LOS ANGELES--Canon Inc. will launch global sales of professional-use high-definition digital video cameras for filmmakers and television companies at a fraction of the normal cost in January 2012, officials said.
The company said Nov. 3 it developed compact low-priced cameras by improving its single-lens reflex technology.
The video camera, using an imaging sensor and lens developed by Canon, is priced at $20,000 (about 1.56 million yen), or about one-fifth to one-tenth the price that professionals can normally expect to pay for commercial cameras.
"We will set off a revolution and become the pioneer of the digital (movie camera) era," Fujio Mitarai, chairman of the company, told The Asahi Shimbun and other media representatives here.
With its compact size, the camera can capture dark spots or places which have been difficult to film using conventional large movie cameras.
With its low price and easy-to-use features, the company projects sales of 3,000 to 4,000 units in the first year.
Mitarai also said the company will have to revise downward its midterm target on sales for 2011-2015, from the current 8 percent a year, due to the global economic downturn.
He also said that flooding in Thailand will likely continue to affect the company's camera parts procurement until the January-March period of next year.
Asked if the company plans to launch the mirrorless single-lens reflex model, which is compact, light and has an interchangeable lens, Mitarai said, "The market is limited to Japan at present, but we may have to consider it if its use becomes a global trend."
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