Are you fed up with the ever increasing cost of Canon gear?

MikeJ9116 wrote:

Sittatunga wrote:

MikeJ9116 wrote:

Sittatunga wrote:

MikeJ9116 wrote:

Sittatunga wrote:

MikeJ9116 wrote:

Everybody Canon has always milked buyers for as much as they can for their medium to upper tier products. What they are doing now isn't new to them. A lot of people complain about the high prices and then give them their money for overpriced gear. It is a cycle that has gone on for the past 100-150 years.

I'm not completely convinced. The 80/20 rule says you get 80% of the result for 20% of the effort, hence the good value of the medium to lower tier products. It's the final 20% that represents 80% of the cost and effort.

Pentacon tried something better but I would have hated living in the DDR. So did the USSR, but with very little incentive for quality assurance or stock control or improvements. A functioning market might have either changed that or killed the industry.

I think Canon's medium tier is mostly over priced too. Many things run in cycles. Political systems, Sun cycles, seasons etc.

We all have different priorities and different ideas of what things should cost. But it's the stuff pulling up in warehouses that's overpriced, not the stuff that's in short supply.

Overpriced is overpriced. Short supply just makes it more overpriced.

The prices too high for you and your perception of what the products are actually worth.

Perception of worth of a product is always part of the process of what one thinks is proper pricing. Each person has their own perception.

I have that problem with Apple. But that's my problem, not theirs and it didn't stop me recommending an iPhone to my sister.

It can be their problem. If enough people think their price is too high then they won't sell enough of their products. Most companies like to gouge the people who have to be early adopters. People who wait a while usually can get substantial discounts for their patience.

That's a general rule of the market. It's nothing to do with anything being overpriced.

The R5 and R6 are too expensive for me, but that doesn't make them overpriced, it's just that they are more capable than I actually need. Maybe there's a bubble, in which case it will burst sooner or later. But it's the stuff piling up in warehouses and the August Bank Holiday Sale prices still being advertised near mid-September that are the real indicators of overpriced goods.

I can afford any MILC Canon makes but I am also pragmatic with what I purchase. This is not only for cameras but products in general. I don't care how Canon prices the R3 because it is a camera I have zero interest in buying. It could have a price of $1,500 and I still wouldn't buy it. There is a saying.... "Those that use cutting edge technology has a wallet that bleeds a lot." The fact is that very few people need cutting edge technology. Even professionals. I am grateful for these people though because they allow me to get this technology for greatly reduced prices over time on the used market.

IMO, the reason the R6 and R5 prices are remaining high is because Sony hasn't released the A7/4 yet. When they do Canon will likely do a big price drop on many products from the R5 and down. If you remember, Canon dropped the prices of the 5D/4 and especially the 6D/2 right after the A7/3 launched.

I didn't remember, so I looked it up. The alpha 7III launched here in March 2018. The big price drop for the 5Div was fifteen months earlier at the beginning of 2017 from £3580 to £2750. There was another drop to £1470, but that was in May 2020, 26 months after the Sony launch, and it's gradually crept up again to £1830. The 6Dii was definitely overpriced at £1999 at launch, because two months later it dropped to £1700 in August 2017, declining to £1300 by October. It was £1200 at the Sony launch, six months later, and took another six months to get to its lowest ever price of £950. It's now £970.

How many of those price movements were due to Sony?

I expect the A7/4 is going to be quite a camera. It will likely have a 30+ mp fast readout sensor with excellent DR, and excellent AF, burst rates, battery life etc. I also think its menu system will be greatly improved as will its handling. It will be priced like the R6 but be a heavy competitor to the R5. I suggest you hold on to your money until the A7/4 is released.

Spoken like a true Sony fan.

Like I said, many people complain about price then their consumerism instinct combined with marketing manipulation prods them into paying more than they think they should. Canon has become a master at overpricing, market manipulation and at times limiting supply to drive up prices even further.

Can you give any specific instances?

You are an example with your recommendation of an iPhone to your sister. Although you did not buy the iPhone directly you did this by proxy.

That is not a specific instance of Canon overpricing, manipulating the market or limiting supply to drive up prices even further. It looks like an attempt to divert the argument.

Or are you confusing them with Leica? I can understand Leica limiting supply, it's what exclusivity is all about, but how does limiting supply help Canon's aim to be the biggest seller in the market?

Canon is a savvy marketer. In a fast shrinking market, limiting supply helps keep prices up and, more importantly, profit margins.

It does nothing to increase their market share though, and Canon are trying to get out of the fastest shrinking sector of the market and into the one sector that's still developing.  Shortages of lenses, adapters and bodies won't help that, so we can safely assume that they're not deliberate.

I am not singling out Canon here either. Plenty of companies do the same. This is why I hardly ever become an early adopter of anything.