Costco as a proxy for the camera industry
I have a distorted view of the camera world because I'm an enthusiast. What does the real world think?
I was doing my weekly Costco run and passed by the electronics section when something caught my eye. An actual camera for sale. It’s been a while since I’ve seen that.
Years ago, there were plenty of Nikon and Canon DSLRs available at Costco, often bundled with one or two kit lenses and extra value-added goodies, such as a carrying case and SD card. Most were entry-level models, but you would occasionally see a mid-tier Nikon. There were point-and-shoots, too. That’s where I purchased my Photo Sketchbook.
The entry-level camera market was left for dead, and camera displays shrunk at Best Buy and Target, and disappeared from Costco. These large retailers have a good pulse on consumer trends. Since I’m a photography and camera enthusiast, these changes had little effect on my world.
Over the past few years, old digital cameras have seen a revival. I first spotted the trend several years ago when I started to see these old digital point-and-shoots being used by the hip and young at Eeyore’s Birthday Party. I’ve even talked about this trend in last month’s post called “Rebirth of the 13-year-old Fujifilm XF1”. Now they are all over the place, and it’s evident that Costco has picked up on the trend.
The Minolta you see here is probably not the Minolta you are thinking of. It’s not the Japanese camera company that started in 1928. That company merged with Konica to become Konica-Minolta. They exited the camera business in 2006 but still live on, focusing on business technology, making printers, copiers, healthcare imaging systems, and industrial optics and sensors. This Costco Minolta is owned by JMM Lee Properties, LLC, and licensed to Elite Brands, Inc., according to ChatGPT.
Incidentally, Sony purchased Konica-Minolta’s digital SLR technologies, which jump-started Sony’s entry into the DSLR market. Sony released its first DSLR, the Alpha 100, using Minolta’s A-mount.
I briefly considered buying the Minolta MND23 point-and-shoot. At $100, it seemed like a reasonable toy camera. I also wanted to see how it would perform compared to my other recent camera toy, the Fujifilm X Half. Except the Fuji costs a whopping $850 with decidedly un-toylike price.
While searching for information on the MND23, I came across this review in Amateur Photographer. While the external look of the cameras differs, the internals sound suspiciously similar. I opted not to buy it. Don’t worry, though; I recently purchased another very modest point-and-shoot, which costs even less. I’ll talk about that in a future post.