Belmont, CALIFORNIA - January 7, 2004, A new imaging industry report by Imerge Consulting Group maintains that while ASP's were plummeted in the low-end of the consumer digital camera market in 2003, quite the opposite was occurring in the digital single-lens reflex camera sector. Not since 1999 has a sector of the digital camera market experienced triple-digit growth like the DSLR camera market, expanding 172% year on year in 2003.

"Our new report shows that in 2003, worldwide unit growth for digital single-lens reflex cameras exceeded 765,000 units, as ASP's dropped -31% associated primarily with worldwide sales of new DSLR products such as Canon's Digital Rebel, Nikon's D100 and the Olympus E-1 System. The elasticity model for vendors works well in this sector as street revenue jumped 88% even with this sudden ASP decline. Revenue for this sector is expected to be more than $1.5 billion USD in street valued revenue in 2003, and is further forecast to reach $11.8 billion by 2008," according to Ron Tussy, Imerge Consulting Group's Principal Analyst.

"We agree with the findings of this report that the digital single lens reflex market is growing exponentially and will continue high growth into the future due to new price/performance benchmarks and the value proposition to prosumers and professionals as seen in our new E-1 DSLR camera system," says John Knaur, Sr. Marketing Manager of Olympus America, Inc.

According to Tussy, "The North American digital single reflex camera market also experienced a high growth rate of 165% year-on-year, accruing more than $580 million in street valued revenue. Due to the lag of product availability from Japan for Canon's Digital Rebel, and early growth in the year of Nikon's D100, 2004 is also expected to be a banner year for DSLR cameras in North America. The North American market for digital single lens reflex (DSLR) cameras regionally will account for approximately 38% of the worldwide market starting in 2004. More models from Olympus built around the E-1 system and Canon's Digital Rebel are expected as well as pro-caliber offerings Pentax and Minolta in 2004."

The report states that traditional camera vendors, with their experience and proprietary intellectual property ownership regarding lens design, DSLR camera ergonomics and brand recognition left over from film SLR cameras have driven this sector into being one of the only high-margin profit centers in the digital camera franchise.

According to Imerge's report, it's evident that it is more than price that is driving avid enthusiasts otherwise known as prosumers to this sector. "There is a growing worldwide segment of individuals that honed their skills with camera models such as Canon's film Rebel SLR and other film SLR models from Nikon, Olympus and Pentax since the 1970's, and these photo enthusiasts view digital photography as empowering them to have more control over their picture taking. They want cameras that don't have inherent shutter lag issues, the highest image quality they can afford, interchangeable lens that don't require a major re-investment and the look and feel of a camera that has substance and ergonomics to it. On top of that, the ROI and savings for these avid enthusiasts averages a little over one year or 40 rolls of film when counting savings from film purchases and film processing costs" states analyst Tussy.

According to the report, the sweet spot of the market for these new camera systems is targeted to the lower-end of pro users, advanced amateurs or prosumers, those consumers seeking luxe populi and the low-end of certain sectors of the professional market. Also professional photographers in regions outside of North America use these lower-end DSLR cameras as professional cameras for studio portraiture and photo-journalism.

About Imerge Consulting Group

Imerge Consulting Group provides a broad spectrum of market intelligence, decision support, validation, business development, market research and analysis to assist imaging corporations, wireless and handheld vendors, imaging component providers, institutional investors and fund managers. Imerge Consulting Group provides some of the most widely respected topical reports and forecasts in the imaging industry, providing analysis and forecasting for imaging devices and appliances, camera phones, consumer and pro digital cameras, digital minilabs and digital kiosks, NAND flash memory, imaging components, imaging sensors and digital photo print fulfillment.