Hugely Disappointed In 5D III Price

[almograve]

Price in europe is 3999euro http://www.fotokonijnenberg.be/product/1631461/canon-eos-5d-mark-iii-body.html
It's 5299$ !!!!
are they crazy!

In (Finland) Rajala Proshop it's only 3799€ http://tinyurl.com/83cbsem For some reason they got 5D2 image for it :/ probably they going to change it soon.

Get yourself a nice airplan ticket to NYC with your girlfriend and a couple hotel nights. You'll enjoy NYC, a game at the Madison square garden and then you go to B&H and you buy everything you need. Overall you have spent the same amount of money and you are HAPPY.
That's what I do.

[GoldenEagle]

We, as consumers, should demand more.  I still maintain that the 5D3 should be <= $3k.  I'm not a professional, nor do I make big $$, so $3500 is a significant chunk of change for me. If I had a 5D2, I couldn't see myself justifying spending $3500 (+ tax) for the 5D3.  I currently have a 60D, and I've been looking to jump up to FF, but I'd rather get a budget FF (<$2k) with 3-4 fps, less sophisticated AF and AE, etc.; I may end up with a 5D2 assuming the price drops.

Sorry, while a nice sentiment, and perhaps even a popular sentiment, that's not how business works. Consumers don't get to set pricing based on what an item "should be". Pricing of a sole-source product is set by the seller based on what the market (as a whole) will bear. If all preorders are filled in days, the camera is out of stock, and then people are waiting until April/May for a 5DM3 body, Canon might learn that the $3500USD price was too low (from their perspective)!

As a consumer, all you can do is buy or not buy. Begging or wishing might get you some thumbs up on a forum, but will be largely ineffective with the seller.

For a lot of people, a used 5DM2 + a great lens (or 2!) is a far better use of funds.

[SwanSong]

huge corporations often hedge currency rates so not to disrupt pricing. I'm not sure if that is something practiced by Canon or Nikon but Car companies have been doing it for a long long time. That is how BMWs released in the mid 2000's did not see a relative price increase in the US even though the Euro had rallied more than 50% on the dollar during that time.

older article but i'm sure most of the principles still apply:

http://www.gocurrency.com/international-foreign.htm


I pre-ordered it this morning at Amazon, just in case Canon makes a price decrease or I decide to just bite the bullet. But I am leaning heavily to just buying a 5D2 with a 70-200 2.8: MKII and calling it a day.

[GoldenEagle]

This may have been a strategic move.  It opens up a huge price gap in the canon line that should be filled.

7D: $1700
next body
5DIII: $3500

Seems odd that canon would have a camera 20+ cameras priced up to $1700, then suddenly double the price before different body is offered.  Something is going to fill that gap.

The 5DM2 will stay in the product line, with a current street price of $2300 - $2500. So for the time being it will be "previous body" instead of "next body"...

[mjp]

It always amazes me the ignorance of some people. If you (OP and others who feel it is their right to tell people to 'shut up') don't care about the price, then hurry up to BH Photo or wherever, and pre-order. You just come across as an arrogant fool with a post like that.

I think the price is perfectly acceptable. The original 5D Mark II sold for around $2700 at launch (please confirm as I don't exactly remember), so an increase is not all that surprising seeing as it has been 3 years. The price will go down so I would try and be patient if the price bothers you.

Canon will sell truckloads at this price, so I'm sure they are not too concerned about a few who are upset at the current price.

[Wahoowa]

I thought the retail price of the old 5D Mark II would drop to $1999 as I thought the new 5D Mark III would be $2899. After seeing the price of the new 5D Mark III, I don't think the Mark II will be at $1999. I truly believe it'd be either $2299 or $2399.

[Axilrod]

We, as consumers, should demand more.  I still maintain that the 5D3 should be <= $3k.  I'm not a professional, nor do I make big $$, so $3500 is a significant chunk of change for me. If I had a 5D2, I couldn't see myself justifying spending $3500 (+ tax) for the 5D3.  I currently have a 60D, and I've been looking to jump up to FF, but I'd rather get a budget FF (<$2k) with 3-4 fps, less sophisticated AF and AE, etc.; I may end up with a 5D2 assuming the price drops.

Are you serious?!  This ISNT A CONSUMER CAMERA!  You "maintain that the 5D3 should be $3k" because that's the price limit you had set in your head and now you're disappointed that it's not.  I don't get it, there will always be stuff that people want but can't afford, but usually they just get the next cheapest alternative that fits their budget...but with this everyone is complaining and screaming about how it's not worth it. 

If you don't have the money, they make other cameras that do not cost $3500, I suggest you get one of those.  And you can say it's not worth $3500 all you want, but if the thing sells out obviously there are enough people that DO think it's worth it.

[meli]

We, as consumers, should demand more.  I still maintain that the 5D3 should be <= $3k.  I'm not a professional, nor do I make big $$, so $3500 is a significant chunk of change for me. If I had a 5D2, I couldn't see myself justifying spending $3500 (+ tax) for the 5D3.  I currently have a 60D, and I've been looking to jump up to FF, but I'd rather get a budget FF (<$2k) with 3-4 fps, less sophisticated AF and AE, etc.; I may end up with a 5D2 assuming the price drops.

Sorry, while a nice sentiment, and perhaps even a popular sentiment, that's not how business works. Consumers don't get to set pricing based on what an item "should be". Pricing of a sole-source product is set by the seller based on what the market (as a whole) will bear. If all preorders are filled in days, and then people are waiting until April/May for a 5DM3 body, we might learn that the $3500USD price was too low!

As a consumer, all you can do is buy or not buy. Begging or wishing might get you some thumbs up on a forum, but will be largely ineffective with the seller.

For a lot of people, a used 5DM2 + a great lens (or 2!) is a far better use of funds.

I doubt if its really "largely ineffective with the seller"; being the market how it is in both sides of the pond, the competition, and the premium for first time FFers (24-105 pack price, not even mentioning 24-70+grip+flash) i really cant foresee some great Q3-Q4 results for Canon with the current pricing policy

[jbwise01]

31 000 Swedish kronor

translated

4 654.805 U.S. dollars

While it seems simple to compare the pricing " injustice" by simply using an exchange rate, that is would be so far from how pricing is actually determined in different countries and markets. The USD price of the camera is based on US consumer purchasing power, the exchange rate and fair market value...

For those interested in market pricing strategy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchasing_power_parity

In Romania 16 000 RON means 3.680 EURO or 4.878 US$ ... so, jbwise01, just empty words

No... I am trying to explain that prices cannot be converted using the nominal exchange rate. Economics unfortunately is not that simple. If you want to know why prices have been higher in non US markets than the exchange rate would suggest.

Read this:
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2007/09/pdf/basics.pdf

The simple fact is this.. If non US consumers began purchasing a product priced under their local equivilant exchange rate conversion, the demand in the US would soar, Canon would then raise the US price to discourage arbitrage, or they would lower the prices in local markets until demand was more equal in all markets. Like all products, prices are based on supply and demand. The seller has some things on their side that would let the price stay at a high level longer than the demand vs. supply would suggest, but over tiem, the consumer has the leverage. If you want the price to drop, don't buy ituntil it is a price you think is fair.

[darrengreer]

Thanks for the feedback on those guys, I'll stay away from them.  I agree that the new price of the mark III is probably going to allow Canon to keep the mark II price up :/

[stu_cj]

It seems that the biggest talking-point about this new camera is the price and how many people will not pay it (along with how we get shafted in the UK )
I really can't see (unfortunately) any price-drop on the Mk2 as it will impact sales of those who were holding off to buy a Mk3 but who are now having second thoughts about it.
I wouldn't be surprised to see a price increase on the Mk2 actually to make people then think that they may as well splash the extra cash on the 3.

[iFugl]

I would be happy to pay $3500 for it, heck, even $4000.

Here in Norway, the price is 29.990,- which is exactly $5340

That just makes me sick!

[Studio B]

Everyone's so quick to express how displeased they are about the price. Do remember, among other things, that the sensor has been completely redesigned from the ground up.

Once we see images from actual users I believe opinions will change.

About the new sensor....

"The EOS 5D Mark III features a newly developed Canon full-frame 22.3 Megapixel CMOS sensor that?s designed from the ground up to create high resolution, perfectly detailed images with unprecedented speed and clarity. A full 24 x 36mm, the sensor captures 5784 x 3861 large individual 6.25 µm pixels and has a much-improved S/N ratio resulting in better images from the start. A new photodiode structure with an increased photoelectric conversion rate increases the sensor's sensitivity by approximately 2 stops over previous models, meaning higher ISOs with the lowest noise of any EOS digital camera. And a 2-line 8-channel simultaneous signal readout means speeds of up to 6.0 fps (RAW + JPEG) are possible!"

[AprilForever]

Here in the USA:

5Dmk III + 300 2.8 (my main lens) + 2x TC

THAT"S OVER 9000!!!!

[HurtinMinorKey]

The price relative to the d800 makes sense.  Canon won a lot of market share with the 5d mkII, so they figure they can price a camera which is the same overall quality(with different strengths) above the competition because of switching costs.  Canon must feel that 700 is less than the switching cost, and they are probably right.