Canon Price Increase?

Has anyone heard about a proposed Canon price increase on April 1? I have read this on two other forums and it seems a little early for an April Fools joke.Supposedly Canon and Nikon are planning increases.

Hi Larry,

Here in Canada Canon has announced a April 1 price increase on lenses. No mention of an increase on DSLR bodies, though.

Larry,

Unfortunately, the rumors of Canon and Nikon raising their prices are true. If you are planning to purchase some equipment, it would be prudent to do so before April 1st. Today, I visited Calumet Photo to purchase a lens for my my 5dmk2, and told the sales person that I would be back to the store to purchase another Canon item. He told me to make sure I did so before April 1st, because the item would increase $300. Wow!

I fail to see logic in that.... (not saying it's not true... just illogical) the economy is going down the toilet so increase prices?

How about giving us poor broke bastards a break and decrease prices, everyone knows we have no money anymore.

quijibo69 wrote in post #7571495
I fail to see logic in that.... (not saying it's not true... just illogical) the economy is going down the toilet so increase prices?

How about giving us poor broke bastards a break and decrease prices, everyone knows we have no money anymore.

Absolutely true. I believe that Canon thinks they know what they're doing, however, for me it works like this: Get a great deal, buy it. Have to pay a bit more, forget it. If prices go up at all I simply will not buy any new equipment; not even a lens cap!

Far too many business executives think that by raising prices they will be able to increase or maintain profits. Not true - raising prices results in a drastic decline in sales volume that cannot possibly be compensated for by the larger profits gained on each item sold.

I think this might have something to do with monetary exchange. The Yen is in pretty bad shape now but the U.S. dollar is doing much worse.

You're right about that Larry - I feel the same way you, but our "feelings" mean nothing against world economics. Check out this similar thread:

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=663005

Larry Weinman wrote in post #7572997
I think this might have something to do with monetary exchange. The Yen is in pretty bad shape now but the U.S. dollar is doing much worse.

quijibo69 wrote in post #7571495
I fail to see logic in that.... (not saying it's not true... just illogical) the economy is going down the toilet so increase prices?

How about giving us poor broke bastards a break and decrease prices, everyone knows we have no money anymore.

No money?

Most of the "What should my new lens be" threads in the Lens section are posted by you people in the States. It seems that cash grows on trees on your side of the pond

Unfortunately, that's what a lot of people thought in the past (and many still do), which is why we got the world in such a mess. I totally understand what you are saying!

scrumpy wrote in post #7573237
No money?

Most of the "What should my new lens be" threads in the Lens section are posted by you people in the States. It seems that cash grows on trees on your side of the pond

I guess that's going to push the used rates up as well. Guess I better get on the ball...

5Dmaniac wrote in post #7573408
Unfortunately, that's what a lot of people thought in the past (and many still do), which is why we got the world in such a mess. I totally understand what you are saying!

Sorry. It was meant to be a "tongue-in-cheek" remark

Tom Reichner wrote in post #7571658
Absolutely true. I believe that Canon thinks they know what they're doing, however, for me it works like this: Get a great deal, buy it. Have to pay a bit more, forget it. If prices go up at all I simply will not buy any new equipment; not even a lens cap!

Far too many business executives think that by raising prices they will be able to increase or maintain profits. Not true - raising prices results in a drastic decline in sales volume that cannot possibly be compensated for by the larger profits gained on each item sold.

You are ignoring the actual situation though.

Canon itself isn't raising prices, so far as I know. However Canon is in Japan so works in Yen.

The importers in our respective countries have to pay for the gear in Yen.

The Yen has become very strong in relation to your dollar, my pound etc. So, it costs the importer a lot more dollars (or pounds) to pay Canon the same amount of Yen. This means that the equipment becomes more expensive to buy.

The actual price increases, so far, are way below the actual difference that should have occurred with the currencies the way they are.

Therefore, either Canon has dropped it's prices in Japan to absorb some of the difference or the importers and/ or retailers are sucking up a big drop in profit margins. Quite possibly they are all working on tighter margins to keep the price rises that we see to a minimum. There simply are no "larger profits gained on each item sold" as you put it.

In order to keep prices where they were last year, everybody would be working to very small margins or even a loss.

Sure, Canon could keep prices where they were, by dropping the price from the factory by around 40% (roughly, I haven't done the math and it will be different according to where you live anyway). Could the company survive selling less equipment at 40% lower prices? I don't know, but it would be unlikely to make enough money to operate well (healthy R&D etc).

Canon is aware that it is going to be facing a downturn in sales, there's a global recession on, but they still have to make money on the stuff they do sell. Half last years sales at the same profit margin beats equalling last years sales at a quarter of the profit margin.

With the world recession as it stands, the company has to maximise it's profits in order to survive. Those profits are going to be thin for a while.

You say Canon thinks it knows what it's doing and imply that you know better. I'm sure Canon's bean counters have been poring over the figures very carefully to come up with a way of riding this recession out. Without access to all the numbers, how can you possibly claim that Canon is getting it wrong.

How much of an effect will this have on the used / 2ndary market. Suppose I want to buy a 40D new off a vendor on ebay; will there be price changes there? or here, after April 1st?

verdantsound wrote in post #7574215
How much of an effect will this have on the used / 2ndary market. Suppose I want to buy a 40D new off a vendor on ebay; will there be price changes there? or here, after April 1st?

There shouldn't be any instant changes with used gear, however buyers look at how much they are saving when buying used. So as new prices go up, they can drag used prices up a little too. With the secondary dealers who primarily sell on ebay (such as Kerso) it will depend on how much stock they have in. Once they need to buy in at the new prices, they will have to put up prices too, or face very thin margins. They may have more scope to cut margins than a big dealer though, due to minimal overheads.

However, Canon seem to be concentrating on keeping the bodies price increases down (possibly partly due to the normal tendency for a body price to fall over time, so that cancels out part of the rise). The lenses seem to be bearing the brunt of the increases. I suspect the idea is to keep the sales of bodies up to keep people buying into the Canon system.

I can see used lenses increasing in value, more than bodies, because of this. For example, my last lens purchase was a 300 f/2.8 at £2,950. A few weeks ago that price jumped to £3,700. If somebody was looking at the new/used decision prior to the increase, they may have been prepared to pay £2,450 for a used one and save £500. Any lower saving and it would be better to buy new, get the warranty etc. That same buyer now though, might be prepared to pay £3,000 for used and save £700 over new.

Another factor though, is that many people may wait to upgrade their body because of the price rises and general economy meaning there is less money available for such items. This may mean that the supply of used 40D bodies is lower and more people are looking to buy used to save money. Simple supply & demand will mean that they fetch more money.

In the short term, there aren't likely to be many bargains around. The global economy, as it stands, is doing very few people any favours (although UK exporters aren't too badly hit as the pound is really low, so their products have become cheaper when exported to Europe and the US).

Exchange rates fluctuate though and nobody can say where they will be in a few months time. It is possible the Japanese government will try and devalue the Yen, as Japan is very much an export economy and almost all their industry will be suffering from a high Yen. Equally, the dollar and Sterling may rally and close the gap the other way. If either / both happen then prices may drop again.

I am unlikely to be buying any big dollar items from Japan until the exchange rate improves (so no new big lenses for a while and intended body upgrades have been put on hold) although I will still buy smaller items (I've just bought a 2x TC for example).

Predicting future changes though is tricky and has a lot of variables. Short term, prices will rise, medium / long term they could go either way.

new price increase... same complaints...
I picked a good time to get into alternative gear.