon has the top optical technology and the production capacity of the core component CMOS sensor. Its software denoising technology is unique in the world, which ensures its high imaging quality. Its imaging characteristics are true color reproduction, less noise, but soft style.

Both consumer cameras and digital SLR have made great achievements.

In the field of consumer cameras, its products are very rich and its comprehensive performance is excellent. The main types are: domestic series of low-grade manual motors, suitable for novice friends who intend to study photography seriously; IXUS series, an ultra-thin and fashionable card machine, is suitable for young people, especially for the majority of MM, and it is one of the few brands that can compete with Sony T series for the market. Telephoto S is a series, suitable for friends who like to shoot distant views and animals; Wide-angle camera s series, suitable for shooting scenery; High-end professional PRO series and quasi-professional G series are suitable for professional photographers and friends with high photography foundation. The most famous consumer cameras are series A and IXUS, which have a high market share.

The field of digital SLR is Canon's strong point. Its digital SLR camera EOS series has a market share as high as 60%, and Canon is the only manufacturer with Quan Huafu model at present, so its top digital SLR field is ahead of other competitors. But its core component, CCD photoreceptor, comes from other manufacturers.

Second, Nikon

With a long history of optics, it has always been famous for its professional quality and high imaging definition. It is also the only manufacturer in the field of digital SLR that can compete with Canon.

In recent years, Nikon seems to focus on the development of digital SLR cameras and catch up with Canon. Its digital SLR camera D series has a market share of nearly 30%, and its cost performance is slightly higher than that of Canon, which is favored by professional photographers. But its core component, CCD photoreceptor, is in the hands of other manufacturers, and there is no Quan Huafu model at present.

Nikon has recently paid less attention to the field of consumer cameras, and the retrogression is obvious. Its model tends to be single, its performance is not outstanding, its market response is flat, and there are no well-known models.

The main types of consumer cameras are: high-end quasi-professional machine Coolpix series; Fashion thin card machine s series; Low-end home L series, mid-end ordinary digital camera P series.

Third, Sony.

Sony is a very special brand in the field of digital photography because it is not a professional camera manufacturer. However, as a famous manufacturer of household appliances and digital products, it boldly set foot in the field of digital photography, but it has achieved great success, at least in market operation. Although many professional users scoffed at Sony, its market share of consumer cameras in Chinese mainland surpassed that of Canon, and even became the first choice for amateur friends to buy. I think this is mainly because of its high popularity in the field of home appliances.

Sony's digital camera, like its other electronic products, takes the fashion route, attaches great importance to appearance, and its appearance is very fashionable, especially loved by the majority of MM, and it is the first choice for GG to give MM gifts, hehe!

Sony's achilles heel is its weak optical foundation and lack of its own lens. Most of its models use the OEM lens of German Carl Chase, which has become the main material for people in the industry to laugh at Sony.

But Sony also has its own advantages, strong electronic technology, providing CCD sensors for many camera manufacturers, and even Canon and Nikon dare not compete with it.

Sony focuses on the consumer camera market. Its products are rich and fashionable, but the price is a bit expensive (although several consumer-grade flagships are not bad). The main product series are:

T series is an ultra-thin portable card model with periscope lens, which is the most popular with MM; H is telephoto series, W is high-end practical consumer household model, and R series is Sony professional high-end digital camera series; P series is a low-end household model; S series is a low-end practical model with low price; U series is an ultra-small fashion model; F series is a high-end model with a rotatable lens. F7 17 in the F series was once famous and became a classic model.

Sony acquired Ke Mei in 2005, and launched its first digital SLR -α 100 in 2006 using the technology of Ke Mei, which caused quite a shock in the market. Sony seems to want to change the impression of "Sony = Amateur", but after all, the foundation is still shallow, and it will take time to get the recognition of the majority of photographers.

Fourth, Kodak

The only non-Japanese product in the first-line brand, a famous American imaging equipment manufacturer, has a long history and has indelible achievements in the film era. The world's first digital camera came from Kodak. Kodak is the maker of color standards and can independently develop CCD photoreceptors. Quan Huafu's digital SLR was introduced (it withdrew from the SLR market in 2004), but Kodak's optical foundation was weak, and most models used German Schneider brand lenses.

At present, Kodak focuses on consumer cameras. Kodak has won many users with its "non-Japanese" aura and high cost performance, especially several telephoto machines (such as DX6490, a classic! ) Very popular. The comprehensive quality of its products has been fully capable of competing with the same day. After the reform in 2005, there are four main models: P series is a full-function series with manual function; Z series is a large zoom series; C series is a simple series; V series is a fashionable and light series, and the v570 in V series has created a distinctive dual-lens digital camera.

The biggest feature of Kodak camera is its bright color, which is much brighter than the real scene and pleasing to the eye, but the details are slightly worse. In the past two years, Kodak made many mistakes in marketing strategy and generally began to decline, but in any case, Kodak is still the best choice for non-Japanese.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) Fuji apple

Traditional video equipment manufacturers are very famous in the film era, and they have made little achievements in the digital era. In the field of consumer cameras, there are three things to be proud of: its self-developed super CCD, Fuji long lens and high ISO imaging have won wide acclaim in the industry and won many users.

The main types of Fuji digital cameras are: F-series of fashionable and thin machines; Low-end cost-effective A series; Telephoto S series; Entry-level manual machine e series.

Fuji cameras have bright colors and remarkable product quality, especially telephoto machines.

However, in the field of digital SLR, Fuji's confidence is obviously insufficient. The fuselage is entirely made of Nikon, with a single model and a small market share, but it is still quite popular in the photo studio.

Fuji digital cameras have three main disadvantages. First, most cameras use XD cards, and only Fuji and Olympus use them, which is poor in versatility and expensive. Second, Fuji camera has a lot of noise due to the high ISO g starting point, and third, the purple edge is more serious.

Sixth, Panasonic

Panasonic is very similar to Sony, both of which started from home appliance manufacturers. Although I haven't been involved in the digital imaging industry for a long time, I have strong electronic technology and can independently develop CCD photoreceptors.

Its weakness is also its weak optical foundation, and most models adopt OEM lenses from Leica, Germany. Its product imaging is ok, but its noise control ability is slightly poor and its price is relatively expensive.

Panasonic is also a major consumer camera market, with rich products and fashionable shapes. The main product types are: TZ: compact telephoto model; FZ: telephoto series models; FX: Card fashion model; LX: 16: 9 format CCD model; LS: household entry model; LZ: domestic telephoto model; LC: High-end consumption pattern.

Panasonic products have always been strong in telephoto, and they are the first to engage in telephoto DC among all brands. Then there is the famous camera FZ20, which is famous in the field of consumer cameras because of its constant F2.8 aperture, and is very popular among photographers. In addition, the LX series cameras newly launched in recent two years took the lead in using the unique 16: 9 CCD in consumer digital cameras, which is very suitable for taking landscape photos, and therefore became famous for a time.

Panasonic also launched the first digital SLR in 2006, which used a 4/3 system like Olympus. It looks like lycra, but it doesn't seem to be popular at all.

Speaking of the first-line brands above, let's talk about the second-line brands. Second-tier brands include Olympus, Pentax, Ricoh, Lycra, Sigma, Samsung and Casio. The top five are all established manufacturers of traditional imaging equipment, but after the rise of digital cameras, they fell behind, perhaps because of the great achievements in the field of traditional cameras, which stopped them! Both Samsung and Casio moved from the electronics industry to the imaging industry. Second-tier brands basically do not have many core technologies.

I. Olympus

I also weighed it for a long time before I included Olympus in the second-line brand. After all, it is an old-fashioned video equipment manufacturer, which is very famous in the movie era. And there are many digital camera products. But after all, it mainly investigates its performance in technology development and market operation in recent years.

Olympus did a good job in the field of digital cameras in its early years, and introduced several classic models, but later it became less and less enterprising. It seems that all the money spent on research and development is spent on advertising. Its digital SLR adopts non-mainstream 4/3 system, which is doomed to have no future and its market performance is not ideal. Consumer-grade cameras have regressed, and the brand Olympus has rarely been seen in various markets, leaving the impression that only the beautiful endorsement MM is left. Olympus, like Fuji, uses XD memory card, which is poor in universality and expensive, which objectively limits its own market development.

The main product series of Olympus are: SLR E series; Fashion thin machine μ series; Low-end home computer FE series; General manual motor SP series.

Second, Pentax

Traditional image equipment manufacturers, relying on strong technical force and brilliant optical achievements, even surpassed Canon and Nikon in the film era. But its market operation is extremely unsuccessful, especially in the digital age, Pentax's advertising investment in Chinese mainland is about zero, which makes its popularity extremely low, and few people have heard of it except professional photographers.

In the field of digital SLR, Pentax K series models are few in number but cost-effective, and the imaging color is attractive, but the market performance is not ideal (thanks to its publicity strategy), and the core component CCD is in the hands of other manufacturers. However, with the launch of two new machines, K 100D and K 10D in 2006, Pentax is heating up, and one of its medium-sized digital SLR will be launched soon.

Pentax's performance in the field of consumer cameras is mediocre and its price is high. The main product series are:

Universal manual machine *ist D series; Low-end card machine W series; M series low-end home computers; Mid-range fashion machine A series, etc.

Third, Ricoh

Traditional imaging equipment manufacturers had a very glorious film era, and their status at that time was just like Canon and Nikon in the field of digital cameras today.

However, after entering the digital age, its performance plummeted. Compared with first-line manufacturers such as Canon Nikon, there is a clear gap in performance. It doesn't master any core technology, and the product variety is even less. There are only two or three pigeon series, not even Samsung.

Ricoh is the first digital camera to engage in wide-angle concept, and all its cameras use wide-angle lenses. Among them, R series is a minor celebrity, and the parameters look perfect: wide angle, macro of 1mm, telephoto of 5~7 times, all-metal body, durable battery, and low price, which is synonymous with high cost performance. Unfortunately, however, the most important indicator of camera imaging quality is its biggest weakness: more noise, which professionals simply can't stand.

In addition, there are mid-range GX series and high-end GR series, among which GR series is unique in using fixed-focus lenses. It is said that the imaging quality is good and it is well received by some professional photographers.

Fourth, Samsung.

South Korea's famous electronics manufacturers have not been involved in the digital imaging industry for a long time, and their technical strength is far less than that of Japanese manufacturers, but they have made rapid progress.

Samsung is also the main consumer camera market, similar to Sony's style, taking the fashion route, and most cameras are small and exquisite. Especially in 2006, Home DC's "Blues" series was really eye-catching.

Recently, Samsung adjusted the product series code, and the main product series after adjustment are:

Mid-range household NV (blues) series; Mid-range fashion thin I series (instead of the original V series); Low-end home S series; Low-end card machine L series; Pro series high-end professional machines; In addition, the digital SLR GX series was launched. Although Pentax's fuselage, Schneider's lens and Sony's photoreceptor were used, it was symbolic in the end.

Samsung's achilles heel is that it doesn't master the core technology, and the sensor ccd and lens have to be supplied by others (most products use Sony's photoreceptors and OEM Schneider's lenses). Samsung still has a long way to go to establish an image in the eyes of photographers. But if you want to buy an amateur MM and save money, Samsung is a good choice.

However, it should be said that Samsung's development momentum is still good, after all, it is still very powerful in electronic technology. I believe that if the "fastest progress award" is to be awarded, it must be Samsung. Who can guarantee that Samsung will not become the second Sony in the future?

Verb (abbreviation for verb) Casio

Traditional electronic technology manufacturers later set foot in the field of digital imaging and did not master any core technologies. In the past few years, it was just so-so, and it dropped significantly in the past two years.

Its products are similar to Sony's, mainly taking the fashion route, which is almost synonymous with card machine. In addition to Pro-P series, other products such as Z series and S series are fashionable card machines, and they also like to engage in color housings. There are no eye-catching representative products.

Six, Lycra

German brand, a traditional optical lens manufacturer, later joined the field of digital cameras, with few products, which can hardly be seen in China.

Seven, the right horse

Japanese traditional optical lens manufacturers, the situation is similar to Lycra. The produced SLR camera lens is of high quality and low price, which is loved by many photographers.

After talking about first-line brands and second-line brands, the rest are third-line brands. There are many brands, such as Sanyo, Epson, Toshiba, Hewlett-Packard, Ke Mei, Innovation, Hitachi, BenQ, Patriot, Lenovo, Foxconn, Patty and TCL. These manufacturers are very miscellaneous. They used to do everything, household appliances, printers, computers, telephones, TCL.