Rumors > Lenses
Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L Officially Discontinued?
h4ldol:
--- Quote from: neuroanatomist on May 15, 2012, 04:33:25 PM ---I recall several threads from a while back with people saying they were waiting to buy the current 24-70mm because the release of the Mk II would drive the prices of the original down. I repeatedly pointed out that the exact opposite occurred with the 70-200mm II. Hate to say I told you so.....
--- End quote ---
Didn't the 70-200mm II have improved IS (one stop?) compared to the I? I think the issue with the 24-70mm II is that the main improvements are IQ, which have to be seen to be judged worth the huge price increase, whereas adding/improving IS or some other physical characteristic of the lens would be more tangible and result in larger demand for a much more expensive lens, thus decreasing rather than increasing demand/price of the previous version of the lens. If the 24-70mm II had been announced to have IS, I would guess that the prices of the 24-70mm I would be below MSRP right now, instead of $200 higher.
Myself, I tried ordering the 24-70mm I from several sources recently and still waiting on the companies' buyers to see if they can get some more stock or not... probably not, in which case I may just get it for above MSRP ($100 or $200 is really not a big deal in the scope of things).
DB:
--- Quote from: h4ldol on May 15, 2012, 04:13:24 PM ---I'm debating whether or not to buy the Mk1 for $1600 at Adorama/B&H, which is $700 less than the $2300 Mk2 but it feels lame since a couple months ago the Mk1 was $100-200 cheaper. With IS, $2300 would have been a no-brainer for me, or even $2400. But without it I'm less enthusiastic. Or maybe I'll buy the Mk1 to use this summer and just sell it in a few months and get the the Mk2 to replace it if it turns out to be significantly better than the Mk1.
Decisions, decisions...
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I bought the 24-70 Mk I last December from an online discount retailer based in Luxembourg for 1,029 euros and the price has been rising since January of this year, up to 1,160 euros (close to US$1500) now on eBay:
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/f-CANON-24-70mm-EF-USM-F-2-8L-GARANTIE-EUROPE-4-ANS-60D-600D-7D-5D-MII-1D-/180880818544?pt=FR_IQ_PhotoVideo_Photo_Objectifs_Zooms&hash=item2a1d564170#ht_5571wt_1396
The date code on my lens is UZ1119 (so November 2011), so quite recent, but the really strange thing is that I had to wait more than 3 weeks for delivery as they were out of stock and were awaiting a fresh delivery batch. The recent lens date code suggests that end-2011 demand was still very high, I especially was aware of this as I also tried to buy 'used' on eBay and elsewhere, but 7-year old 'well-used' copies were still fetching prices of 950 to 1,000 euros.
Still today, there are not many for sale in Ireland or the UK, and when they do come up for sale or auction, they invariably achieve almost new prices???
neuroanatomist:
--- Quote from: h4ldol on May 15, 2012, 05:04:04 PM ---Didn't the 70-200mm II have improved IS (one stop?) compared to the I? I think the issue with the 24-70mm II is that the main improvements are IQ, which have to be seen to be judged worth the huge price increase, whereas adding/improving IS or some other physical characteristic of the lens would be more tangible and result in larger demand for a much more expensive lens, thus decreasing rather than increasing demand/price of the previous version of the lens.
--- End quote ---
Probably irrelevant. 'Street price' is heavily influenced by supply and demand. Supply for the MkI has been tight lately (true for many lenses). It's evident that the Mk I will be discontinued at some point soon. The replacement is several hundred dollars more expensive, even compared to MSRP. But soon, you won't be able to get a new 24-70/2.8 cheaper than the street price of the MkII. Ergo, low supply + increasing demand = rising price. Even if the the changes to the MkII were basically nothing except the dramatically increased price, the impending unavailability of the MkI would drive up demand for the MkI, completely independent of the features of the MkII.
h4ldol:
--- Quote from: neuroanatomist on May 15, 2012, 06:55:54 PM ---But soon, you won't be able to get a new 24-70/2.8 cheaper than the street price of the MkII.
--- End quote ---
Um, are you really suggesting that at some point the Mk1 will cost the same, or even more, than the $2300 Mk2, purely based on supply-demand economics? That is so unlikely as to actually be preposterous. ???
No matter how low the supply gets, it would only get close to the price of the Mk2 if the Mk1 were considered a 'collector's item' (and Canon L lenses, great as they are, are not exactly collectibles... or at least when there is a newer version with the same basic specs) or superior in some way to the Mk2, which also seems rather unlikely. I doubt the Mk1, new, will ever get past $1800 because around that price point it is only $500 more to buy the newer, likely superior, Mk2 which also will have a higher resale value than the Mk1.
I'm assuming you didn't really mean quite what you wrote...
Forceflow:
--- Quote from: h4ldol on May 15, 2012, 08:55:54 PM ---
--- Quote from: neuroanatomist on May 15, 2012, 06:55:54 PM ---But soon, you won't be able to get a new 24-70/2.8 cheaper than the street price of the MkII.
--- End quote ---
Um, are you really suggesting that at some point the Mk1 will cost the same, or even more, than the $2300 Mk2, purely based on supply-demand economics? That is so unlikely as to actually be preposterous. ???
No matter how low the supply gets, it would only get close to the price of the Mk2 if the Mk1 were considered a 'collector's item' (and Canon L lenses, great as they are, are not exactly collectibles... or at least when there is a newer version with the same basic specs) or superior in some way to the Mk2, which also seems rather unlikely. I doubt the Mk1, new, will ever get past $1800 because around that price point it is only $500 more to buy the newer, likely superior, Mk2 which also will have a higher resale value than the Mk1.
I'm assuming you didn't really mean quite what you wrote...
--- End quote ---
Actually with the discontinuation of the Mark I and the delay of the Mark II this might really happen. If one NEEDS a 24-70 and the only few to be had are Mark I the price might indeed skyrocket up to (and in theory even higher than) the Mark II. It's the same reason why there is such a big market for black market ticket sales. If the tickets are sold out but you really, really want one you'll better be prepared to pay much more than the regular price.
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