Canon says preorders for the Canon EOS R5 and Canon EOS R6 have exceeded expectations

[BeenThere]

This is probably a very silly question but why would orders exceeding expectations affect supply?? Surely the number of units being produced and shipped to retailers was a fixed number controlled by current conditions long before any orders were made and even if numbers could be adjusted between the announcement on 09/07 and the 30th of July, having too many orders wouldn't have an effect on what could be produced??

I can understand and it makes sense that too many orders would mean some people will be disappointed as initial supply is limited & the last paragraph sort of says this.

Am I missing something?

You are correct. There appears to be some confusion between ”supply” and “availability”.

 

[pmjm]

This is probably a very silly question but why would orders exceeding expectations affect supply??

It really should say "initial supply." When you manufacture a flagship like the R5/R6, you want to estimate supply and overproduce by a certain number (the exact percentage varies based on the company and product), let's assume that in normal circumstances you overproduce by 25%. So now you have 125% of expected demand hitting the market. If your preorders met expectations perfectly, your retailers would immediately fulfill 80% of their initial shipment (100 divided by 125 = 80) and have the remaining 20% of units in stock to fill new orders until the next shipment.

But now, preorders greatly exceed what you've manufactured. You ship your 125% but it turns out demand was actually 150% of what you estimated. Now your entire production run is already sold and there are still preorders unfulfilled. Those unlucky preorders have to wait for the second manufacturing run and anybody new who wants a unit does too. It also makes it much more difficult to predict subsequent demand to calculate the size of that second batch.

 

[pmjm]

then be ready to get back to business once there’s either an effective treatment or vaccine available.

Or do all your portraits with the socially-distant 600mm f/11!

 

[SecureGSM]

Or do all your portraits with the socially-distant 600mm f/11!

Wide open. Oh, wait

 

[Starting out EOS R]

It really should say "initial supply." When you manufacture a flagship like the R5/R6, you want to estimate supply and overproduce by a certain number (the exact percentage varies based on the company and product), let's assume that in normal circumstances you overproduce by 25%. So now you have 125% of expected demand hitting the market. If your preorders met expectations perfectly, your retailers would immediately fulfill 80% of their initial shipment (100 divided by 125 = 80) and have the remaining 20% of units in stock to fill new orders until the next shipment.

But now, preorders greatly exceed what you've manufactured. You ship your 125% but it turns out demand was actually 150% of what you estimated. Now your entire production run is already sold and there are still preorders unfulfilled. Those unlucky preorders have to wait for the second manufacturing run and anybody new who wants a unit does too. It also makes it much more difficult to predict subsequent demand to calculate the size of that second batch.

I'd love to know what the initial numbers are as my retailer says I am 5th on their list of orders so I have a nasty feeling I may not get one of the 1st tranche as I think numbers will initially be quite low even though my retailer is a reasonable size.

 

[Hanley]

I don't see the R5 as a legitimate successor of the 5D Mark IV, because it is not as DSLR and therefore should be a lot cheaper.

Sadly those high preorder numbers mean that the high price of that camera is okay. That makes a price drop unlikely for quite a while.

Canon said it was a successor to the 5D, however, I'm now starting to think they may have cocked up a little here, they clearly didn't check in with you first to see if you agree. That could backfire on them once you tell everyone the truth!!!

 

[Skyscraperfan]

Canon said it was a successor to the 5D, however, I'm now starting to think they may have cocked up a little here, they clearly didn't check in with you first to see if you agree. That could backfire on them once you tell everyone the truth!!!

A successor should always be an upgrade, but if you take away the mirror, the optical viewfinder and a lot of battery life, that is a big downgrade.

 

[StevenA]

Canon said it was a successor to the 5D, however, I'm now starting to think they may have cocked up a little here, they clearly didn't check in with you first to see if you agree. That could backfire on them once you tell everyone the truth!!!

Where did Canon say it was the successor? If they did, they're giving mixed messages. Check out the thread "R5 NOT replacing 5DmIV?" in the EOS bodies forum.

 

[Nick L]

I am really impressed with the spec of the R5, I am not really interested in video, like others I have probably shot an hour or two on my 5D in 7 years, I may wait for the high res version that is sure to come later this year or early 2021.

I am interested in an R5 or the R5s but come on Canon UK this camera is very overpriced in the UK, in the USA with say 7% tax the camera is $4172 dollars, whilst in the UK using a $1.25 exchange rate means the UK camera in £5271 dollars, I agree the US market is huge but this is not right.

I have never bought from the grey market but I suspect I will later this year as the R5 does look like the best so far!!!

 

[Jstnelson]

I just received an email from Amazon with a delivery update on my R5

August 11th-September 3rd

I ordered a minute or 2 after it was listed on Amazon.

 

[StevenA]

I just received an email from Amazon with a delivery update on my R5

August 11th-September 3rd

I ordered a minute or 2 after it was listed on Amazon.

Hmm. I ordered from Amazon about 5:05am on the morning of release. I just checked and I don't have an email like that. I went to Amazon's website and checked my order history and it still shows a release date of July 30. There is now a button that says 'change shipping speed', which I clicked and it presented me with a window with a single choice to confirm 2 day shipping (prime membership).

Seems like I'm good to go? Are you a prime member?

 

[Jstnelson]

Hmm. I ordered from Amazon about 5:05am on the morning of release. I just checked and I don't have an email like that. I went to Amazon's website and checked my order history and it still shows a release date of July 30. There is now a button that says 'change shipping speed', which I clicked and it presented me with a window with a single choice to confirm 2 day shipping (prime membership).

Seems like I'm good to go? Are you a prime member?

Yea, I'm a Prime member with 2 day shipping as my speed. Mine still shows it will be released on July 30th but my delivery date went from "We'll email you when we have an expected delivery date" to "August 11th-September 3rd"

 

[Jstnelson]

Yea, I'm a Prime member with 2 day shipping as my speed. Mine still shows it will be released on July 30th but my delivery date went from "We'll email you when we have an expected delivery date" to "August 11th-September 3rd"

My BG-R10 Grip still shows:

Pre-ordered
We will email you when we have an estimated delivery date.

R5 shows:

Arriving Aug 11 - Sep 3

 

[StevenA]

Yea, I'm a Prime member with 2 day shipping as my speed. Mine still shows it will be released on July 30th but my delivery date went from "We'll email you when we have an expected delivery date" to "August 11th-September 3rd"

I still have "We'll email you when we have an expected delivery date" .

I don't know whether to read your update as bad or good. I mean at least you have a timeframe.

 

[Jstnelson]

I still have "We'll email you when we have an expected delivery date" .

I don't know whether to read your update as bad or good. I mean at least you have a timeframe.

True, I can deal with August 11th but if it's September 3rd or later I dunno if I'm gonna last that long lol

 

[lac__]

I just received an email from Amazon with a delivery update on my R5

August 11th-September 3rd

I ordered a minute or 2 after it was listed on Amazon.

Same here, except I didn't pre-order until yesterday (7/13) night. Status changed to August 11 - Sep 3 a few hours ago.

 

[pmjm]

Yea, I'm a Prime member with 2 day shipping as my speed. Mine still shows it will be released on July 30th but my delivery date went from "We'll email you when we have an expected delivery date" to "August 11th-September 3rd"

I got an email from them giving me the same window. I placed my preorder within the first 10 minutes.

 

[Patlezinc]

Even Canon France is indicating « out of stock »...
i dont think Amazon will be the first to be served anyway. I took mine in a photo store. fingers crossed

 

[Paul Nordin]

Whelp. I pre-ordered the R5 kit at 5:05am on release morning. Hopefully most people just went for the body so my order won't be affected.

For everyone that didn't order early looks like if you wanted to it may be next year sometime before you get it.

I just checked and my order is timestamped at 5:01am. So now you'll know who to blame if you don't end up in the first wave! LOL

 

[Kit Lens Jockey]

I got an email from them giving me the same window. I placed my preorder within the first 10 minutes.

Good to know, thanks. We'll see. Hopefully they are just sandbagging the delivery dates. But 5% off a $4000 camera is not a small amount of cash, so I'm content to wait a little while if that's what it takes.