BCN Japan has released sales data for the whole of 2025 – revealing the winners (and losers) in the camera market when it comes to the Japanese market. It gives us an insight that is hard to find elsewhere, with there being a clear winner in the mirrorless camera market.

Sony are in first place with 29.9% market share, Canon come in second with 27.4% market share, with Nikon in 3rd place with 15.5% market share – all three companies offer both full-frame mirrorless and APS-C mirrorless cameras.

This is the third year in a row where Sony are in the number 1 slot. Sony released three new cameras in 2025, the Sony A7 V, RX1R III and FX2, and previous models tend to stay on the market for a long time after release, helping Sony hit key price points. This means that if you have a certain amount of money to spend, then you’re likely to find a Sony camera matches that budget.

In addition to this, Sony’s full-frame mirrorless camera system has been around since 2013, and this means there is a vast array of Sony E-mount lenses, as well as a huge range of third-party lenses available from the likes of Tamron, Sigma and others. In comparison, Canon and Nikon have been much more guarded about sharing the lens mount with other companies, reducing the range of lenses available.

• Third-party lenses don’t all work properly on the Sony A7 V. Here’s what you need to know

Sony cameras not only have a range of camera models available, a vast array of lenses, but they’re also known for being capable of producing great stills images, as well as extremely capable when it comes to video recording.

Related reading:

• Canon continue to dominate DSLR market, but things are changing
• People are buying point-and-shoot cameras again, this brand is killing it
• GOPRO has lost the action camera market, with these two companies winning
• Mirrorless cameras now outsell DSLRs by almost 5 to 1 – I’m surprised it’s not more

Source BCN Japan (use a web browser with built-in translation if you want to head over and take a look) – BCN Inc are based in Tokyo and are a market research firm that collects POS (Point of sale) data from an estimated 40-60% of Japanese retailers. Via Petapixel.

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