Photographic anomalies
Discussion
A rather random title.
As a Canon user vaguely looking for something I stumbled across an eBay auction for a Canon 70-200 f2.8 AF IS II lens that was of some interest since I own one.
The list price is around £2k new. Used one might have expected to pay around £1.4k or a little less for a good example reflecting the typical "High Street Price" minus an amount for wear and tear - assuming an averagely used lens that presents well.
When I say "presents well" I own one that is several years old, has been out in all weathers, has never been molly coddled in any way and externally looks like it has just been unboxed. It's a superb lens by any standard of measurement.
So, a good investment, right?
Yet an example of this lens has just sold on eBay for £1,022.
In theory that is an absolute bargain.
What, if anything, does this tell us about the state of the dSLR market (this being a relatively large and heavy lens that may not be attractive to the mirrorless crowd) and the state of the photography market in general?
As a Canon user vaguely looking for something I stumbled across an eBay auction for a Canon 70-200 f2.8 AF IS II lens that was of some interest since I own one.
The list price is around £2k new. Used one might have expected to pay around £1.4k or a little less for a good example reflecting the typical "High Street Price" minus an amount for wear and tear - assuming an averagely used lens that presents well.
When I say "presents well" I own one that is several years old, has been out in all weathers, has never been molly coddled in any way and externally looks like it has just been unboxed. It's a superb lens by any standard of measurement.
So, a good investment, right?
Yet an example of this lens has just sold on eBay for £1,022.
In theory that is an absolute bargain.
What, if anything, does this tell us about the state of the dSLR market (this being a relatively large and heavy lens that may not be attractive to the mirrorless crowd) and the state of the photography market in general?
tog said:
Nothing. It's £1500 new in the UK, probably less if you get a grey import one, so I certainly wouldn't pay over £1k for a private ebay purchase from an unknown vendor.
True,£1499 at WEX - quite a bit less than the last time I checked the price there.
Strong pound or weak market?
Elderly said:
tog said:
Canon dealers here get their stock from Canon Europe in Holland, so probably the former.
But I presume that Canon Europe pay for their stock from Japan in Euros and we all know the plight of the Euro.http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/ is always worth a nosey, pretty much every camera follows the same trajectory with a few months at 'full' price to maximise profit whilst the early adopters are happy to pay. Lenses follow a similar pattern but tend to hold their original price a little better, presumably because they aren't quite as susceptible to replacement as much as a body.
Thom Hogan has been tracking reported sales volumes for a while and sees a weak market trend.
http://www.dslrbodies.com/newsviews/the-malaise-co...
I would imagine that several main factors influence the market - possibly including saturation and the ability of smartphones to satisfy the expectations of many casual users.
Whether it might be possible to be more precise about which factors most affect which sections of the market is another matter.
Perhaps we are simply seeing the real market potential re-emerge after a bubble of people converting from analogue to digital as digital became affordable.
I also wonder whether the bubble included people who liked the idea of instant results that digital offers and invested more than they would have considered if only analogue was available only to discover that their interest was, perhaps, not as strong as they thought at the time.
If so now is probably the time that those buyers will be moving on and selling off unused kit, so potentially depressing used prices as well as not being players in a market for new kit.
In turn that may mean that "investing in glass" is not quite as good a theory as it once was, although still more sound than investing in camera bodies!
http://www.dslrbodies.com/newsviews/the-malaise-co...
I would imagine that several main factors influence the market - possibly including saturation and the ability of smartphones to satisfy the expectations of many casual users.
Whether it might be possible to be more precise about which factors most affect which sections of the market is another matter.
Perhaps we are simply seeing the real market potential re-emerge after a bubble of people converting from analogue to digital as digital became affordable.
I also wonder whether the bubble included people who liked the idea of instant results that digital offers and invested more than they would have considered if only analogue was available only to discover that their interest was, perhaps, not as strong as they thought at the time.
If so now is probably the time that those buyers will be moving on and selling off unused kit, so potentially depressing used prices as well as not being players in a market for new kit.
In turn that may mean that "investing in glass" is not quite as good a theory as it once was, although still more sound than investing in camera bodies!
Recently got a new Nikon body, expecting a big leap in most functions but in reality my old body is almost as fast, and gives almost as good results in most conditions. A lot more mega pixels but the trade off is huge file size, colours are better straight out of the camera but nothing that wasn't easy to tweak post processing. Faster autofocus and more focus points all good but not really that necessary most of the time. Guess the newer cameras are entering the world of diminishing returns, nobody needs 36 mega pixels or 51 focus points.
tog said:
Nothing. It's £1500 new in the UK, probably less if you get a grey import one, so I certainly wouldn't pay over £1k for a private ebay purchase from an unknown vendor.
Agree - mine was a grey import from HDew (a new lens either works or it doesn't so I don't mind an import) - they currently sell this for £1,300 with a non-Canon warranty: http://www.hdewcameras.co.uk/canon-ef-70-200mm-f28...Currys did a flash sale a few weeks back - I remember as I was very tempted. If I remember rightly the price was about £1200-£1300 - of course UK stock.
Edited to add:
http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/Canon/Canon-EF-...
The price at Currys was £1200.
Looking at it that way, someone selling second hand for more than 80% of that price represents a strong second hand market. As always with Canon stuff, you get a better deal when the item's been out for more than a year.
Edited to add:
http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/Canon/Canon-EF-...
The price at Currys was £1200.
Looking at it that way, someone selling second hand for more than 80% of that price represents a strong second hand market. As always with Canon stuff, you get a better deal when the item's been out for more than a year.
Edited by JustinP1 on Saturday 1st August 10:25
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