Curiosity: Japanese store owner reports a 50% increase in FILM camera sales over just one year

We all heard about the revival of film. I myself own two Mamiya 7 cameras and noticed how the price did go up in those years. Unusual if you think that all my digital camera prices plummeted. And Digicameinfo spotted a smalls story that exactly shows what’s going on

Yoshiteru Hanabusa, who is in charge of camera instruments at the used goods store “Komehyo.” chatted with TBSradio and said:

  • Sales of film cameras have increased more than 1.5 times from about a year ago. Popular models include domestically produced compact film cameras such as Contax, Ricoh, Fuji Film and Minolta. Other interchangeable lens film cameras include Leica, Nikon, and Olympus. The most popular models are listed below. Sometimes they sell out quickly.”
  • However, when it comes to who buys them, it seems to be the younger generation in their teens and 20s. Although there are many older film camera enthusiasts and collectors, they seem to have attracted the attention of younger people in recent years. Of course, once a photo was taken, it was developed, but many would scan it, upload it to their smartphones, and display it on social media. Film cameras are certainly popular, but the culture of reprinting seems to be different than in the past.
  • In fact, behind the scenes of this boom in film cameras, there seems to be a rather serious problem. Right now, the price of film has skyrocketed: five or six years ago, film that sold for about 500 yen per roll now costs about 1,500 to 2,000 yen, so it is three or four times more expensive. Well, in the age of digital cameras and then in the age of smartphones, we suffered because the demand decreased for a long time. Then, something completely unimaginable called the “camera boom” is happening. If this happens, there will be competition for film, which until now was distributed in small quantities.” (Masaya Nakagawa, “Print Kobo Konakadai Store”) Manufacturers have cut back on film production, so there is not enough of it worldwide. When we asked Fuji Film, the producer, he said, “Since early spring of this year we have been unable to get raw materials and have temporarily stopped orders for some of our products, but now orders have resumed. This means that there is a current situation where the supply is not yet sufficiently distributed,” one person replied, “We would like to continue working to stabilize the supply.” Will this boom become established in the future? Although camera stores are looking forward to it, they seem to have mixed feelings.

Now I have a dream, seeing a Nikon ZF Z-mount film camera…or a Sony E-mount film camera. Wouldn’t that be lovely? :)