Will increased importation costs increase cost of photography gear?

ferjphoto

ferjphoto

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More and more companies are finding that the costs of importing containers and ordering in from outside the UK is rapidly increasing post brexit.

Do you think we are going to see an increase in the price of cameras, lenses etc because of this? I've just bought a lens (only a cheap Canon 24mm stm) that I'd have probably put off a few months, because I can see things starting to get expensive!

This isn't a brexit thread, what's done is done, more about the financial implications for photography!
 
It is hard to tell long term; after all these things are coming in from East Asia and not the EU. There is a lot of mess at the moment. If you tried to buy almost any PC component, well you pretty much can't, and same was true back in December.

I think long term you need to be considering the implications of RF mount gear on the older EF counterparts. I believe you are also still with the old system. The time is coming when you will have to put everything into 2 groups a) unique, top performance, etc and b) average, mediocre and take it from there.

Now the EU made tripods are / will be a different story for 2 reasons. The prices are already almost double and may get worse before they get better.

Probably if you find something nice for a really good price just go and get it. You can't really go wrong with it.
 
I'm no expert, in fact I know precious little about the new EU rules but as Wuhan says most of this stuff comes from the Far East and I can't see that anything will change as we have done several trade deals outside the of the EU import/export regulations. As far as I know the UK HMRC have put in rules that say European businesses trying to sell stuff to us have to collect any taxes at their end and then give it to us but the HMRC charge these businesses £185 (I believe) to register themselves with us. Many of the trade deals that we had via the EU have been honoured now we've left, in addition, we have a trade deal with Japan which is the first deal that is not a leftover from the EU.

It will all sort itself out but there may be a little pain until it is. The EU are not sitting in their ivory towers gloating as many of their members are feeling the pinch when it comes to selling stuff to the UK. Remember, we have a lot of people here that buy a lot of stuff and a lot of it comes from the EU. They may be getting p***y with us for the moment but they would be cutting off their noses to spite their faces unless we all agree to something. I believe it will happen this year.
 
How many Cameras/Lenses are made in the EU???

Les :)
 
The costs of container shipping are global, not EU related. Unless they come down quickly then the costs will be passed on to consumers
 
Lez325 said:
well out of my price and comfort zone- I will stick with SONY :)
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I think the costs involved at present are beyond what most people can afford, especially for the big, prime lenses and pro bodies and if the costs continue to rise then something has got to give.

I bought my 500f4LIS in 2006 and it cost £4299, to replace it today it's £9319, same situation for my 1Dmk3, in 2008 it cost £2500 and to replace it today you are looking at a 1DXmk111 at £6500, it's just crazy.

So there is no way I could afford to replace my kit at todays prices and that is before any future importation costs.
 
I think you would have had your head buried in sand not to see this coming . The fly in the ointment is the fact that for whatever reason empty containers are being left behind at docks .
 
Rides and Rambles said:
Do you think we are going to see an increase in the price of cameras, lenses etc because of this? I've just bought a lens (only a cheap Canon 24mm stm) that I'd have probably put off a few months, because I can see things starting to get expensive!
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I think prices have been heading steadily up over the last few years - as manufacturers chase profits from a lower volume. My observation is that the market for lenses has shifted and is more "up market" than it was 20 years ago.

I can't see Sterling (or the Euro or the Dollar for that matter) not becoming lower against currencies in the Far East. So that means general price pressure upwards from that.

Manufacturers and their distributors can also be tenpted to exploit a market that is less open to increase margins. But these days it's relatively easy to import grey market product from HK so that sets some sort of limit to how far they can push that.
 
I bought a new Sony camera/lenses just before Xmas as I was concerned that we may have had a no deal and the £ would have collapsed. However the £ is much lower against the Yen than in the past so prices have been rising. I do not think that this is related to imports from the EU at all. We have already a trade deal in place with Japan so possibly prices could reduce a little. My intention of buying before Xmas was just in case of No deal but I wanted the kit anyway though it will not get a lot of use until Lockdown eases. The price of the kit I bought from WEX is currently identical to the price I paid in early November.

Dave
 
Grey imports carry their own risk.
 
Maybe EU based importers/distributors of Far Eastern stuff will have cost increases when shipping to U.K.?

Maybe heightened activity by the Revenue and shippers as a result of having to check EU imports will ’catch’ the HK scofflaws?
 
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Rides and Rambles said:
More and more companies are finding that the costs of importing containers and ordering in from outside the UK is rapidly increasing post brexit.
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Nothing to do with Brexit but absolutely everything to do with short term profiteering / greed by the carriers.
We're expecting to see pricing come down significantly to normal levels post CNY & into March/April.
 
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NeilA1975 said:
Nothing to do with Brexit but absolutely everything to do with short term profiteering / greed by the carriers.
We're expecting to see pricing come down significantly to normal levels post CNY & into March/April.
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Due to Brexit there are now fees where there were none before. These fees from our government are not going to disappear in a few months and thus additional cost to the courier and the cost to us will stay.

I don't see how it will magically come down after a few months?
 
The Weasel said:
I think the costs involved at present are beyond what most people can afford, especially for the big, prime lenses and pro bodies and if the costs continue to rise then something has got to give.

I bought my 500f4LIS in 2006 and it cost £4299, to replace it today it's £9319, same situation for my 1Dmk3, in 2008 it cost £2500 and to replace it today you are looking at a 1DXmk111 at £6500, it's just crazy.

So there is no way I could afford to replace my kit at todays prices and that is before any future importation costs.
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The days of non pro`s buying pro gear new are finished unless they have a very good job.

For non pro`s there are still lots of good options, in the last year i bought a a7r3, 1dx twice and 1dx mk 2 twice. All used and for less than the price of the 1dx mk 3 new that you quoted.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Due to Brexit there are now fees where there were none before. These fees from our government are not going to disappear in a few months and thus additional cost to the courier and the cost to us will stay.

I don't see how it will magically come down after a few months?
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im referring to freight costs from the Far East which have nothing to do with Brexit.
 
NeilA1975 said:
im referring to freight costs from the Far East which have nothing to do with Brexit.
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Flying stuff is always dear, I got two things from Japan off eBay and they were here within the week. I'd be more worried about arbitrary flight bans to deal with so called "new strains" than Brexit - unless you shoot Phase One, Leica or Hassleblad most of it comes in from China, Japan and Taiwan and costs the same as it always did.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Still, I would argue the operating cost of the business has gone up and they would not lower it after it has gone up.
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I’ve been in the business 25 years plus....the costs we’re seeing now are unsustainable for carriers and business ...they will come down.
 
NeilA1975 said:
I’ve been in the business 25 years plus....the costs we’re seeing now are unsustainable for carriers and business ...they will come down.
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As a consumer, I hope you are right.

We will find out I guess, but I really don't see how in the current climate (pandemic and economic downturn), with everything getting more expensive, why they wouldn't keep the price they charge the same for more profit.
 
supply and demand luv , as prices rise demand goes down ,a lot of peeps are also buying duet be stuck at home once there back at work the novelty will wear off . demand drops as do prices
 
fujilover said:
The days of non pro`s buying pro gear new are finished unless they have a very good job.

For non pro`s there are still lots of good options,
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I'm not a pro, I have made a few quid doing running photography but stopped doing that as it was far too much work, tagging race numbers, for the return.
I have a couple of corporate clients that I do occasional work for which is enough for me.

I've always bought good kit though, now have the R5 with 5 RF lenses (35mm 1.8, 50mm 1.2, 15-35mm 2.8, 70-200 2.8, 100-500mm 5.6-7.1)
I guess I would class myself as having a good job, quite high disposable income, but I don't drink, I don't smoke, drive a Volvo :ROFLMAO: and I wouldn't say we're lavish with our lifestyle.

I could easily manage with some lower end kit but we buy what we can afford with most things in life and I'm just grateful that I can afford to buy the RF lenses, but I do always buy grey which has worked out well for me, even with my recent problems with the R5 which was repaired by Canon UK for £500+ and refunded by E-Infinity.
 
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I expect prices to continue to rise, not because of increased paperwork and transport costs but because imported goods are paid for in other currencies, usually either the US dollar or the Euro, and I expect the value of the £ to continue to drop.
This process started on the day of the referendum result and now that we've actually left, I expect it to get worse.

Brexit benefits UK exporters (and wealthy brexiteers who've moved their operations to the EU) but has had the opposite effect on importers and their customers.
 
Hanley said:
I'm not a pro, I have made a few quid doing running photography but stopped doing that as it was far too much work, tagging race numbers, for the return.
I have a couple of corporate clients that I do occasional work for which is enough for me.

I've always bought good kit though, now have the R5 with 5 RF lenses (35mm 1.8, 50mm 1.2, 15-35mm 2.8, 70-200 2.8, 100-500mm 5.6-7.1)
I guess I would class myself as having a good job, quite high disposable income, but I don't drink, I don't smoke, drive a Volvo :ROFLMAO: and I wouldn't say we're lavish with our lifestyle.

I could easily manage with some lower end kit but we buy what we can afford with most things in life and I'm just grateful that I can afford to buy the RF lenses, but I do always buy grey which has worked out well for me, even with my recent problems with the R5 which was repaired by Canon UK for £500+ and refunded by E-Infinity.
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Hanley said:
I am waiting to buy the RF 85mm f/1.2 but I'm holding off, probably until later in the year, to see what happens with Brexit etc.
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Golly gosh, just looked up the prices of Canon RF cameras (always been a Nikon person myself), and I thought my camera gear was expensive (when I bought it).

On the subject of EU exchange rates, I have looked back at the last year and they have barely changed and since BREXIT £/Euro rates they have actually gone up a little, same with the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen.
 
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ShinySideUp said:
Golly gosh, just looked up the prices of Canon RF cameras (always been a Nikon person myself), and I thought my camera gear was expensive (when I bought it).

On the subject of EU exchange rates, I have looked back at the last year and they have barely changed and since BREXIT £/Euro rates they have actually gone up a little, same with the US Dollar.
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That's true of the last year and the last month, but the Trump situation has caused the dollar to fall temporarily, and what really matters is the devaluation since the referendum, and what happens in the future, all of which is just educated guesswork at the moment.
 
Not sure if this is brexit related but I just set up a new iPad for a friend and chose English as the language ... the next screen suggested Germany as the country, otherwise scroll through the list to find U.K., down the bottom as usual. What do Apple know that we don’t? :).
 
ShinySideUp said:
Golly gosh, just looked up the prices of Canon RF cameras (always been a Nikon person myself), and I thought my camera gear was expensive (when I bought it).

On the subject of EU exchange rates, I have looked back at the last year and they have barely changed and since BREXIT £/Euro rates they have actually gone up a little, same with the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen.
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Yeah they're not cheap.
I'd built up my kit over the course of a couple of years (5D Mark IV and some good EF L lenses), I also had some Fuji kit as well.
So I sold all that to help fund the R5 and RF lenses. Expensive but the quality from the RF glass is amazing.
 
sphexx said:
Not sure if this is brexit related but I just set up a new iPad for a friend and chose English as the language ... the next screen suggested Germany as the country, otherwise scroll through the list to find U.K., down the bottom as usual. What do Apple know that we don’t? :).
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How to put countries in alphabetical order...
 
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