Curiosity: The Best-Selling Cameras of 2022

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I had an interesting email from my contact at B&H Photo. They have been running some tallies for 2022 and were able to share with me the top 12 best-selling cameras of the year. I thought this was a fun and interesting curiosity with more than a few surprises. In this post, we will take a look at the best-selling cameras. In a separate post, I detailed each camera brand’s best-selling lenses in 2022.

Best-Selling Cameras of 2022 At B&H Photo

These are the top twelve best-selling cameras of 2022.

  1. Sony a7 IV
  2. Canon EOS R6
  3. Fuji X-T5 (black)
  4. Canon EOS R7
  5. Sony a7 IV + 28-70mm lens combo
  6. Sony a7R V
  7. Canon EOS R6 Mark II
  8. Nikon Z6 II
  9. Fuji X-H2S
  10. Nikon Z9
  11. Fuji X-T5 (silver)
  12. Canon EOS Rebel T7 with 18-55mm and 75-300mm lenses

Looking closely at this list, I find several things impressive and a few that are downright surprising. Although we cannot take B&H’s sales figures as an indication of global sales rankings, they are the largest camera retailer in North America, representing the market where most of our readers reside. Let’s take a closer look at the main points.

Impressive a7R V Sales

Sony’s 61MP full-frame a7R V wasn’t launched until October and didn’t hit store shelves until December. The fact it outsold the Canon R6 Mark II, which was launched in June, is impressive. The a7R V ended the year in 6th overall, but you could also call it 5th place as 1st and 5th are technically the same camera (Sony a7 IV). Considering that the a7R V sells for $3898 and the R6 Mark II is $2499, it shows a strong appetite for higher-end cameras. Moreover, the market was not put off by the fact that the a7R V uses the same 61MP sensor as the previous a7R IV. It seems Sony judged that correctly and have a hit on their hands.

Sony a7 IV Tops The Charts

The Sony a7 IV was launched at the end of 2021, so unlike the a7R V, it had a full year of sales to reach the top of the charts. Still, it’s worth noting that not only was it the best-selling camera in 2022, but the a7 IV + 28-70mm combo kit was also the 5th best-selling camera! It could be argued that the sales figures for the combo kit should be combined with the body-only sales, which would surely give the overall a7 IV sales a massive lead over the competition.

Outstanding Fuji X-T5 Sales – APS-C Is Not Dead!

Easily one of the biggest surprises for me was seeing the Fuji X-T5 in the top three. This camera was only launched in November 2022, but after two months of sales, it managed to snag a podium finish. Also notable is that the X-T5 vastly outsold the X-H2 and X-H2S, launched much earlier in 2022. The X-H2 didn’t even make the top-12 list, while the X-H2S only managed 9th place. The X-T5’s $1699 price point likely had something to do with this, compared to the 40.1MP $1999 X-H2 and $2499 for the high-speed X-H2S. It seems Fuji shooters want to go for the lower-priced, X-T5 or the higher-priced X-H2S.

Fuji Shooters Prefer Black Cameras

The Fuji X-T5 sold in huge numbers after its launch in November 2022. Interestingly, the sales figures show that the black version vastly outsells the silver version. The X-T5 (black) took the 3rd spot on our list while the X-T5 (silver) came in 11th place.

Strong R7 Sales

Canon’s excellent EOS R7 APS-C camera had strong sales in 2022 to claim the 4th spot on the best-sellers list. And yes, that means two of the top four cameras in 2022 used a crop-frame sensor instead of a full-frame sensor. As a pseudo-replacement of the old and very popular Canon 7D Mark II, I expected to see the R7 on the list, but 4th place was a slight surprise. It’s a fantastic camera for wildlife photography enthusiasts when paired with the Canon RF 100-500mm lens.

Where Are Sony’s APS-C Cameras?

Sony desperately needs to update its APS-C lineup.

Sony’s APS-C camera lineup is in dire need of a revamp. The 2022 sales positions show that there is a strong demand for mid-to-high-end APS-C cameras with fast burst rates and competent autofocus systems (Fuji X-T5, Canon R7). It doesn’t surprise me that Sony’s long-in-the-tooth APS-C cameras are missing from the list; it just makes me wonder why they are dragging their feet on the a6600 and a6100 replacements.

I’m impressed to see an expensive high-end professional camera making it into the top-ten overall sales list. Let’s not forget that the Z9 is Nikon’s top-of-the-line camera, priced at a whopping $5496. It’s a brilliant camera I have used for the past six months. Perhaps more pertinent is that the Z9 was my first Nikon camera purchase. The combination of specifications, form factor, and professional build quality was too good for me to resist trying. Judging by the sales numbers, I’m not the only new customer that Nikon snared with the Z9. Note that the Sony a1 and Canon R3 are not on the list.

DSLR Is Nearly Done

The fact that a single DSLR camera is on the list (Rebel T7) doesn’t surprise me. Still, it is significant, and it’s worth acknowledging. If you have been living under a rock for the past five years, DSLR cameras are dead. I would be surprised if there were still a DSLR camera on the list when we look at the 2023 sales numbers next year.

And yes, I do plan to make this a regular feature of the site. I’ll probably check in at the 6-month point in the year to see what is selling well to that point, and then in January 2024, we will look at the total 2023 sales numbers.

Best-Selling Lenses of 2022

If you found this post interesting, go to the other post to find out which lenses sold best in 2022, including separate top-ten sales lists for each major brand.

Photo of author
Professional photographer based in Yukon, Canada, and founder of Shutter Muse. His editorial work has been featured in publications all over the world, and his commercial clients include brands such as Nike, Apple, Adobe and Red Bull.

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5 thoughts on “Curiosity: The Best-Selling Cameras of 2022”

  1. As a Fuji guy, I expect the reason that the X-T5 was significantly more popular than the X-H2 twins is because it stuck to the traditional Fuji layout – physical knobs for shutter speed and ISO, with the aperture ring on the lens. The X-H2 twins have the more common PASM dial and are aimed more at “hybrid” shooters than stills photographers. The X-T5, also brought back the excellent 3 way screen from the X-T2/X-T3, whereas the X-H2 cameras kept the unpopular (with Fuji shooters) “selfie screen” from the X-T4.

    Personally I was hoping for an X-T5s, the traditional Fuji layout with the dual layer sensor from the X-H2s for better AF. As it is I have been looking at the X-H2s and that has led to the EOS R6 mk2 on basis that I am losing the typical Fuji features.

    As someone who managed to get an X100v in 2022, I’m sure Fuji could have sold more – it was on back order most of the year and I had to wait months to get mine. I think it is one of those cameras, like the original Canon 5D where there is something special that can’t be captured on a spec sheet.

    Reply
    • Thanks for the helpful insights, Lewis. You make a really good point that if the X-H2 forces people to lose the Fujiness (dials), then what is stopping them from looking at the greener grass on the other side of the wall… Very interesting!

      Reply
  2. Some comments on Fujifilm’s performance:

    First, the X-T5 appears twice in the list, but that’s just the same camera with different paint finishes, so the X-T5 might actually have been B&H’s top selling ILC for 2022. Do you have any numbers to find out?

    Second, the X-H2S has a 26MP stacked sensor, capable of shooting 40fps ES with virtually no rolling shutter. As such, it competes with the Sony A1, Nikon Z9 and Canon R3 for sports and wildlife, at a fraction of the price, and outperforms them in the video department. The X-H2 is the 40MP version, sharing its sensor with the X-T5, and its body with the X-H2S, so it’s not that surprising that it lags those two in sales.

    Reply
    • Unfortunately, I don’t have the actual numbers. I agree that it would have been better to have the X-T5 numbers combined, but I think it’s safe to say that it wasn’t the #1 seller because the a7 IV also appears on the list twice, and the second instance is higher than the second X-T5 instance. So it would be impossible for the X-T5 to take the #1 slot.

      I’m working to make this an annual feature of the site, and, as I said, perhaps I’ll do it every six months, so we get a mid-year check-in. Next time around, I will certainly be asking for camera numbers to be combined when there are two versions of the same camera. For now, we’ll have to be thankful that they shared what they did. This is not something B&H has ever done before.

      Reply
  3. Hi Dan
    I am glad to see Fuji doing well, DSLR’s dead well in sales for 2022, and I hope the second-hand market for them stays strong, I am just about to purchase a Canon 5D Mk IV. Which I intend to pair with a 24-70mm f/2.8 L series lens. Thanks for the article an eye-opener for sure.

    Reply

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