Sony Tops Canon, Nikon as Most Popular Mirrorless Cameras in Japan

The annual BCN Awards have arrived, detailing the most popular cameras and lenses at Japanese retailers in 2024.

While the BCN Awards only focus on the Japanese market, and even then, only 40-60% of annual sales in the country, it remains one of the best ways to see the relative performance of all the various camera manufacturers who play specific sales data notoriously close to the vest. BCN typically captures consumer data across more general retailers in Japa, too, so it does not always reflect the behavior of high-end professionals. That said, professionals do not make up a high percentage of all photography purchases.

When it comes to mirrorless camera sales, Sony is yet again the number one manufacturer, capturing 35.8% of the market. This is up from 34% last year. Canon remained in the second position, dropping from 28.3% to 26% market share. Nikon replaced OM System in the third position, capturing 14.5% of the market. For reference, OM System finished third in 2024 with a 12.5% market share.

Sony a1 II

In the past five years, Sony has taken the top spot in the BCN Awards four times, with 2023 the lone defeat, at which time Canon finished first (31.7% share) and Sony was second with 29.4%.

As for DSLR cameras, Canon remains dominant. It finished first with a 69.4% market share, down from 77.1% in the 2024 BCN Awards and 76.8% the year prior. As has been the case every year dating back to 2012, Nikon finished second to Canon, this time with 20.9% market share, up slightly from the past two years. Ricoh Imaging, which continues to make DSLR cameras, finished third, as it has done so annually since 2014.

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV | Credit: Canon

As PetaPixel has reported, compact cameras with built-in lenses experienced a resurgence in 2024. Canon and Kodak finished one-two in the category, and Fujifilm, which launched the extremely popular X100VI in February 2024, rounded out the top three. It’s the same top three and order as last year.

The Fujifilm X100VI has proven very popular with photographers.

The BCN Awards also look at lenses. In the BCN Awards 2025, Tamron finished first with a 17.5% market share, while Sigma (16.8%) and Sony (15%) finished second and third. While Sony was also third in last year’s BCN Awards, Tamron and Sigma swapped positions this time.

The complete BCN Awards breakdown, including the winners of digital video and action camera categories, is available on BCN’s website.

Image credits: Featured image created using an asset licensed via Depositphotos.