Is there a best time to buy a new body? I'm looking to upgrade to a 1D X but want to make sure I get best possible price. Do any of you buy often enough to have a strategy?
1DX pricing should be pretty decent in about 5 years. Otherwise you just have to plot the curves of the intersection of photographic pleasure versus financial pain and decide when it's time to buy.
Yes. There is always a best time. For 1D X it is now. If not, you do not need it and you must not buy it in 3 or five years, too. Because then there will be a 1D X MK II or something.
Whenever the item comes out, assuming you have an actual need. If you really have a need, you can offset the $500 or whatever savings you'd get from waiting half a year. By "offset" I mean either truly financially because you're a working pro and can make better images with it than with your previous gear, or by "happiness" if you're an amateur - the satisfaction of using the new gear for half a year well may be worth $500 or whatever.
If you don't have this need (be it perceived or actual), why not buy / stick with the previous body?
I have bought every single camera and lens with the exception of the 400 DO and 28-300 on the day they came out, and never regretted that decision.
Ralph Conway wrote:
Yes. There is always a best time. For 1D X it is now. If not, you do not need it and you must not buy it in 3 or five years, too. Because then there will be a 1D X MK II or something.
When is the best time to purchase a Porsche?
I'd like a Porsche Boxster S, the new one. Unfortunately, with kids it isn't very practical. But if I wait until the kids are grown and out of the house I might be too old to fully enjoy it! My wife says I'd enjoy the money being in the bank more than the car. lol
How that relates to something as "inexpensive" as a 1Dx IDK. lol
stanj wrote:
Whenever the item comes out, assuming you have an actual need. If you really have a need, you can offset the $500 or whatever savings you'd get from waiting half a year. By "offset" I mean either truly financially because you're a working pro and can make better images with it than with your previous gear, or by "happiness" if you're an amateur - the satisfaction of using the new gear for half a year well may be worth $500 or whatever.
If you don't have this need (be it perceived or actual), why not buy / stick with the previous body?
I have bought every single camera and lens with the exception of the 400 DO and 28-300 on the day they came out, and never regretted that decision....Show more →
... exception of 400DO and 28-300 and you never regretted?
I guess I purchased less and regretted more ...
But it was always the right decission in its time. There is no failure.
NCAndy wrote:
I'd like a Porsche Boxster S, the new one. Unfortunately, with kids it isn't very practical. But if I wait until the kids are grown and out of the house I might be too old to fully enjoy it! My wife says I'd enjoy the money being in the bank more than the car. lol
How that relates to something as "inexpensive" as a 1Dx IDK. lol
Your wife says you would enjoy the money beeing in the bank more than the car? So long you let it on the bank she is absolutely right.
My idea: enjoy it now. And if you are to old give it to your kids. They might love it.
The best time to buy a new body is when you need it, not when you want it, and not when the price is at some weird point on the inevitable curve.
That said, with all high tech products there is some advantage to waiting 3 months or 6 months after release to let early production troubles and issues missed in user beta testing come out and be resolved.
Monito has nailed what is more important to me than a small price drop. All early adaptors of any electronic technology are "extended beta testers." Unless a piece of gear has a feature that I absolutely have to have which is rare, I always let my friends and neighbors work the bugs out for me.
This is one of the reasons that I normally buy used along with of course not having to pay for the "new camera smell."
Ralph Conway wrote: ... exception of 400DO and 28-300 and you never regretted?
I guess I purchased less and regretted more ...
I never regretted. I just bought the 400 DO about one year after its intro because I didn't have any use for it before, and the 28-300 about two years after its intro for the same reasons.
Monito wrote:
The best time to buy a new body is when you need it, not when you want it, and not when the price is at some weird point on the inevitable curve.
That said, with all high tech products there is some advantage to waiting 3 months or 6 months after release to let early production troubles and issues missed in user beta testing come out and be resolved.
+1
It's the same in the comp/software Biz, never ever ever buy v1.0 unless you enjoy suffering
For photography gears, in this day-n-age, IMO a new body is in question when you need higher IQ, ISO headroom, with very little noise.
Got my 1st DSLR in late 07; 40D, but had been looking at digital when the 20D came out. I was looking for more bang for the buck, was still quite happy with my EOS-3s and film. In 07 two bodies really interested me, the 5Dc and 40D. Two formal and one personal review sold me on the 40D, one was KR's, Luminous Landscapes and a hand-on with a customer at a local camera shop. The 40D just felt right and the lower body price allowed me to pick up the 70-200 f4L IS...it was the feel for me, the 40D gripped, 70-200 mounted just balanced perfectly...it was fun to hold, shoot with!
The 6D will no doubt be my next body, I've waited for a FF body, on paper it has many qualities that fit my physical needs. All I'm waiting for are a few hands on reviews; IQ and ISO being my decider, and will wait until mid 2013 to drop my dimes. I've no doubt it will not slack at all in IQ or high ISO, it might be as good or better than the 5D3. I've had a 60D in hand and it felt great, the 6D is much like it, sans the FF sensor
Even in my film days it was glass that mattered most, still does...
Jerry
Monito wrote:
That said, with all high tech products there is some advantage to waiting 3 months or 6 months after release to let early production troubles and issues missed in user beta testing come out and be resolved.
HawksFan66 wrote:
Is there a best time to buy a new body? I'm looking to upgrade to a 1D X but want to make sure I get best possible price. Do any of you buy often enough to have a strategy?
Thanks for your thoughts.
Yes. When you need one. But not right when a new one is introduced... unless you need it really badly.
Monito wrote:
That said, with all high tech products there is some advantage to waiting 3 months or 6 months after release to let early production troubles and issues missed in user beta testing come out and be resolved.
Definitely agree here. That time table will almost assuredly see an initial FW release to fix issues that the public has picked up on. I bought my 1DX slightly earlier then that but it was on its second round of FW updates by then and I felt pretty confident it was a solid body worth the expenditure.
If you need it, you buy it. If you don't need it, you don't buy it. It's like, "if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it".
Of course, the price will fall over time, but so does the price that you'll get for your current camera (assuming you're on the "treadmill", like I am).
There are many right answers to this question. I have generally chosen to not be an early adopter.
I prefer to let the early adopters figure out the issues and quirks with a new body then purchase
when the good reports flow in.
I confess I have been shooting less lately, so I am not the best person to ask.
I have enough good gear that I don't feel it is limiting me very much. I prefer to save
up for a nice vacation to get inspired to shoot interesting locations.
In general, as with other computer products, the best time to buy is when you are ready
to use it right away. Time is your friend, and bodies get better with each generation.
Otherwise you just have to plot the curves of the intersection of photographic pleasure versus financial pain and decide when it's time to buy. 
... exception of 400DO and 28-300 and you never regretted?
