Why the first Chinese mirrorless cameras will massively disrupt the market — and why that's a good thing

Almost all of the big names in cameras — Canon, Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm, Panasonic, OM System, Sigma, Ricoh, Pentax and others — hail from Japan, the birthplace of digital photography.

Want one of the best mirrorless cameras ? Unless it's a Leica or a Hasselblad, right now it'll come from Japan.

But a new superpower is rising up in the camera industry, and that's China.

Take DJI, which is headquartered in Shenzhen.

It has surpassed GoPro to lead action cam sales, and dominates numerous other sales charts with its pocket vlogging cameras and range of drones .

Insta360, meanwhile, leads the way in 360 cameras .

And within interchangeable-lens camera ecosystems, Chinese lens manufacturer Viltrox is a growing force, producing lenses for Sony, Nikon and Fujifilm cameras and, more recently, L-mount.

A string of recent reports and rumors suggest that certain China-based manufacturers are about to break new ground by producing their first mirrorless cameras — and I think this could be the dramatic shake up that the industry needs.

In another nod to photography, Insta360 made a 'retro' kit for its 4K Go 3S modular action cam, which features an optical waist-level viewfinder Insta360 Viltrox has a large collection of lenses for Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm and L-mount cameras.

Could it's own mirrorless camera be next? Tim Coleman What Chinese mirrorless cameras can we expect? First, there are the concrete reports.

Insta360 CEO Jingkang 'JK' Liu revealed the 360 camera specialist is making not one but two mirrorless cameras .

He described one of these as being "a shape no one thought of" that has "the potential to completely change the way we take pictures", while leaked pictures of the other point to a minimalist Micro Four Thirds body .

Liu's reference to a new camera shape, along with the Insta360 CEO's recent post about replacing photographers with "intelligent photography robots" (remarks he clarified somewhat when I interviewed Insta360 ) has me thinking that a completely new kind of camera could be on the cards.

And it's not just Insta360.