DSLR sales fall, but Nikon bodies still dominate used market
New DSLR shipments sank below 700,000 in 2025, but Nikon still owned 65.4% of used DSLR trades on Minna Camera, led by the D750, D850 and D500.
The DSLR is shrinking on factory order sheets, but it is still very much alive in the used market, and Nikon is the brand keeping that afterlife busy. On Minna Camera, 65.4% of DSLR transactions over the past six months were Nikon bodies, with Canon at 27.1% and Pentax at 6.3%. For photographers shopping with a budget, that makes Nikon the central question in 2026: is this the moment to pick up a bargain, or the point where cheap turns into stranded?
The broader numbers explain the pressure. CIPA’s 2024 shipment data showed mirrorless cameras at 5,612,205 units, or 85% of interchangeable-lens camera shipments, while DSLR and SLR shipments fell to 997,608 units, down 14.4% year over year. PetaPixel’s May 21 analysis said new DSLR shipments then slipped further in 2025, from just under 1 million units in 2024 to under 700,000. That is not a market in retreat so much as one that has already been overtaken.
And yet the used shelf tells a different story. Minna Camera’s April 2026 rankings put the Nikon D750 at No. 1, with an average transaction price of ¥69,997. PetaPixel put that same body at about 70,000 yen, just under $450, while U.S. retailer KEH listed it from $398 to $712 depending on condition and accessories. The D750 launched in 2014 at about $2,300 new, which is exactly why it now looks like one of the strongest value plays in the DSLR world. The D850, D500 and even the older Nikon Df also remain in demand, showing that buyers are still paying for Nikon handling, optical viewfinders and a mature F-mount catalog.
That lens ecosystem is where the used DSLR argument still has teeth. A cheap body only makes sense if there are still lenses, batteries, chargers and repairs to support it. Nikon said in July 2022 that it was continuing production, sales and service of digital SLR cameras, but the company’s direction is clearly mirrorless-first now. It launched the Z5II on April 3, 2025, and discontinued the D6 flagship DSLR in Japan in May 2025. Canon has moved the same way, announcing the EOS R1 in July 2024 and the EOS R6 Mark III in November 2025.
That leaves hobbyists with a narrow but useful window. A used Nikon DSLR can still be the smart buy if the body price is low, the F-mount lenses you want are plentiful, and you are comfortable buying into a system that is no longer growing. The risk is not that the camera stops working tomorrow. The risk is that the bargain you bought becomes the last easy doorway into a mount the industry has already walked past.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
