does lenses suffer price drops too?

I want to buy a 17-85 IS lens, but now its still pretty pricey. I'm new to lenses, so I don'y know whether their price drops too like the cameras?

If yes, can I expect the price of this lens goes to $400 or lower, maybe next year?

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There seems to be a huge difference between Germany (480 euros) and The Netherlands (580 euros). I think you can expect a price drop to about 450$, I guess. That would be an appropriate price for this lens.

DSLRs are replaced by new models more often than happens with any lens. Lenses tend to be more of an investment than DSLRs because lens design and manufacture is a 'mature' technology whilst DSLRs are a 'young' technology.

Just look back at the leaps in lens design and features in the last few years - for Canon these have been AF, IS, and DO since the introduction of the EF mount. Now compare the number of advances in EOS bodies in the same period - and in the DSLR era.................
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Paul

.. a drop in price of Canon newly introduced lenses from their introductory price. Such lenses are the 17-40L, 70-300DO, 17-85, etc.

However, I have seen an increase in price of previously established lenses such as the 50mm f/1.8, 24-70, 70-200L f/2.8IS, 100-400L etc. mostly, I'm guessing due to the loss of the value of the dollar.

Olga

They go quickly, no suffering...

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David

Yes, lens prices fall very quickly.

Buy a 24-70 f/2.8L in Australia for $AU2500, then travel to the US and it is instantly reduced to $AU1500

Same for any other photo gear. On average, prices fall by 40% as soon as you travel to the US.
Interesting phenomenon.
Will B

I got one for $464 in December. The price of this lens has already come down quite a bit in the last 3-4 months.

By the end of this year, I wouldn't be surprised if it goes down to the $400 range where the EF 28-135 IS is currently selling at. It might also qualify for triple rebates next time which may lower the resale value a bit more.

Don't think of lenses as an investment in terms of the resale value. Think of lenses as investments in terms of the photos you will take using them...

In general the price of a new lens won't drop much over time. There may be an initial drop in price if a manufacturer grossly miscalculated the price. But 17-85 has been out for a while now. I would not expect a significant price drop in the next couple of years. The only thing I see dropping the price of this lens would be if Canon for some reason decides to abandon the 1.6x sensors used in the 20d, 350d and 300d. In which case, the cost of that lens will drop because it's useless on a camera with a larger sensor (well, it will work but there will be vignetting).

Heck, even lenses that are getting replaced don't tend to fall in price much - typically the replacement just comes in at a higher price - a benefit of keeping inventory levels low and tight lips on what replacements are coming

Can anybody explain this phenomena: price difference for photo equipment in the US and the rest of the world?

will baillieu said:

Yes, lens prices fall very quickly.
Buy a 24-70 f/2.8L in Australia for $AU2500, then travel to the US
and it is instantly reduced to $AU1500
Same for any other photo gear. On average, prices fall by 40% as
soon as you travel to the US.
Interesting phenomenon.
Will B

Click to expand...

thats similar in the UK... e.g. a lens of £1000 in the UK would be priced as $1000 in the US, no difference between the lenses at all but price is somewhat massively different. same digits on price tag but exchange rate, and VAT litterely rapes our walets over here. sounds like a trip to the USfor a 'dirty weekend' of lens buying!

Alexander Belokurov said:

Can anybody explain this phenomena: price difference for photo
equipment in the US and the rest of the world?

Click to expand...

selfish taxmen?...

Lenses do drop, alas, usually onto a concrete sidewalk or into a lake.

As for prices, there are adjustemnts from time to time, but a huge closeout markdown is indeed rare. Canon apparently prefers a rebate program (but good luck getting your check).
--
When I ask which Canon lenses are best,
people tell me to 'go to L.'

It depends on the market and what currency you are paying in! More generally, in Austaralia at least, when a lens is first released it seems to go for pretty close to the manufaturer's list price (ie extortionate!) Then over time, once the intiital demand for a new lens falls off, the retailers start to discount from this Canon listed price. I think on more competitive markets such as the US, the discount on the recommended price starts almost instantly that the lens is released.
--
Some of the least worse of my photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/susans/

Alexander Belokurov said:

Can anybody explain this phenomena: price difference for photo
equipment in the US and the rest of the world?

Click to expand...

Principal difference would be due to taxes/tariffs and little else, unless you're in an obscure/remote region, where shipping cost and/or supply/demand would play an increasingly significant role. Most commonly, though, it's down to taxes/tariffs.

icmp

Alexander Belokurov said:

Can anybody explain this phenomena: price difference for photo
equipment in the US and the rest of the world?

Click to expand...

Prices even tend to be lower in the US compared to Japan, where most of the stuff is made. But the reasons are quite obvious:

1. Distribution costs from manufacturer to the store are lowest in the US. (big issue in Japan, maybe in other non-US countries too)

2. As someone else mentioned, US won't have nearly as much in taxes and tariffs (not an issue in Japan)

3. For stores where consumers buy lens, the property and building costs are far cheaper in the US than Japan and most European countries. Big mail-order stores in the US will have even lower in-store costs.

4. Cost of labor is far cheaper in the US than Japan and Europe. Compared to Europe, electronics store clerks in the US don't view their jobs as something to aspire to with respect to a lifetime career, nor a real good way to support a family. While in Japan, labor costs are simply high no matter what. In the US, the jobs are "stepping stones" towards something a little better, thus the labor costs are valued accordingly.

Remember, all of the above things affect the final cost of any camera lens and body. Every time any of those costs go up, so must the final price of the lens.

So any time you want to complain about why lens cost 1.5x-2x more in Europe, complain to your local government that you or your neighbors elected to make more economic growth-friendly laws, lower taxes, and otherwise stop doing things to increase the cost of photography in your area.

Too many people blame Canon for price differences across the world, but its really a purely locally induced problem.

icmp said:

Alexander Belokurov said:

Can anybody explain this phenomena: price difference for photo
equipment in the US and the rest of the world?

Click to expand...

Principal difference would be due to taxes/tariffs and little else,
unless you're in an obscure/remote region, where shipping cost
and/or supply/demand would play an increasingly significant role.
Most commonly, though, it's down to taxes/tariffs.

Click to expand...

There's no tariffs on imports to Australia from the US.

We just have a National 10% Goods and Services Tax, that is all (similar to 8% Sales Tax in NY State)

Add shipping to the cost of a lens from Canon Wholesale in the US, plus the GST in Australia and there is no excuse for anything over 12% above US retail. In fact we are charged closer to 40-50% higher here.
That's why I shop on-line. We are being treated like idiots by Canon.
I feel sorry for retailers in Australia. They look like chumps.
Will B

icmp said:

icmp

Click to expand...

He asked a valid question in a lens forum, so if you were being sincere, fine. I just doubt it, given your posts of late. I can understand the responses to the 30D rumors, etc, but why to this?

-Kones
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if you're being sincere I apologize.
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http://www.adamkoniak.com/pics/rear_view.jpgi

While distribution costs in Australia will be a bit higher per unit (the Australian distributor will fixed costs of advertising etc which will be split over many fewer sales than in a big market like the US or Japan) and we have intrinsicaly higher transport costs - a product of geography and labour market conditions, much of the diference is likely to be due to the partial monopoly power that Canon has over its sales.

Being in a relatively uncompetitive market in Australia, facing a relatively inelastic price elasticity of demand (ie demand doesn't change so much as price changes), they can charge a higher price to maximise their profits. In the US, with lower costs and a more competitive culture at the retail level, elasticity of demand is almost certainly higher and so it maximises their profits to sell more units at a rather lower price- if they increase prices in that market they lose too many sales. And by manipulating warranties they will try to keep the different markets with different price elasticities of demand separate. In other words, Canon Australia charge higher prices because it makes them more profits! If Australians voted with their wallets and refused to pay the higher prices then it wouldn't pay Canon to charge these prices.

The interesting question then, would be why the market in the US is more price responsive - my guess is that as a percentage, more of the market in the US (and Japan) is made up by wealthy amateurs, whereas in Australia most of the demand for L glass (where the price differential is largest) is from the professional market - who (a) have to have these tools of the trade and (b) can write of the cost of the lens as a tax deduction and are thus less price sensitive in their demand.

Of course increasing use of online purchases makes this market separation harder for them to enforce, and one would expct the price differential to break down as the markets are no longer so easy to segment. And interestingly, the price differential between the US and Australia for the newer EF-s lenses has been rather less than for some of the similarly priced older lenses.
--
Some of the least worse of my photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/susans/