Engineering side of photography? What to major in college to work for Canon/Nikon etc?

In an industry engaging in innovation like the pharmaceutical industry (my own field), information technology, and electronics, the scientists and engineers can have comfortable careers, but the real money is in marketing, accounting, finance, and business administration. Enroll in a good business school like Kellogg or Wharton for your MBA and you'll be just fine at a camera company without an engineering degree.

droberto said:

Hi,

I was originally going to ask somewhere with the college forums on other sites, but I figure this might be a good option as I know for sure there are a lot of people who know more than just capturing images with a camera.

Right now, I'm a sophomore at a university majoring in mechanical engineering, and still taking GE's. I found that I'm not a strong mathematical/science type of person (unless I haven't learned well enough, but I'm slow at learning that stuff). But I'm really fascinated in photography and would love to major in it and or journalism. However, it seems like it's no longer practical to do anymore due to how employment is nowadays and the income you make.

So my question is, what should I study in school for if I want to work with cameras and such that pays well? I guess a cool job would be working for Canon, Nikon, Olympus, etc since I get to be surrounded by cameras and photography but doing something 'sciency' and making decent coin. Anyone have any ideas or experiences that they can enlighten me on?

Cheers.

Click to expand...

Sounds like you love photography and journalism, not mechanical engineering.

cpkuntz said:

In an industry engaging in innovation like the pharmaceutical industry (my own field), information technology, and electronics, the scientists and engineers can have comfortable careers, but the real money is in marketing, accounting, finance, and business administration. Enroll in a good business school like Kellogg or Wharton for your MBA and you'll be just fine at a camera company without an engineering degree.

Click to expand...

Plus, if things don't work out for you at a camera company for whatever reason, with an MBA you will be able to go to work for any of a number of other large companies.

I was in Mechanical Engineering also and didn't like math or chemistry. Started calculus with a C and continued to a F by third quarter. Was seriously thinking about changing to a less technical major. A counselor told me either I love the stuff or find something else. Had to have a come to Jesus moment and force myself to really like the subjects. I ended up liking the subject and getting A's. That was 20 years ago, and still doing mechanical engineering leading a team of engineers. Lesson learned was you can force yourself to like something and be good at it.

As for working for Canon or Nikon, those are Japanese companies. Like many Japanese companies, they don't do their engineering here, is done in Japan. You can probably get a marketing job with Nikon, but probably not an engineering job. You would probably be better off working for Apple on smart phone cameras. Getting a job there is highly competitive like Google. You have an all night celebration if accepted. There are so many variable in landing a career, aiming for a particular company is incomprehensible unless you have connections there already.

So if you are like me having trouble with some subjects, then is time to bite the bullet, put down the camera for now, and hit the books for the next 4 years. When you get out, you will have plenty of time and money to get the latest full frame Canon/Nikon with the ultra sharp lens. Then you can waste your time on the forum arguing about equivalence.

Study optics. instrumentation and computer software programing. That should take you into almost any engineering discipline. Particle physics would also be useful, as there are many ways to produce an image. Remember holograms?

Optics and mechanics are closely related in the real world. But you sure can't tell it from the way university courses are set up.

My company always needs mechanical engineers who know some optics. You can stick with the ME path and choose the companies you work for to go in the direction of optics. As do many of the companies we buy sub-assemblies from.

You might not see it now, but cameras are actually a little bit boring from an engineering point of view. Lots of cost pressure, incremental improvements. There are things that are a lot more interesting, military, medical, automotive, robotics, the list goes on and on

By the way, if you have a chance to take an engineering economics course, take it.

It is kind of funny, but I found university optics courses to have been the most boring of all the ones I took. I loved everything except optics. I went into optics in graduate school because I looked in the wanted ads and noticed that there was always demand for people who knew optics. And I have found that in the real world, optics is a whole lot of fun.

droberto said:

Hi,

I was originally going to ask somewhere with the college forums on other sites, but I figure this might be a good option as I know for sure there are a lot of people who know more than just capturing images with a camera.

Right now, I'm a sophomore at a university majoring in mechanical engineering, and still taking GE's. I found that I'm not a strong mathematical/science type of person (unless I haven't learned well enough, but I'm slow at learning that stuff). But I'm really fascinated in photography and would love to major in it and or journalism. However, it seems like it's no longer practical to do anymore due to how employment is nowadays and the income you make.

So my question is, what should I study in school for if I want to work with cameras and such that pays well? I guess a cool job would be working for Canon, Nikon, Olympus, etc since I get to be surrounded by cameras and photography but doing something 'sciency' and making decent coin. Anyone have any ideas or experiences that they can enlighten me on?

Cheers.

Click to expand...

If what you are interested in is photography please realise that working for a camera company (unless you are prepared / able to relocate to Japan) will have very little to do with that. Many of the jobs in a camera distributor will also have nothing directly to do with cameras and those that do, i.e. marketing, sales, service technicians may not satisfy you if your love is photography.

But if you like the idea of marketing cameras (realising that most of the time you might as well be marketing baked beans once you have got over the excitement of being surrounded by a few cameras) then get a marketing, finance or business management qualification.

Japanese.

it depends on what you want to do if you wanted to program youd do something differend than if you wanted to design a new mount

droberto said:

But I'm really fascinated in photography and would love to major in it and or journalism. However, it seems like it's no longer practical to do anymore due to how employment is nowadays and the income you make.
So my question is, what should I study in school for if I want to work with cameras and such that pays well? I guess a cool job would be working for Canon, Nikon, Olympus, etc since I get to be surrounded by cameras and photography but doing something 'sciency' and making decent coin.

Click to expand...

You're concerned that the odds of making it as a photographer aren't very good. I'd suggest that your odds at a career at Canon or Nikon (or anywhere working on cameras) are also not very good. Out of all the scientists and engineers in the world, only a handful of them are working on cameras. If you expand, you have optics and software and microprocessors associated with mobile photography.

Really, though, choosing what to study in the hopes of getting a job somewhere where you'll be surrounded by cameras sounds kind of pathetic - sorry. Either pursue photography professionally or pursue something else you enjoy and do your photography on the side, like the rest of us. If you can swing a job with Nikon, great, but don't pick a major based on that.

- Dennis

If you like mechanical engineering stick to it. I was a physics major and I found that a lot of what was hard for me eventually came to me after years of study.

As others wrote you are unlikely to do much camera design work for a Japanese company. However there is a lot of camera type work done in theUS by US companies. An ME degree is really the ticket for this. There is a good market for stabilized camera systems and stabilized platforms are a big factor. The mechanical engineering is a bigger factor than the optical design. In my experience we did better teaching optics to ME's than trying to teach the "optikers" mechanical engineering.

A good way to start is to get very good grades and apply to companies that have entry level engineering training programs. The GE Edison course is the best I know of but my old company BAE Systems also had an excellent program. They will teach you a lot of engineering and how to work on teams. Look for division in aerospace that do surveillance, and infrared. Completing that course gives you a good future in the company you did it but also makes you very attractive to other employers because you are very well trained. Tis respect comes fro their deserved reputation that these are challenging programs.

NASA buys a lot of camera systems and its worthwhile to look at the companies that make that stuff. If you really want to do camera type engineering I strongly believe that working for the government is a very bad idea. There you buy and criticize but never really build stuff and that is where you learn the most.

Look also at the US optical design and custom optics industry. Ball Aerospace is an example. Ironically, smaller companies have larger engineering staffs devoted to design and building. Larger companies tend to buy most of this stuff from smaller companies.

One way you may get to work with Nikon or Canon is by working for a company that supplies components to them. These are microcircuits and inertial motion sensors. These sensors produce the inputs for stabilization and the US is a major producer in this field. These companies need good mechanical engineers. You will need to understand Euler axis transformation and, ideally, quaternians, as well as normal modes of vibration.

droberto said:

Hi,

I was originally going to ask somewhere with the college forums on other sites, but I figure this might be a good option as I know for sure there are a lot of people who know more than just capturing images with a camera.

Right now, I'm a sophomore at a university majoring in mechanical engineering, and still taking GE's. I found that I'm not a strong mathematical/science type of person (unless I haven't learned well enough, but I'm slow at learning that stuff). But I'm really fascinated in photography and would love to major in it and or journalism. However, it seems like it's no longer practical to do anymore due to how employment is nowadays and the income you make.

So my question is, what should I study in school for if I want to work with cameras and such that pays well? I guess a cool job would be working for Canon, Nikon, Olympus, etc since I get to be surrounded by cameras and photography but doing something 'sciency' and making decent coin. Anyone have any ideas or experiences that they can enlighten me on?

Cheers.

Click to expand...

Droberto: Engineering can pay well and industrial employers need mechanical, electrical, civil etc. engineers. They don't need a "camera" engineer and unfortunately there are no cool jobs.

If you want to work for a camera manufacturer in camera design you will be competing against highly qualified engineers in countries where English isn't the first language!

You can earn a good income in photography or journalism but it is much harder to do so and, in the case of photography, you must have certain artistic and organizational skills which are hard to come by. I have great admiration for those who can make a good living this way. The odds are heavily stacked against you.

It's really hard to get a job (well paid or not) in journalism these days because people aren't buying newspapers and advertising revenues are drying up.

Why don't you make photography your hobby and look at other well paying careers - if you can't stand engineering take another degree and become a teacher or look for opportunities in the health field. If you can take it, accountancy is a great area with lots of job opportunities.

meland said:

If what you are interested in is photography please realise that working for a camera company (unless you are prepared / able to relocate to Japan)

Click to expand...

Just curious, M: have you ever seen or heard of a non-Japanese mechanical or optical engineer working for any of the Japanese majors' camera divisions? In my years working for Nikon, I never heard the slightest hint of such a thing. (Nikon's camera division did employ American software engineers at one time -- the early versions of Nikon Capture were written by a 3-man team in the basement of the Nikon USA headquarters on Long Island in the U.S. -- but I don't know whether they still do.) But maybe Canon is different?

In any case, I'd say the first thing the OP would have to do to realize his ambition is become quite fluent in Japanese, so he might want to take a stroll over to his university's language department.

That said, both Nikon and Canon maintain engineering research divisions in the U.S. for their non-camera businesses. I know that Nikon employs a number of research scientists and engineers in Belmont, California, all of whom are part of Nikon's photolithography equipment division.

Eamon Hickey said:

meland said:

If what you are interested in is photography please realise that working for a camera company (unless you are prepared / able to relocate to Japan)

Click to expand...

Just curious, M: have you ever seen or heard of a non-Japanese mechanical or optical engineer working for any of the Japanese majors' camera divisions? In my years working for Nikon, I never heard the slightest hint of such a thing. (Nikon's camera division did employ American software engineers at one time -- the early versions of Nikon Capture were written by a 3-man team in the basement of the Nikon USA headquarters on Long Island in the U.S. -- but I don't know whether they still do.) But maybe Canon is different?

In any case, I'd say the first thing the OP would have to do to realize his ambition is become quite fluent in Japanese, so he might want to take a stroll over to his university's language department.

That said, both Nikon and Canon maintain engineering research divisions in the U.S. for their non-camera businesses. I know that Nikon employs a number of research scientists and engineers in Belmont, California, all of whom are part of Nikon's photolithography equipment division.

Click to expand...

No Eamon, I never did either.

This is just my opinion but.

If you are not in Japan, you need to be looking at companies like Red Epic, GoPro, Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, etc. And the real value that will push camera gear forward is probably not optics based engineering, but just solid software engineering. You will be able to fall back on any software engineering based profession, but if you say are very good at digital signal processing, you can really push things forward in camera usage but it would not be traditional DSLRs (which really do not need much more engineering that would give you a stable career for a lifetime), but in the area of video, image processing and automated post-processing. You should be thinking more along the lines of, if I have a high resolution video camera, what sort of automated bracketing processes can I come up with...can I make a HDR shot that removes all moving people/subjects in one click? etc.

That might get you some $$, not if you can design the next Zeiss 135mm 1.8. If anything I bet modern optics is also just based on software engineering as well with heavily computer aided design.

As for MBA vs Engineering it depends...there are modern successful top tier companies rivaling Exxon that are clearly engineering first type companies (where engineers are just as likely if not more so to be C-level execs), but the vast majority of lesser (or more traditional less leading edge) companies tend to still appreciate the MBA more than the Engineer. It is really a complete reversal depending on the type of company you are talking about on what they appreciate or not. If you are incredibly gifted at either, it doesn't really matter.

wombat661 said:

I was in Mechanical Engineering also and didn't like math or chemistry. Started calculus with a C and continued to a F by third quarter. Was seriously thinking about changing to a less technical major. A counselor told me either I love the stuff or find something else. Had to have a come to Jesus moment and force myself to really like the subjects. I ended up liking the subject and getting A's. That was 20 years ago, and still doing mechanical engineering leading a team of engineers. Lesson learned was you can force yourself to like something and be good at it.

As for working for Canon or Nikon, those are Japanese companies. Like many Japanese companies, they don't do their engineering here, is done in Japan. You can probably get a marketing job with Nikon, but probably not an engineering job. You would probably be better off working for Apple on smart phone cameras. Getting a job there is highly competitive like Google. You have an all night celebration if accepted. There are so many variable in landing a career, aiming for a particular company is incomprehensible unless you have connections there already.

So if you are like me having trouble with some subjects, then is time to bite the bullet, put down the camera for now, and hit the books for the next 4 years. When you get out, you will have plenty of time and money to get the latest full frame Canon/Nikon with the ultra sharp lens. Then you can waste your time on the forum arguing about equivalence.

Click to expand...

This was very helpful and motivating. However, I've been struggling with math and sciences since high school, I only got through with good grades because my school in non-traditional and was more project based rather than academically based. Going into college, I'm already struggling on pre-calculus and early stages of calculus. Got an F in one class and average a C so far in math. Had to drop chem the first time and got back around with a C. I haven't seen or taken the physics course yet until I pass a certain calculus class. I want to say that I can force myself to get the work done but I also don't want to do damage to my gpa as it is already low and close to being kicked out of college.

Makes sense that Nikon/Canon are far fetched, I was just using it as just an idea. And yes those companies like Google and Apple are always looking to become better by implementing various kinds of technologies into one so that's a better idea.

Haha I'll try to do that, photography was the hobby that got me through high school when I had no sort of hobby so I don't know if I can drop it for 4 years. Thanks for your input!

Chris Noble said:

droberto said:

Hi,

I was originally going to ask somewhere with the college forums on other sites, but I figure this might be a good option as I know for sure there are a lot of people who know more than just capturing images with a camera.

Right now, I'm a sophomore at a university majoring in mechanical engineering, and still taking GE's. I found that I'm not a strong mathematical/science type of person (unless I haven't learned well enough, but I'm slow at learning that stuff). But I'm really fascinated in photography and would love to major in it and or journalism. However, it seems like it's no longer practical to do anymore due to how employment is nowadays and the income you make.

So my question is, what should I study in school for if I want to work with cameras and such that pays well? I guess a cool job would be working for Canon, Nikon, Olympus, etc since I get to be surrounded by cameras and photography but doing something 'sciency' and making decent coin. Anyone have any ideas or experiences that they can enlighten me on?

Cheers.

Click to expand...

Sounds like you love photography and journalism, not mechanical engineering.

Click to expand...

It's definitely a thought, but I'm afraid of the scarce possibilities out there for those who go into photojournalism nowadays. And I can't say I'm really good with both photography and journalism to be 100% confident with that path.

meland said:

droberto said:

Hi,

I was originally going to ask somewhere with the college forums on other sites, but I figure this might be a good option as I know for sure there are a lot of people who know more than just capturing images with a camera.

Right now, I'm a sophomore at a university majoring in mechanical engineering, and still taking GE's. I found that I'm not a strong mathematical/science type of person (unless I haven't learned well enough, but I'm slow at learning that stuff). But I'm really fascinated in photography and would love to major in it and or journalism. However, it seems like it's no longer practical to do anymore due to how employment is nowadays and the income you make.

So my question is, what should I study in school for if I want to work with cameras and such that pays well? I guess a cool job would be working for Canon, Nikon, Olympus, etc since I get to be surrounded by cameras and photography but doing something 'sciency' and making decent coin. Anyone have any ideas or experiences that they can enlighten me on?

Cheers.

Click to expand...

If what you are interested in is photography please realise that working for a camera company (unless you are prepared / able to relocate to Japan) will have very little to do with that. Many of the jobs in a camera distributor will also have nothing directly to do with cameras and those that do, i.e. marketing, sales, service technicians may not satisfy you if your love is photography.

But if you like the idea of marketing cameras (realising that most of the time you might as well be marketing baked beans once you have got over the excitement of being surrounded by a few cameras) then get a marketing, finance or business management qualification.

Click to expand...

Yes I've been told an MBA type of major would be good too. I guess I'm not just into taking photos but I do love talking about cameras and photography, and do help other people with their photographic needs. Thanks for your input.

Cane said:

Japanese.

Click to expand...

Nan desu ka?