DSLR Shipments On The Decline, Mirrorless Slowly Moving Up [Report]

There are some high-end mirrorless cameras like the Sony A7s that could give entry-level and even mid-range DSLR models a run for their money. Of course some professionals still swear by DSLRs, but we guess this is mostly due to the fact that they have already invested a lot in DSLR lenses and getting a mirrorless would mean either buying a mount (and lose some functionality in the process) or buying a new set of lenses (which will be costly).

That being said, recent data from Personal View has revealed that while the shipment of mirrorless cameras is still well below that of DSLRs, the trends seem to suggest that shipments of mirrorless cameras are on the rise while DSLRs are on the decline. Based on the chart, it would seem that the peak of DSLR shipments was back around May-June 2012, and it was earlier this year that they fell pretty hard.

However we should note that shipment figures does not necessarily equate to sales figures. This means that while DSLRs could be shipping more, they might not necessarily be selling more, although it does indicate that there is enough demand for DSLR companies to ship more units. In any case we reckon it could take a while for mirrorless cameras to play catchup, but in the meantime what do you guys think?

Will mirrorless cameras eventually replace the need for DSLRs? Or do you think that both formats can exist side-by-side, depending on the needs of photographers?

Tyler Lee
Categories: Photo-Video