Canon to Pull Out of Analog Camcorders

by Robin Liss
Published on May 12, 2004 12:00 AM



According to a report from Reuters, Canon announced today that it would be pulling out of the analog camcorder business, and stopping production on the remaining two of its analog models. The company expects sales of digital camcorders to rise and has seen lagging sales of analog camcorders over the past few years.

Canon's ES line of analog Hi8/8mm camcorders have been around for a very long time, although Canon arguably has the least investment in the analog market of any of the camcorder manufacturers. While Panasonic and JVC have a thriving VHS-C camcorder business, Canon and Sony only make Hi8 and 8mm camcorder models.

Many industry analysts began predicting the fall of analog camcorders with the introduction of Mini DV, however they have had an incredibly strong life despite lowering prices of analog camcorders.

The news of Canon pulling out of analog camcorders could signal an industry trend. However sales of Sony, Panasonic and JVC analog camcorders are still strong.