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.
About Canon U.S.A., Inc.
Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions. With approximately $36 billion in global revenue, its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), ranks third overall in U.S. patents registered in 2013† and is one of Fortune Magazine's World’s Most Admired Companies in 2014. In 2013, Canon U.S.A. has received the PCMag.com Readers’ Choice Award for Service and Reliability in the digital camera and printer categories for the tenth consecutive year, and for camcorders for the past three years. Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest level of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. Canon U.S.A. is dedicated to its Kyosei philosophy of social and environmental responsibility. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss and follow us on Twitter @CanonUSA.
†Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office.
1 The EOS DCS 3, jointly developed by Canon and Eastman Kodak, was also sold under the Kodak brand.
2 Among digital SLR cameras equipped with an APS-C size equivalent sensor. As of March 1, 2014, based on a survey by Canon.
