If you are buying Canon gear in the US take comfort, even though your prices are going up you still pay alot less than us in Europe. Sometimes I read about someone in the States complaining about the cost of a lens over there, then I look at the UK price and feel like emailing to say "hell at that (US) price, buy two!"
I was unlucky in 2009 and had to liquidate alot of my camera outfit. 2010 was much kinder to me and I was able to restock my outfit. Now my plans for 2011 are to see if I have the strength not to buy any camera kit at all - I have a latent fear that I am drifting towards a Canon shopaholic state. My inner psychiatrist is prompting me to carefully consider if I am hooked on kit purchasing, and if so to abstain this year.
But I am now seriously worried, does this make me a "leftist"!
David Baldwin wrote:
If you are buying Canon gear in the US take comfort, even though your prices are going up you still pay alot less than us in Europe. Sometimes I read about someone in the States complaining about the cost of a lens over there, then I look at the UK price and feel like emailing to say "hell at that (US) price, buy two!"
I was unlucky in 2009 and had to liquidate alot of my camera outfit. 2010 was much kinder to me and I was able to restock my outfit. Now my plans for 2011 are to see if I have the strength not to buy any camera kit at all - I have a latent fear that I am drifting towards a Canon shopaholic state. My inner psychiatrist is prompting me to carefully consider if I am hooked on kit purchasing, and if so to abstain this year.But I am now seriously worried, does this make me a "leftist"!...Show more →
David, if I were you, I wouldn't trust any psychiatrists there either, be they "inner" or otherwise. They could also be vulnerable to gear-mania afflictions as the rest of us. See this as an example of that.
Based on what I could see, price is just got back out of rebates. I got 85L in December using rebate and now it is at regular non rebates price. What is wrong with it? High price? Check price on anything else, as example I went looking for new truck and I can't find anything on leasing cheaper than $400/month. 3 years ago I found $300/month lease on my current Jeep in two days. Anything cost much more this days, so no surprise to me.
Breitling65 wrote:
Based on what I could see, price is just got back out of rebates. I got 85L in December using rebate and now it is at regular non rebates price. What is wrong with it?
It's not the regular non-rebate price. The price history shows a different story:
The regular non-rebate price is $1970. It was as low as $1840 with the rebate. It's now gone up to $1999 at B&H/Adorama (still $1970 at a few stores). Canonpricewatch has this lens pegged to be at $2088, so my guess is a few more increases are still to come. (I checked with someone who works at a camera shop and he confirmed this.)
Looking through the list the price rises are pretty in-line with the posted predictions. Some have gone straight to the new price. Others have gone roughly halfway.
'Cost of manufacture' would be same as 'cost of production', meaning it would include direct materials, direct labor, and some overhead, but does not include selling and administrative expenses. But for a multi-product company, such cost determination would not be fully meaningful for pricing decisions. For example, certain types of expenses would be fixed irrespective of the volume manufactured, and therefore, unit cost of production would be different depending on the volume produced.
A better approach for multi-product companies would be to determine the 'marginal cost (MC) of products' and the 'contribution margin'(the difference between selling price and MC).
Net cash outflows is irrelevant. You are considering costs, not cash outflows.
PetKal wrote:
It looks to me as if it's always Adorama and B&H that demonstrate a $-per-$ coordinated leadership when it comes to jacking up prices.
If you are not happy with either company, then go elsewhere to buy it. Adorama and B & H is probably the cheapest prices from legitimate companies around.
Perhaps you can go sell more of your lenses in anticipation of imaginary lenses as you have done in the past. That way you can have some cash to help counter the price increases from the "camera mafia".
sirimiri wrote:
Canon USA is huge; Canon USA has "power". In defense of both B&H and Adorama, likely Canon USA dictates to them "what shall be" and that's that.
(I shall grow old and [more] decrepit, awaiting some Leica rebates, ha ha ha ha ha)
Actually, Canon has a different sort of relationship with the big places like B&H. These places will sell for cost, which Canon is not a big fan of. Sure, they move merchandise, but when a dealer sells for cost, all the small shops that can't afford to give product away for free have a hard time. Several large dealers can cannibalize the smaller shops. n the end, the small shops go away, and you're now stuck with the big shops who have price control over the entire market.
Ben Horne wrote:
Actually, Canon has a different sort of relationship with the big places like B&H. These places will sell for cost, which Canon is not a big fan of. Sure, they move merchandise, but when a dealer sells for cost, all the small shops that can't afford to give product away for free have a hard time. Several large dealers can cannibalize the smaller shops. n the end, the small shops go away, and you're now stuck with the big shops who have price control over the entire market.
Yes but today the big shops also have to compete with the big shops in all other countries.
Chumma wrote:
'Cost of manufacture' would be same as 'cost of production', meaning it would include direct materials, direct labor, and some overhead, but does not include selling and administrative expenses. But for a multi-product company, such cost determination would not be fully meaningful for pricing decisions. For example, certain types of expenses would be fixed irrespective of the volume manufactured, and therefore, unit cost of production would be different depending on the volume produced.
A better approach for multi-product companies would be to determine the 'marginal cost (MC) of products' and the 'contribution margin'(the difference between selling price and MC).
Net cash outflows is irrelevant. You are considering costs, not cash outflows....Show more →
I'm curious only concerning how much it costs on a per-unit-basis to manufacture a lens. This includes labor and materials. If you want to throw in factory overhead, that's fine. I'm trying to gauge the actual costs associated with lens to figure out how much of the cost is profit on the part of Canon. I'm not particularly concerned about the wholesale costs as I'm going to assume that's marked up as well.
Considering how the prices of consumer goods have lowered over the past 20 years as manufacturing efficiency has increased, I find it hard to believe that lens prices are on par with the actual cost of production.
This video shows the construction of a " target="_blank" rel="nofollow">500mm f/4L. The actual factory floor is fairly automated (same as other products that are centered around precision, like computer motherboards) and assembly is similar to that of other electronics. So, what portion of this assembly makes the lens as expensive as it is? Considering that most lenses probably go through a similar process and use the similar materials (save for special glasses, like Fluorite) and I can't help but think that the markup on many lenses is just a little bit artificial.
kakomu wrote:
I'm curious only concerning how much it costs on a per-unit-basis to manufacture a lens. This includes labor and materials. If you want to throw in factory overhead, that's fine. I'm trying to gauge the actual costs associated with lens to figure out how much of the cost is profit on the part of Canon. I'm not particularly concerned about the wholesale costs as I'm going to assume that's marked up as well.
Considering how the prices of consumer goods have lowered over the past 20 years as manufacturing efficiency has increased, I find it hard to believe that lens prices are on par with the actual cost of production.
This video shows the construction of a " target="_blank" rel="nofollow">500mm f/4L. The actual factory floor is fairly automated (same as other products that are centered around precision, like computer motherboards) and assembly is similar to that of other electronics. So, what portion of this assembly makes the lens as expensive as it is? Considering that most lenses probably go through a similar process and use the similar materials (save for special glasses, like Fluorite) and I can't help but think that the markup on many lenses is just a little bit artificial....Show more →
You also have to include shipping cost, storage costs. support costs. What kind of mark up to you think Canon has on most of it's lenses?
High price? Check price on anything else, as example I went looking for new truck and I can't find anything on leasing cheaper than $400/month. 3 years ago I found $300/month lease on my current Jeep in two days. Anything cost much more this days, so no surprise to me.