p.1 #1 · Open Letter to Canon & Chuck Westfall on 1Ds Price Gouging
Dear Canon & Chuck Westfall,
I am the president of a small technology company and a 20 year Canon customer and advocate. As part of my company’s services we do a good amount of photographic work for our clients. When rumors of the 1Ds first came out I was excited and watched with disbelief as the drama of oddly accidental PR releases unfolded; and wondered if I was being manipulated. When the $9000 price was announced it became clear what was going on. Canon was trying to exploit their customer base using a cynical marketing and price gouging strategy. Due to this behavior my mind has now been opened to the options and I am considering switching to Nikon+Kodak.
I see how little value Canon puts on its customers and how overvalued Canon believes its products to be. They just assume that we are all Canon addicted fools that wouldn’t see through this transparent and inept attempt at price gouging.
I see the computer industry’s history repeating itself in the photography industry as it goes digital. Canon is Apple and Nikon+Kodak+Fujitsu are the PC manufacturers. Apple (and Canon) make proprietary systems that are expensive, more limited in interchangeability, and have cutting edge quality and technology. PC companies (and Nikon+Kodak+Fujitsu) make products that are open in architecture, lower in expense, have wider interchangeability, and cutting edge quality and technology.
Historically, Apple’s market-share has dwindled while PC manufacturers have flourished. Is this the future for Canon vs. Nikon+Kodak+Fujitsu? In the PC market, billionaire companies have been created in abundance while at the same time it is very difficult for these companies to price gouge their customers because there is direct competition and customer mobility. It is a symbiotic market where both vendors and customers win. This is obviously a marketing future that Canon is trying to derail at all cost. It appears that Canon is going for that same “worn out” bankrupt strategy of global domination that Apple and others have pursued and lost.
My company has an investment in Canon equipment and every year we purchase or replace over 30% of it. I have put on hold all scheduled purchases of Canon equipment. I am in a waiting mode and on the verge of doing what was unthinkable a week ago, planning a switch of my company to Nikon+Kodak because I see no evidence that Canon will voluntarily give up its price gouging strategy (if not this time then next).
All I can say is thank you Kodak (I hope you are real)… and shame on you Canon.
Kevin Bohacz,
President, CPrompt
www.c-prompt-dev.com
www.c-prompt-dev.com/openlettertoCW.asp
P.S. Kodak did not create this situation, they merely fortified. The same kind of problem would have existed with a single difference; everything would be centered on comparisons of the 1D vs 1Ds.
p.1 #4 · Open Letter to Canon & Chuck Westfall on 1Ds Price Gouging
geir wrote:
What is this guy smoking ?
One product makes all fo Canons products overpriced compared to Nikon ??
-Geir
actually it might be wise to actually see what the 1ds prices are before we jump to any conclusions. lol
and...there is a huge difference between the 1d and 1ds and canon has defined the difference.
lm
p.1 #5 · Open Letter to Canon & Chuck Westfall on 1Ds Price Gouging
Kevin Bohacz wrote:
> Dear Canon & Chuck Westfall,
This person has posted this same identical message on other Canon forums including dpreview.com and robgalbraith.com. Each post is his first post ever. I hope Chuck and Canon don't take this guy seriously. Canon has not even announced a price yet. It's all rumor. He sounds like a troll to me.
p.1 #6 · Open Letter to Canon & Chuck Westfall on 1Ds Price Gouging
Ray Amos wrote:
Kevin Bohacz wrote:
> Dear Canon & Chuck Westfall,
This person has posted this same identical message on other Canon forums including dpreview.com and robgalbraith.com. Each post is his first post ever. I hope Chuck and Canon don't take this guy seriously. Canon has not even announced a price yet. It's all rumor. He sounds like a troll to me.
Ray Amos
lol...we're starting to get more and more of them...i've bitten a couple of times lately...whoa, wrong move for me...lol
Ray..I saw a few of your pics in the gallery...totally outstranding photography...you have my utmost respect...equal to my respect for Tiger Woods...you are tops in my book Ray.
LM
p.1 #7 · Open Letter to Canon & Chuck Westfall on 1Ds Price Gouging
Ray Amos wrote:
Kevin Bohacz wrote:
> Dear Canon & Chuck Westfall,
This person has posted this same identical message on other Canon forums including dpreview.com and robgalbraith.com. Each post is his first post ever. I hope Chuck and Canon don't take this guy seriously. Canon has not even announced a price yet. It's all rumor. He sounds like a troll to me.
Ray Amos
I looked at his "company website" and the only question I came to was: "why does this company claim to have an investment in Canon photo equipment ?"... Assuming it is his website...
p.1 #8 · Open Letter to Canon & Chuck Westfall on 1Ds Price Gouging
Larry Mowry wrote:
...equal to my respect for Tiger Woods...
LM
PMJI, Larry, I would like to let you know that when my first name is written in Chinese, there are two letters in it. One means Tiger. The other contains Wood.
p.1 #9 · Open Letter to Canon & Chuck Westfall on 1Ds Price Gouging
Pondria wrote:
PMJI, Larry, I would like to let you know that when my first name is written in Chinese, there are two letters in it. One means Tiger. The other contains Wood.
i believe it...you are tiger woods...at least you are the photographer and knowledge base equal to him...i hope that someday i'll know what you are talking about with this engineering information...it's very impressive...thanks for your help on this cpu network arrangement i'm into...very thankful for your input.
lm
p.1 #11 · Open Letter to Canon & Chuck Westfall on 1Ds Price Gouging
I shouldn't really be bothering to reply to this post at all -- complaints of this nature are not really what we need to read about on this forum -- there are loads of places for this sort of c--p. Anybody who has ever read any of Chuck Westfall's very helpful advice over some time on Rob G's forum will certainly know that he has nothing to do with pricing etc of 1DS.
I think it's time to let this topic die a natural death and let's wait and see what the price will be --- we are photographers after all so let's get out there shooting again and worry about this stuff when we actually need to upgrade.
The D30/D60/1D are not going to become worse cameras tomorrow -- if you make good pictures now you can still make good sellable pics tomorrow as well.
Competition will always win out in the end so how about getting back to problems with real cameras and Lenses again and see what happens in 6 months time..
p.1 #12 · Open Letter to Canon & Chuck Westfall on 1Ds Price Gouging
kyle wrote:
...
The D30/D60/1D are not going to become worse cameras tomorrow -- if you make good pictures now you can still make good sellable pics tomorrow as well.
...
p.1 #13 · Open Letter to Canon & Chuck Westfall on 1Ds Price Gouging
I don't see why you guys are giving this fellow such a hard time. He has, in essence, done nothing more than a lot of us over the past few days and complained about unexpectedly large MSRP of the 1Ds. More than one person has suggested they might consider the alternatives.
He makes and reasoned and possibly valid comparison with the PC industry, and for this gets labelled as a troll, and accused of misrepresenting his identity. His web site, which I looked at out of curiosity, seems pretty genuine - including a picture of Kevin Bohacz. The services he claims to provide include "photographic artwork" and "product photography"; legitimate candidates, I would have thought for a 1Ds, and cameras are not the only things Canon makes.
I think that some of the posts in this thread are not up to the usual standards of courtesy that generally pervade on Fred's forums and for which, more than one of us has expressed appreciation.
p.1 #14 · Open Letter to Canon & Chuck Westfall on 1Ds Price Gouging
Sorry all if I seemed to be giving anyone a hard time -- it's just that this topic (high price of 1DS) has been aired not unexpectedly "Ad Nauseam" over the last few days.
I do feel that singling Chuck Westfall out is not helpful however --- He doesn't have anything to do with pricing etc and I for one appreciate his very valuable contributions to Canon digital shooters everywhere -- and hope that he continues to give us his very helpful advice.
Putting him in a difficult or untenable situation could induce him to stop posting again and I'm sure if that happened the digital photography community would have lost a very valuable asset.
No hard time intended -- if anybody read it that way it wasn't meant to be.
BTW Congrats Europe in the Ryder Cup -- Poor old Tiger -- definitely not his best playing venue or favourite tournament.
p.1 #15 · Open Letter to Canon & Chuck Westfall on 1Ds Price Gouging
It is clear enough that there are people who are irritated about Canon and Canon's pricing policy and that there are some who are irritated about those who express their irritation in a way they don't like.
Though some of you believe you can't say often and clear enough how bad Canon's pricing is, I would kindly ask to further discuss the topic of pricing under the topic of the still expected (NB!) price:
Also when posting in those threads I would like to kindly ask to just tone down the sound of the discussion a bit and respect the opinion of someone else, even if you totally disagree.
Thanks for your cooperation in this forum with a reputation for its kind and gently style,
p.1 #16 · Open Letter to Canon & Chuck Westfall on 1Ds Price Gouging
Hi everyone,
While I agree that Chuck Westfall has nothing to do with Canon pricing, and should have been excluded from this discussion, the person who started this thread has a legitimate gripe, IMO.
When Canon "accidentally" released the info about the 1Ds, and everyone jumped on the bandwagon and started saying how much they would be willing to pay for the new camera, I remember thinking: "I wonder if Canon are testing the waters re: pricing."
Many people on this and other forums speculated that the camera would be sold for $8,000 and many others stated that they would pay up to $7,500 to $8,000. Pricing the camera at $9,000 would make perfect sense in that case (make the customer stretch just a little).
I remember thinking then that people should just shut up and play their cards just a little closer to their chest. Now that the cat is out of the bag, I think that the more people complain, the better! In the end, though, the one and only way you can get the message through to Canon is not to buy the 1Ds. I for one think that the 1Ds suggested price is out of line, and will vote with my wallet if it stands! Personally, I think switching to Kodak or Nikon is going too far, but you have to do what your heart and wallet tell you to do. That is what will determine the success or failure of a product and/or company in the marketplace.
So give this guy a break. If we don't speak up, how will Canon know that we are not happy?
p.1 #18 · Open Letter to Canon & Chuck Westfall on 1Ds Price Gouging
Roger Cavanagh wrote:
I don't see why you guys are giving this fellow such a hard time. He has, in essence, done nothing more than a lot of us over the past few days and complained about unexpectedly large MSRP of the 1Ds. More than one person has suggested they might consider the alternatives.
He makes and reasoned and possibly valid comparison with the PC industry, and for this gets labelled as a troll, and accused of misrepresenting his identity. His web site, which I looked at out of curiosity, seems pretty genuine - including a picture of Kevin Bohacz. The services he claims to provide include "photographic artwork" and "product photography"; legitimate candidates, I would have thought for a 1Ds, and cameras are not the only things Canon makes.
I think that some of the posts in this thread are not up to the usual standards of courtesy that generally pervade on Fred's forums and for which, more than one of us has expressed appreciation.
p.1 #19 · Open Letter to Canon & Chuck Westfall on 1Ds Price Gouging
$9000 list price means nothing and this guy's rant serves no purpose whatsoever. Canon lenses that sell retail in the $700-$1000 range often have "list" prices well over $2000. The whole MSRP thing is a marketing gimmick to make people think they are getting a good deal, no more, no less.
p.1 #20 · Open Letter to Canon & Chuck Westfall on 1Ds Price Gouging
I agree, seems to me like the proper response is wait and see. A far as I know, you can't buy a D1s right now anyway.
I don't agree, however, with the comparison to Apple. Apple had a large lead in technology for 6 or so years. They sought to capitalize on it by keeping their O.S. and hardwre proprietary. This was, by the way, the accepted pattern in the computer industry prior to the advent of the PC. Canon does not have sufficient technological lead to even comtemplate Apple's strategy, to wit, Kodak's announcement of it's new Professional DSLR. Does anyone seriously think that these cameras will sell at MSRP? Or that, whatever the initial price, it won't decline rather sharply with time?
Having said that, I am worried about Canon's "proprietization" of digital photography. Why not make the structure of the RAW file public? Canon gives a completely lame explanation that by keeping the file structure secret they can offer authorship security to photographers. Keeping the structure of the file format proprietary has nothing to do with verifying authorship of a file. They should know better. In fact, you can find freely available RAW file decoders that have been
developed by trial and error. It would be nice to have a, Canon appoved, public source, decoder. Professional photographers often keep negatives in their files for decades. It's be a shame if Canon bit the dust or got out of the digital photography business and left it's users without RAW file translation software. And think of the things we might get from an open source RAW file format: automatic file translation in Photoshop, more custom image processing software.
Just my US$.02
By the way, I'm a newbie, this is my first post, I don't work for a camera company, I aven't posted this anywhere else.....
(be it pricing, new models, what have you)