Canon Cannot Keep Screwing It's Customers Over

[Don Haines]

Investment time... Canon comes out with  the 5D III. Person A invests in the camera body, in ten years time the camera has gone from $3500 to being sold used for $200

Person B invests in $3500 worth of beer, drinks it all, and throws the empties in the garage. in ten years time the empties are worth $500.......

Moral of the story, beer is a better investment than digital camera bodies.... So go make that higher return investment and have a merry christmas

[rpt]

Investment time... Canon comes out with  the 5D III. Person A invests in the camera body, in ten years time the camera has gone from $3500 to being sold used for $200

Person B invests in $3500 worth of beer, drinks it all, and throws the empties in the garage. in ten years time the empties are worth $500.......

Moral of the story, beer is a better investment than digital camera bodies.... So go make that higher return investment and have a merry christmas

Now! You tell this to me now? Not in April when I was about to pull the trigger? Man! I lost $300 in 2022 already!
 

That is brilliant! You are very funny.

[Krob78]

Investment time... Canon comes out with  the 5D III. Person A invests in the camera body, in ten years time the camera has gone from $3500 to being sold used for $200

Person B invests in $3500 worth of beer, drinks it all, and throws the empties in the garage. in ten years time the empties are worth $500.......

Moral of the story, beer is a better investment than digital camera bodies.... So go make that higher return investment and have a merry christmas

So I invested $1800 in my 7D almost 3 years ago, made $20,000 dollars with it and now may sell it for $1,000... So did I loose $800 with it or profit and make $19,200 with it? 
Ya, it was a good investment.. short term, not long term... And way more fun than a CD or Mutual Fund!

So I invested in a 5D MK III... see how that investment works out in the short term... oh, plus I wrote off the entire 7D...   Seems better than twinkies and beer!

[StepBack]

As an investor one should know something about pricing and marketing and not act so naive. BTW, when Christmas rolls around the stores have an incentive to lower prices.

[dan]

If you are an early adopter, you will get burn with price.  That is a fact of life, regardless of what industry you are buying stuff from.  In the electronic industry, you will get double burn because things advance so quickly in this industry compare to any other.

If u dont want to get burn, dont be an early adopter.  Wait 6 months or a year.  It is not the end of the world if u dont have the latest gadget.

[HurtinMinorKey]

The notion of Canon screwing its customers over is laughable.  Are they forcing anyone to buy their products? Did they fail to meet some agreement made at the time of purchase? Presumably, customers are willing participants in transactions, so we must assume that customers feel as if they are made better off by these transactions.

So unless you can claim that Canon has deliberately tried to deceive their customers, i don't see how you can claim that anyone is getting screwed over.

[bdunbar79]

The notion of Canon screwing its customers over is laughable.  Are they forcing anyone to buy their products? Did they fail to meet some agreement made at the time of purchase? Presumably, customers are willing participants in transactions, so we must assume that customers feel as if they are made better off by these transactions.

So unless you can claim that Canon has deliberately tried to deceive their customers, i don't see how you can claim that anyone is getting screwed over.

It's a larger problem of modern day society.  There is no accountability for one's actions and it's always someone else's fault.

[Krob78]

The notion of Canon screwing its customers over is laughable.  Are they forcing anyone to buy their products? Did they fail to meet some agreement made at the time of purchase? Presumably, customers are willing participants in transactions, so we must assume that customers feel as if they are made better off by these transactions.

So unless you can claim that Canon has deliberately tried to deceive their customers, i don't see how you can claim that anyone is getting screwed over.

+1  You got that right! 

It's a larger problem of modern day society.  There is no accountability for one's actions and it's always someone else's fault.

[rpt]

The notion of Canon screwing its customers over is laughable.  Are they forcing anyone to buy their products? Did they fail to meet some agreement made at the time of purchase? Presumably, customers are willing participants in transactions, so we must assume that customers feel as if they are made better off by these transactions.

So unless you can claim that Canon has deliberately tried to deceive their customers, i don't see how you can claim that anyone is getting screwed over.

+1  You got that right! 

It's a larger problem of modern day society.  There is no accountability for one's actions and it's always someone else's fault.

I can't believe we are still screwing around with this topic!

[rlarsen]

There are so many new cameras to choose from, and the internet makes finding and buying used gear convenient. Even finding discount pricing is fairly easy with online searches.

No need to get grumpy with Canon, there are plenty of options for the consumer and this website helps photographers make educated decisions.

Actually the price of quality, high-res, large file-size Canon bodies has come way down. Many photographers use them instead of really expensive large- format digital cameras.

For years I used 1-D MKll bodies. They cost just under $4000. My new 5D MK lll bodies are in many ways a hell of a lot better and cost less.

Thanks Canon.

( I do wish I had the option to pay less for cameras without video. I don't use it so I'm not thrilled about paying for that feature. )

[Faxon]

Well, I bought a few L series lenses a few years ago, and most of them have increased in value. It's the bodies that diminish in price. Naturally so, since the sensors keep getting better.  That's one of the regrets I have regarding digital photography. Back when I bought my first Nikon F, I felt it would always be there for me. It was. Right up to the point when I bought the Canon 20D.  I would never buy a Leica M9, since it will be worth quite a bit less in five years in my opinion. 
It's the nature of the technology. I wish I only had to buy new film to get the benefit of the latest technology. And my Nikon F made ME focus the lens.

[Radiating]

Well, I bought a few L series lenses a few years ago, and most of them have increased in value. It's the bodies that diminish in price. Naturally so, since the sensors keep getting better.  That's one of the regrets I have regarding digital photography. Back when I bought my first Nikon F, I felt it would always be there for me. It was. Right up to the point when I bought the Canon 20D.  I would never buy a Leica M9, since it will be worth quite a bit less in five years in my opinion. 
It's the nature of the technology. I wish I only had to buy new film to get the benefit of the latest technology. And my Nikon F made ME focus the lens.

The point is NOT that gear depreciates. This is a given and you have to accept that.

The point is that Canon is playing pricing games, like neither they nor Nikon has ever done before, and they are pricing their products 20% higher for the first 6 months than is "normal". This means your depreciation goes from 1% per month to 5% per month.

Nothing depreciates that fast. Not even a car when it's driven off the lot. It's mind blowing.

It's so crazy that it would almost as expensive to RENT the camera as to buy it. 

In fact if cars companies took pricing from Canon's recent products, you'd be paying $1,000 a month to lease the redesigned 2013 Honda Civic.

So it's not the depreciation, it's the incredible level of depreciation.

[kubelik]

It's so crazy that it would almost as expensive to RENT the camera as to buy it. 

In fact if cars companies took pricing from Canon's recent products, you'd be paying $1,000 a month to lease the redesigned 2013 Honda Civic.

if you were to "RENT", not lease, a Honda Civic ... it DOES cost you $1,000 a month.  in the real world.  what's the point here?

[agierke]

The point is that Canon is playing pricing games, like neither they nor Nikon has ever done before, and they are pricing their products 20% higher for the first 6 months than is "normal". This means your depreciation goes from 1% per month to 5% per month.

so don't buy a lens right when its released. wait til the price normalizes. its not that hard....

no one is forcing you to buy these products.

i never buy any product upon its release....ever. i wait, until prices drop and preferably when there are rebates available or a sale. its easy. try it.

[neuroanatomist]

...wait, until prices drop and preferably when there are rebates available or a sale. its easy. try it.

Meh.  It's much more fun to buy a product right when it's released, then when the price drops a few months later, go to an internet forum and bitch about how bad I got ripped off.