Television commercials of all major smartphone firms proclaim the camera capabilities of their devices, making you believe that it’s all you need to capture your precious moments.

The strategy has worked well as not many people anymore buy standalone cameras . But while the trend has hit the compact camera segment in a big way, Nikon, the largest camera company in the country, is trying to reverse it by targeting smartphone users to adopt DSLR cameras to get that natural ‘bokeh effect’ (soft out-of-focus background) they’ve been trying to get using free or cheap software.

“In fact, we are targeting smartphone users by inculcating the culture of photography through workshops, blogs and online tutorials. We need to be closer to the smartphone user,” Kazuo Ninomiya, MD, Nikon India, told BusinessLine .

Nikon, which already commands about 55 per cent market share in the DSLR segment in India, is seeing a rapid growth, with revenues growing nearly 12 fold in the past 10 years, from ₹90 crore to ₹1,150 crore. The Japan-based camera giant witnessed a sales revenue of ₹1,150 crore in FY16-17 — the highest in the past 10 years.

“Many smartphone users want to upgrade their photography skills, but are not sure what camera to buy or how to use them more effectively. We have set up 120 experience zones in India, where our entire range of products is available and users can understand what works best for their needs. Moreover, we are aggressively working on helping budding photographers improve their skills by offering workshops on various genres of photography as well as offering free video tutorials for people to learn how to get the best out of their digital cameras,” Ninomiya said.

While compact camera sales are on the decline, Nikon is seeing double-digit growth in its DSLR camera sales, which now account for nearly 80 per cent of the firm’s revenues in India.

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