In an announcement the president of Canon says the company will consider halting development of new film cameras, but continue producing cameras already on sale. Although Canon insisted one news outlet alter its story to read in less certain terms the consensus seems to be that this is an inevitable decision by Canon.
Nikon, Canon's biggest rival in the SLR market, announced it was ceasing development of film cameras in January, and Konica Minolta pulled out of the camera business altogether in the same month, selling its assets to Sony.
"Scaling back the film camera (business) is a sign of the times, " said Canon president Tsuneji Uchida.
Canon currently produces 9 different film cameras, which account for only 17% of its total camera sales.