Are camera/lens/flash prices likely to come down soon?

cambsno

cambsno

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Simon
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Yes
I am amazed at how prices have increased over the last few months.

The SB600 nikon flash is now over £200, I got mine delivered with 4 rechargeable batteries, charger and delivery for £145 at the end of September. I did have the opportunity to buy a Tamron 9mm 2.8 macro around then for about £230, now I would need to add another £100.

Do people think prices will come down anytime soon? Is this purely down to exchange rates? I dont have anything major in mind to buy, aside from a d400 if and when it arrives.
 
Depends when the shops get rid of there old stock they bought at the higher prices. Like most things prices go up, but when the price comes down, they are very slow to change the prices. Will be awhile before we're paying sensible prices again. Camera prices haven't been hit as much as lens prices, even secondhand market prices have increased.

2 Example of lens price increases bought by friends because of :nuts: £

canon 400mm f2.8 £4500 (new) current price £6800 (new)
canon 400mm f4 DO £2700 (new) current price £4300 (new)
 
pete.rush said:
Depends when the shops get rid of there old stock they bought at the higher prices. Like most things prices go up, but when the price comes down, they are very slow to change the prices. Will be awhile before we're paying sensible prices again. Camera prices haven't been hit as much as lens prices, even secondhand market prices have increased.

2 Example of lens price increases bought by friends because of :nuts: £

canon 400mm f2.8 £4500 (new) current price £6800 (new)
canon 400mm f4 DO £2700 (new) current price £4300 (new)
Click to expand...

To buy the 400mm f2.8 in the states would cost you, £4209 at today's exchange rate, 1.64$ to the £ At Cornwall cameras they are asking £6800.
For years now manufacturers, have called the UK treasure island,
Because the can charge whatever they like, and get away with it. And we have little chance of changing that.
 
Even when you add in 15% tax and Import Duty on lenses (6.5%) to the cost of your lens (£4209) its nowhere near £6800 price currently being charged in the UK. Ripoff Britain at it's best.
 
<3 Kerso :)
 
Gerods said:
To buy the 400mm f2.8 in the states would cost you, £4209 at today's exchange rate, 1.64$ to the £ At Cornwall cameras they are asking £6800.
For years now manufacturers, have called the UK treasure island,
Because the can charge whatever they like, and get away with it. And we have little chance of changing that.
Click to expand...

at that price it would be worth going over to collect the lens and save on the duty
 
Maybe this used to be Treasure Island, but much less so now. The internet has seen to that, most people are aware of international prices and not afraid to import stuff themselves if needs be, with the help of a lot of eager traders that have popped to service this new business. Ask Jessops :eek: Most stuff has an international warranty that is respected.

I'm not worried about trading internationally, if the price is right and the dealer is reputable (a big if, that last one, certainly a common risk) but I don't want to get clobbered with duty and VAT, which is pretty much unavoidable these days, and shipping usually kills most deals in the final analysis.

I think prices are coming down, certainly not going up, although there is natural reluctance to drop them quickly. I bought a Canon 70-200 4 L IS from Kerso a couple of weeks ago, for £799. It's currently $1025 at B&H in New York and after duty, VAT and shipping, that comes to almost exactly the same figure. But the same lens bought through official UK channels is still around £950 (www.camerapricebuster.co.uk) which is not as good as it should be.

But I do think that retailers are still playing games. What is it with these discount codes that people like Jessops, Jacobs, PC World etc offer, for nothing more it seems than a) knowing the discount is there, and b) searching it out on the internet. Jacobs for example are offering £50 off for purchases over £800, and pro rata for other amounts. Do they offer this to you automatically in store? I think maybe they don't. Why not? In which case they are just profiteering on customer ignorance.
 
HoppyUK said:
...But I do think that retailers are still playing games. What is it with these discount codes that people like Jessops, Jacobs, PC World etc offer, for nothing more it seems than a) knowing the discount is there, and b) searching it out on the internet. Jacobs for example are offering £50 off for purchases over £800, and pro rata for other amounts. Do they offer this to you automatically in store? I think maybe they don't. Why not? In which case they are just profiteering on customer ignorance.
Click to expand...

Profiteering on people being lazy or just not knowing... quite sad actually!
 
HoppyUK said:
Maybe this used to be Treasure Island, but much less so now. The internet has seen to that, most people are aware of international prices and not afraid to import stuff themselves if needs be, with the help of a lot of eager traders that have popped to service this new business. Ask Jessops :eek: Most stuff has an international warranty that is respected.

I'm not worried about trading internationally, if the price is right and the dealer is reputable (a big if, that last one, certainly a common risk) but I don't want to get clobbered with duty and VAT, which is pretty much unavoidable these days, and shipping usually kills most deals in the final analysis.

I think prices are coming down, certainly not going up, although there is natural reluctance to drop them quickly. I bought a Canon 70-200 4 L IS from Kerso a couple of weeks ago, for £799. It's currently $1025 at B&H in New York and after duty, VAT and shipping, that comes to almost exactly the same figure. But the same lens bought through official UK channels is still around £950 (www.camerapricebuster.co.uk) which is not as good as it should be.

But I do think that retailers are still playing games. What is it with these discount codes that people like Jessops, Jacobs, PC World etc offer, for nothing more it seems than a) knowing the discount is there, and b) searching it out on the internet. Jacobs for example are offering £50 off for purchases over £800, and pro rata for other amounts. Do they offer this to you automatically in store? I think maybe they don't. Why not? In which case they are just profiteering on customer ignorance.
Click to expand...
Very good point regarding the Internet. But unlike you and me who will buy internationally, there are millions in this country that couldn't or wouldn't do it. and these are the people that are being taken advantage of.
 
Gerods said:
Very good point regarding the Internet. But unlike you and me who will buy internationally, there are millions in this country that couldn't or wouldn't do it. and these are the people that are being taken advantage of.
Click to expand...

Yes, true. We tend to go for the soft option on convenience rather than price. In which case, we get what we deserve.

But it's much better than it used to be. I was working in the motorcycle industryabout ten years ago when the market suddenly boomed with born again bikers who were being royally ripped off by UK importers. A top end superbike was about £8k, yet you could get a parallel import from Holland or Ireland for £5k. The car market was in a similar situation.

I found myself in a very unpleasant position with Honda UK, who were leading the charge on behalf of Yamaha, Suzuki etc. It would have been funny if it wasn't so heated and acrimonious - spitting blood they were - because you could buy identical bikes much cheaper, but not from them. The true irony of it for me was that these bikes that were coming in through "unofficial sources, illegally, and not to UK spec" were in fact perfectly legal and to 100% UK spec. Indeed they were being supplied by the Honda factory, with mph speedos and lights dipping to the left which is unique to the UK. Now why would a Dutch or Belgian dealer want hundreds of bikes like that? And why would Honda/Yamaha/Suzuki want to supply them? Money is very persuasive ;)
 
cmon were better than alot of countries :) im writing this from nevis (small caribean island) where there charging me just over 20 pounds for a A4 photo print - no better quality than the 70p prints from dsc colour labs :crying::( i hate being ripped off :(:(
 
fallen_mathi said:
cmon were better than alot of countries :) im writing this from nevis (small caribean island) where there charging me just over 20 pounds for a A4 photo print - no better quality than the 70p prints from dsc colour labs :crying::( i hate being ripped off :(:(
Click to expand...

Yeah, the price of good ganja these days.
 
I've bought quite a few things from the States over the last few years (not photographic) and never got clobbered for duty until the last time. The duty was only £4 something but Royal Mail put an £8 charge on top of that for collecting it.
 
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