Compact cameras have been one of the fastest growing categories in the camera industry, but new data shows that the category has been struggling is showing massive growth: DSLRs.
According to the Camera and Imaging Products Association or CIPA, camera shipments for March – the latest data available – were 9.4 percent higher than the same month last year and 18.1 percent higher than February’s numbers.
DSLR numbers are up
But perhaps the most surprising change in the monthly report is for DSLRs. While DSLR numbers have been steadily declining over mirrorless numbers, the March DSLR shipments are 204.4 percent compared to February’s numbers, along with a 198.7 percent change in production.
While the month-to-month change for the DSLR category is steep, those numbers are still just 80.4 percent of the March 2025 count. Still, February’s numbers were 38.3 percent of the same month the previous year, so the change is a significant jump.
Breaking down the numbers by destination hints at a potential reason for the jump in DSLRs. In the shipments to the Americas, the DSLR category was 406.7 percent compared to the previous month’s numbers and 139.3 percent compared to the same month in 2025. Shipments to The Americas across all camera categories were 156.3 percent compared to the previous month and 118.8 percent compared to the same time last year.
That uptick could be tied to the Supreme Court’s February ruling that invalidated some of the Trump Administration tariffs. Those tariffs were quickly replaced with another executive order, but that effectively changed the tariff rate on Japanese goods from 15 percent to 10 percent. DSLRs tend to be more affordable than mirrorless, making those import fees more challenging to pass along to the customer in camera price increases.
If that is in fact the cause of the unusual uptick, I suspect the increase in DSLR numbers may be a short-lived one.
Camera shipments are up overall
Japanese industry association CIPA is predicting a slight slowdown for the industry in 2026, which made February’s slight dip at 99.7 percent compared to the previous year unsurprising, but March numbers have returned to growth. Worldwide shipments are 109.4 percent of the same time frame last year and 118.1 percent of the previous month’s.
While compact cameras have been posting the highest growth numbers for several months, DSLRs took that honor for March. Compact camera shipments are 119.5 percent of the same time last year and 125.2 percent in the month-to-month numbers.
Mirrorless cameras showed the smallest percentage of growth at 109.8 percent compared to the same time last year and 109.5 percent month-to-month, but the mirrorless category remains the most popular. Camera brands from Japan shipped 444,380 mirrorless bodies in March, compared to 215,430 compact cameras and 54,688 DLSRs.
For lenses, CIPA says that worldwide shipments are 116.2 percent compared to the previous month and 104.8 percent compared to the same time last year. Like with cameras, the highest month-to-month growth was for The Americas at 139.1, but shipments to China were a close second at 138.6 percent.
The monthly data from CIPA hints at trends across the camera industry. However, the CIPA data only includes participating Japanese brands. That includes major brands like Canon, Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm, OM System, Panasonic, and Ricoh, but excludes brands like Leica, Kodak, and GoPro, for example.
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