I don’t want a Fujony

I read Rick Corbishley’s letter (AP 12 September) ‘I want a Fujony’ with both interest and dismay. True, the camera market has shrunk as mobile phones improve, largely through compact cameras disappearing and a further reduction in units sold as people have now moved to digital, and the rapid improvement in technology means that people no longer feel they need to upgrade every year or two.

The market will however settle down to stable volumes, and volumes suf cient to sustain a real choice, certainly in the mid to higher price bracket. My dismay relates to the comparison with the car market, and the claim that there is an ‘exciting range’ within the VW group when in practice the choices are nothing more than skin deep, consisting of cosmetic styling differences targeting different age groups, and material quality differences catering for different budgets. The term ‘Euro Box’ was not coined for no reason and I dread the day the camera market follows suit.

Camera manufacturers already use components manufactured by others, but they still retain their own DNA, thank goodness. You cannot mix the ‘photographic DNA’ of Fuji with the ‘technology DNA’ of Sony and expect it to end well. Skoda is no longer a Skoda and many see that as a good thing, but Fuji no longer Fuji or Sony no longer Sony, if that were the case one may just as well stick with Canon which still has a greater worldwide market share than Nikon, Sony and Fuji added together.

No, we may have to accept the Euro Box because we need to get to work, but if that happens to our camera choice many more people really will just stick to phones. Nobody wants a Canujinikony Box.

Graham Cullimore