Photo/Illutration The Z7, Nikon Corp.’s mainstay full-size mirrorless camera (Provided by Nikon Corp.)

Nikon Corp. announced it will wrap up domestic production of single-lens reflex camera bodies this year.

The sturdy camera bodies were the model of choice for war photographers covering conflicts around the world, and won particular renown for reliability during the Vietnam War.

The digital camera giant, along with Canon Inc., once led the industry, but Nikon found itself struggling in recent years against demand for high-performance smartphones and compact mirrorless models.

Nikon said manufacturing of the last domestically made model, the D6 series that is intended for professional photographers, will be relocated from Miyagi Prefecture in northeastern Japan to the company's core production base in Thailand.

“We have a system to ensure exceptional quality no matter where our products are churned out,” said a Nikon representative.

The move will mark the end of Nikon’s camera body production in Japan that started in 1948. It will, however, continue making related parts and spare lenses in Japan.

“Nikon had no choice but to shift its production base to Thailand in an effort to cut costs as its domestic market share kept falling,” said Ichiro Michikoshi, a chief executive analysist at research firm BCN Inc.

A BCN survey shows that Canon held the dominant position in the Japanese digital camera market in 2020 with a 36.8 percent share, followed by Sony Corp. and Nikon at 19.5 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively

Michikoshi also noted that Nikon lagged behind Sony in the mirrorless camera field, though Nikon, along with Canon, had long served as the two leading suppliers of high performance models across the world.

“Sony has quickly increased its presence with products equipped with large imaging sensors, but the first models released by Nikon and Canon were mainly products designed to cater to beginner photographers,” he said.

“My impression is that Nikon fell behind terribly,” Michikoshi added. “The company continued using the original lens mount that it first adopted for the Nikon F model, but fewer digital camera buyers than expected kept using the same lenses, forcing the company to change course in 2018.”

Sticking to the lens mount likely sidetracked Nikon from focusing on the development of mirrorless models in the early stages, according to Michikoshi.

Interest in the digital camera market has also fallen off markedly.

Shipments in and outside Japan dropped from 1.4681 trillion yen ($13.43 billion) in 2012 to 420.1 billion yen in 2020, according to the Camera & Imaging Products Association.

Sales of single-lens reflex cameras also are not nearly as popular as they once were.

Growing advances in smartphone camera technology severely undermined the global popularity of Japanese-made cameras, Michikoshi said.

“The performance of cameras mounted (on smartphones) has dramatically improved, eliminating the need for consumers to bother to always bring a camera with them,” he said.

The novel coronavirus pandemic proved to be another nail in the shrinking market.

Nikon reported a 23.9-percent decline in year-on-year sales for the fiscal year ending in March 2021 with annual turnover of 450 billion yen.

The operating loss amounted to 65 billion yen, while an operating profit of 6.7 billion yen was recorded in the previous year.

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