Japan's Canon Inc reported a 21 per cent drop in operating profit for the July to September quarter as a slump in the global digital camera market outweighed a boost from a weaker yen.

The consumer shift to smartphones for casual photo taking has pummelled demand for compact cameras, while the growing popularity of lighter mirrorless cameras has taken away market share from higher margin single-lens reflex cameras.

Operating profit came in at 71.8 billion yen ($665 million), down from 90.6 billion yen for the same period a year ago and not far off figures flagged by the Nikkei business daily earlier this month.

Revenue fell 4.5 per cent to 872.2 billion yen.

But bolstered by sales of printers and other office equipment, the export-reliant company lifted its full-year operating profit forecast for the year ending Dec. 31 to 370 billion yen, up from a prior prediction of 365 billion yen. The new forecast would mark an 9.7 per cent increase on the year.

Canon's shares closed up 0.8 per cent on Monday ahead of results.

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