Japanese photographers have chosen their 10 most beloved camera brands – and you'll never guess the top 5!
If we told you that Japan's favorite camera brand is Canon, you'd believe us. The same if we said it was Nikon or Sony. You might even believe us if we told you that Japan's most beloved brand is Olympus, or Fujifilm. But no… in fact, Japan's favorite camera brand is Pentax / Ricoh.
That's according to the latest results in a survey being conducted by IT Media, asking Japanese consumers to choose their favorite digital camera maker. And despite the best Pentax cameras all being DSLRs, and facing quite a technological disparity compared to the likes of the best Canon cameras and best Sony cameras, that hasn't stopped Ricoh being Japan's most beloved brand in the camera industry.
The survey (spotted by Pentax Rumors) still has another ten days to run, closing on 27 May, but so far the results are pretty eye-opening. Almost a quarter of Japanese users say that Pentax / Ricoh is their favorite brand, with nearly a fifth pledging allegiance to Nikon.
Surprisingly, Canon and Sony are a distant third and fourth, with a neck-and-neck 13.3% and 13.2% following respectively. And it's Olympus coming in at fifth, with 10.1% of votes, edging out Fujifilm's 9.7%.
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Japan's favorite camera brands (updated 19 May)
Row 0 - Cell 0
Row 0 - Cell 1
Row 0 - Cell 2
Row 0 - Cell 3
1
Pentax / Ricoh
25.1%
Row 1 - Cell 3
2
Nikon
19.7%
Row 2 - Cell 3
3
Canon
13.3%
Row 3 - Cell 3
4
Sony
13.2%
Row 4 - Cell 3
5
Olympus
10.1%
Row 5 - Cell 3
6
Fujifilm
9.7%
Row 6 - Cell 3
7
Panasonic
4.8%
Row 7 - Cell 3
8
Sigma
2.2%
Row 8 - Cell 3
9
Leica
1.4%
Row 9 - Cell 3
10
Hasselblad
0.3%
Row 10 - Cell 3
11
Other
0.3%
Row 11 - Cell 3
The second half of the table is very interesting, too – and doesn't portray a very loyal following for the L-Mount Alliance. Panasonic is the most unfashionable of the major consumer brands, with just 4.8% of votes, while Sigma scrapes in with 2.2% and Leica just 1.4%.
Still, spare a thought for Hasselblad – which is so unloved in Japan that even the "Other" category matches it with a paltry 0.3%.
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Obviously this list doesn't really amount to a whole hill of beans. It certainly doesn't mean that the Canon EOS R5 and Sony A1 are huge failures, for example, though it does illustrate that there are people in the world who really do bleed Ricoh – and helps explain why the Pentax K-3 Mark III makes a whole lot of sense for at least one territory.
And with Ricoh and Nikon at the top, it's interesting food for thought regarding the whole DSLR vs mirrorless camera debate as well.
James has 22 years experience as a journalist, serving as editor of Digital Camera World for 6 of them. He started working in the photography industry in 2014, product testing and shooting ad campaigns for Olympus, as well as clients like Aston Martin Racing, Elinchrom and L'Oréal. An Olympus / OM System, Canon and Hasselblad shooter, he has a wealth of knowledge on cameras of all makes – and he loves instant cameras, too.
