In the last two days major camera makers Canon and Nikon have both announced a suspension in production operations. In a statement from Canon Inc, the company announced that operations at 8 production and development plants in northern Japan had been suspended, possibly for “more than two or three days”. Meanwhile Nikon has stated today that operations at its Miyagi Prefecture factory which produces advanced DSLR cameras, will be “virtually impossible to resume in 14 days”. Additionally, other major manufacturers are also reporting operational issues including Panasonic and Sony while they deal with the obvious safety issues, lack of power, and possible structural damage. Of course these are just the camera makers themselves, but factor in the strong possibility that factories that supply parts may be lost or at minimum behind schedule, and the issue of huge infrastructure problems that will effect both the supply of new materials and delivery of completed items, and you can deduce that things won’t be getting back to normal anytime soon. Finally, there’s the looming threat of nuclear disaster, which could have a devastating impact not yet accounted for.

It’s unknown exactly what sort of toll all of this will take on the economics of the industry, and hopefully it is minimal, but it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that we should expect delays in new camera supplies and possibly a more painful sting at the checkout register.