Canon R3 vs. Nikon Z9 (Price)

aftab wrote:

Camera companies don't make much money from flagship bodies. So, Nikon can afford to price it at 5500/- USD. With this pricing, Nikon is mostly targeting existing Nikon DSLR users - Dx series users and D850 users. Nikon is also targeting those who have moved from Nikon to Sony and Canon, they are likely to have a soft corner for Nikon, so if anyone wants to switch back to Nikon by selling their Sony or Canon gears they will incur less loss. If this strategy pays off Nikon wins, it doesn't they don't lose much.

Canon could have done the same with R3, but they decided to be greedy. Based on the success of R5 and R6, they were confident and were more focused on short-term profit. Two developments probably took Canon by surprise. Canon was expecting an A9II upgrade from Sony, instead, they got A1. Canon was expecting Nikon to price Z9 around 6500/- USD or even higher. R3 is an awesome camera in its own right but given the competition, its price should be less than 5500/- USD. In the long run, this would have served Canon better.

But Canon has such a huge presence in the market that none of these probably matters. Or, maybe it does. Most people are still using DSLRs. When they move to mirrorless over the next few years, the price will be an important consideration.

The R3 is indeed an awesome camera.  The only significant missing features are a 40MP+ sensor and a second CFexpress slot. Otherwise, I'd argue that the R3 is otherwise superior to the Z9 (we'll have to see how AF compares.  I suspect the R3 will be marginally better).

Having said all that, what price should they have charged?  Given the next closest camera, the 1DX III, is priced at $6500, I think that $6000 was not an unreasonable price for a camera that is arguably superior to Canon's $6500 flag ship DSLR.  The Z9's price is simply disruptive.   Others have already stated it, but we're likely to see R3 discounts much sooner than expected and clearly before the R1 release. if the Z9 is as good as initial impressions suggest, it will be hard to justify even a $1000 premium over the Z9 without killer innovations.