Camera manufacturers are shortening DSLR development cycle

Photo hobbyists using DSLRs are now more quickly buying new DSLR models, trading in the old cameras after only a year or two while the trade-in price is reasonably high, reports Japanese publication Photo Trade Express. Camera manufacturers are now seriously working on a development structure that can turn out a new DSLR model every year instead of more typical one-and-half year cycle, the publication reports.

Canon Inc., Tokyo, Japan, launches new DSLR models in each category every year and a half. Nikon Corp., Tokyo, Japan, since the introduction of the D1 model has developed the market by putting in pro and prosumer models and later expanded to include models in lower price brackets by introducing the D80, D40, and D40X. Nikon's present DSLR lifecycle is not as orderly as Canon's lifecycle, says Photo Trade Express.

Camera makers have different ideas of the timing to put in new models according to their planned formation of the DSLR lineup, but many agree the lifecycle is much closer to a year now, says the publication. As semiconductor technologies advance CCD and CMOS sensors, it now can happen that an entry-level DSLR outperforms a middle-class sibling that debuted 1.5 to 2 years ago. Development of a compact digital camera may be handled as a project but DSLR calls for all-out efforts of a manufacturer, and those that cannot follow the trend to shorten the development time may be weeded out, reports Photo Trade Express.