Rising equipment prices

[StewartR]

Thought this might interest people. I have seven copies of the Canon 24-105L, each sourced at the most competitive price I could find from a mainstream UK retailer, and this is what I paid for them:

Dec '07 (2 copies) - £572
Jun '08 (2 copies) - £610
Aug '08 (2 copies) - £628
Nov '08 (1 copy) - £709

Ouch! I guess that's the combination of the credit crunch and the exchange rate in action. And no Canon cashbacks this autumn either.

[puddleduck]

I don't follow Canon prices so much.. but I've not really noticed an increase in Nikon lenses (thinking about the "trinity" ie 14-24, 27-70 and 70-200 VR) if anything now they are a bit more available prices have dropped.

[Marcel]

Thats a crapper of an increase :(

[whitey]

scary when you have notes of previous purchases. what it will do though it add alittle value to selling items not that you will be)

[nikontos]

It could be that particular zoom, as it is sold together with 5D, thus gaining much of attention and good reviews. I bought 70-200 IS f4, 10-22 and 85L last year and they are about the same price. 10-22 was down to £400 for a while but is now back to £470 again, 85L is some £40 more now. Also 100 macro is the same price, i have been checking prices for last 1.5 years on this one, as I needed to sell it, which I have done now. pitty for the cashback though, as I used it on 70-200. ps. i only have one of these left, the rest are sold with little lost, as I found them lacking (for me pesonally)

[jpwone]

Check the chart for the last 12 months USD/GBP and you will see how closely it mirrors the price increases you have seen.

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/fds/hi/business/market_data/currency/11/12/twelve_month.stm

The prices are moving in line with the exchange rate.

John

[SimonTALM]

must mean that the lens rental business is doing well ;)

[tdodd]

Price movements are charted (daily/weekly/regularly?) on Camerapricebuster for a ton of gear. Example for the 24-105 here...

http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/prod31.html

[StewartR]

must mean that the lens rental business is doing well ;)Not necessarily .....

Actually I really don't know. We haven't been operating for a whole year yet, so I don't have a fix on what the seasonailty patterns should look like. Demand has definitely dropped since the clocks went back at the end of October, but is that just ordinary seasonailty, the effects of the credit crunch, or what?

I might have an answer by this time in 2010, all being well.