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Archive 2006 · Photo gear prices will go through roof

  
 
ebrandon
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Photo gear prices will go through roof


I'm sad to say that with the latest Canon announcements I see the beginnings of the kind of price inflation we've seen in other fields.

Six to 12 months ago we were all shocked by the $1250 price tag for the 24-105 and the $800 list price for the 10-22 efs. Now those have come to seem fairly normal. Less than a year later people are expressing amazement at an $1150 ef-s lens and a $2100 85mmL.

I think that what is happening is that as digital photography becomes increasingly easy, fun, and trendy, tons of new people are entering this hobby, and many of them are wealthy folks who are accustomed to paying $100k to remodel a kitchen, or a $25k premium for a "tuned" version of a car or $3k more for extra legroom on a flight and to these people $1000 for a lens seems cheap.

With all these people entering the photography hobby the manufacturers would be out of their minds not to try and find out what prices the market will bear -- and as they jack prices up into the stratosphere with each new product cycle they will be surprised and amazed at how high they can go!

Let me give you an analogy from another field I'm involved in -- high end audio. Ten years ago a $4000 amplifier or a $15000 pair of speakers was considered extremely rarified high-end esoterica. Today mainstream audiophile amps cost $5-$20k and most audiophile speaker manufacturers' "core" offerings are in the $10-$40k range. Additionally manufacturers are constantly testing the waters with $70k turntables and $100+k speakers to find what the market will bear.

The same could easily happen to photography -- where there's a huge amazingly cheap mass market of decent quality sony, panasonic, canon rebel-type, etc. DSLRs. But if you want the really good stuff -- the state of the art stuff -- the manufacturers will have discovered that they can make a lot more money selling 1000 lenses at $10k a pop than 10,000 lenses at $1k each.



Feb 21, 2006 at 04:35 PM
amalgam
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Photo gear prices will go through roof


i hear you brandon on the high end audio equipment. turned me off from it.


Feb 21, 2006 at 04:58 PM
emgvod
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Photo gear prices will go through roof


ebrandon wrote:
Let me give you an analogy from another field I'm involved in -- high end audio. Ten years ago a $4000 amplifier or a $15000 pair of speakers was considered extremely rarified high-end esoterica. Today mainstream audiophile amps cost $5-$20k and most audiophile speaker manufacturers' "core" offerings are in the $10-$40k range. Additionally manufacturers are constantly testing the waters with $70k turntables and $100+k speakers to find what the market will bear.


Hardly, even 15 years ago when I started with audiophile stuff the prices were significantly higher than that for the esoteric stuff. Hell, I had more in interconnects 15 years ago then you say an "esoteric" amp was worth. And $100K speakers are nothing new.

That said, the agrument here holds no water. How much is the 24-70L or the 16-35L - so why is the 24-105L such a shock to you? I think the only reason people are claiming the 17-55IS price as offensive is becuase its an EF-S lens and it's assumed to be "worth" less than an EF lens should be. I'm not sure if it's EF-S mount is a cause for an automatic discount. If it is optically good and built well why should it be worth less than say a 24-70L, especially with the addition of IS? Just cause it does not have a red stripe?
JMHO



Feb 21, 2006 at 05:01 PM
mauriceramirez
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Photo gear prices will go through roof


When things mainstream, they go lower. However, with photography all things that are supposedly "mainstream" are actually going pro. Wedding photographers are outgunned every day with uncle bobs running around with their 1d2's. this was NOT the case 10 years ago. Now the sophistation of the photographic mainstream has gone up with their ability to appreciate and utilize professional-level equipment.

it's not that all the prices are going up. there's plenty of middle and low-end stuff out there to choose from.

it's that now more people expect their toys to be tools, and every hobbyist wants to play with the big boys.

and canon's lovin' it.

-m

btw, i've got two friends who own nail guns, and heck they aren't even carpenters. so it's not just photography. it's consumerism.



Feb 21, 2006 at 05:28 PM
LeifG
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Photo gear prices will go through roof


In some respects prices are coming down. Optics have always been expensive. But now you can buy zooms that in many respects equal or surpass primes, for less money than the equivalent primes. And then with DSLR you do not need to buy film. I have just sold my 6 MP DSLR, and I worked out that the total cost of the DSLR (purchase price minus selling price) is less than the cost of an equivalent number of process paid slide films (bought in bulk from discount online sellers). I do not take many pictures, so for trigger happy people the savings can be huge.

Oh, and this year I do not have lots of slides to scan, and lots of ugly slide boxes to house, but some nice digital files. IMO the DSLR is much more convenient to use.

And these days you can buy a high quality 6 MP DSLR for about £350 (about US$550) whereas I paid £600, so using a DSLR is now much cheaper than using film!

Leif



Feb 21, 2006 at 05:31 PM
Brutus_B
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Photo gear prices will go through roof


And for every high dollar item coming out, theres two or three from sigma, tamron etc.

As photography gets more popular, more and more companies are going to start putting out products, as much as the market will bear. Some priced high, some priced very low, and lots of middle ground.

as long as theres buyers who are willing to pay, either alot or a little, we'll keep seeing more and more.



Feb 21, 2006 at 05:31 PM





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