# Lens deals suddenly dry up



## rlarsen (Mar 29, 2014)

As someone looking to save on a 70-200 f2.8 ll, the recent 20% midnight sale was a cruel tease. Suddenly it seems like all lens deals are gone, prices are up. We're told discount pricing will be stopped by Canon.
What's going on ?

I'll wait. A week, a month, six months ? I'm just going to wait. List prices are pretty damn high if you ask me.


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## Ruined (Mar 30, 2014)

Generally lens deals go hand-in-hand with the end of each quarter... To maximize quarterly profits

Essentially, the idea is that lens prices stay high at most times for professionals, who need may need a lens TODAY because they broke one of theirs. They cannot wait for a lens deal, they need to replace their broken lens. Canon makes more money on that sale than if they lopped $300 off the MSRP.

However, at the end of each quarter - and especially the end of the year - lens prices drop very low to entice people to buy who might not usually, and hence maximize profits.

So I would say June 2014 for some similar deals you saw in March 2014, then you will see huge deals in Nov-Dec 2014.


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## EricFiskCGD (Mar 30, 2014)

rlarsen said:


> As someone looking to save on a 70-200 f2.8 ll, the recent 20% midnight sale was a cruel tease. Suddenly it seems like all lens deals are gone, prices are up. We're told discount pricing will be stopped by Canon.
> What's going on ?
> 
> I'll wait. A week, a month, six months ? I'm just going to wait. List prices are pretty damn high if you ask me.



Where did you see these deals? I would like to know so I can book mark that site and lurk periodically around the dates Ruined suggested.


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## Jrnation109 (Mar 30, 2014)

EricFiskCGD said:


> rlarsen said:
> 
> 
> > As someone looking to save on a 70-200 f2.8 ll, the recent 20% midnight sale was a cruel tease. Suddenly it seems like all lens deals are gone, prices are up. We're told discount pricing will be stopped by Canon.
> ...



This site... they always post deals on the home page when they are announced.


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## slclick (Mar 30, 2014)

They extended the 20% Refurb sale another two days, go to CanonPriceWatch.com and setup a notification.


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## Steve (Mar 30, 2014)

rlarsen said:


> As someone looking to save on a 70-200 f2.8 ll, the recent 20% midnight sale was a cruel tease. Suddenly it seems like all lens deals are gone, prices are up. We're told discount pricing will be stopped by Canon.
> What's going on ?
> 
> I'll wait. A week, a month, six months ? I'm just going to wait. List prices are pretty damn high if you ask me.



Buy used. Ebay completed listings show that the 70-200 2.8 IS II is averaging around 1900-2000. There's your 20%. 

I'll be honest, I don't really understand buying most of this stuff new unless you've got money to burn. The only advantage is the warranty which is for all of one year and after that you're on the hook for repairs anyway. And as far as I can tell, the vast majority of in-warranty repairs are for manufacturer defects which are going to have already been detected and dealt with, presumably, by the time it goes up on ebay or wherever. Maybe you have to buy new, official stock for CPS or something? I don't know how that works since my gear isn't cool and new enough to apply.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Mar 30, 2014)

rlarsen said:


> As someone looking to save on a 70-200 f2.8 ll, the recent 20% midnight sale was a cruel tease. Suddenly it seems like all lens deals are gone, prices are up. We're told discount pricing will be stopped by Canon.
> What's going on ?
> 
> I'll wait. A week, a month, six months ? I'm just going to wait. List prices are pretty damn high if you ask me.


 
Check out Canon Price Watch. Look at the graph of lens prices below the lens you want. Notice a trend??

Spring and Summer is the high season for lenses, and years end is when Canon reduces inventory due to the end of their Fiscal Year. Last year was a terrible year for lens and camera sales. Prices reflect this. 

I see no end of quarter price drop pattern.


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## rlarsen (Mar 31, 2014)

I'm troubled by the high prices for upgraded lenses. Canon improves their 24-70 f.8 and the prices jumps about $1000. The 16-35 ll and 70-200 2.8 ll zooms had similar huge price increases. As sensors improve and more people use bodies with full-frame sensor the optical shortcomings of lenses is revealed. Why should the consumer pay so much more for those shortcomings to be corrected ? I used to think my 16-35 2.8 lens was fine until I put it on a full frame body. I'm unimpressed now as I realize the lens really isn't that good. An improved lens replaces it and the price increase is huge. Same with other lenses. Now when there is a sale or a rebate the common reaction is "oh what a good deal !" I suggest those discounted prices are much closer to what the lens should be selling at in the first place. $7300.00 for a 300 f2.8 ! Are you kidding me ? $11,500 for a 400 f2.8 ? $2,500.00 for a 70-200 f2.8 ll ?

I think sales, rebates and refurbished pricing set equipment prices at little closer to the appropriate amount and reveal just how much the stuff is marked up.

soft lens $1,200, improved sharp lens $2,250 .....it's crazy 

I'll wait for the price reduction


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Mar 31, 2014)

The high prices for new lens models is the same as most other products.

Products have a life cycle, and the high initial price is to recover the investment in tooling, and because people will pay more. As a product matures, prices drop, cost to produce drops, and demand drops.

With Camera lenses, improving a lens means more exotic glass, tighter tolerances, and usually more lens elements which also affects prices.

Check out something like new car prices. When they first come out, prices are much higher than last years model, but by the end of the year, there are big sales and the selling price is much lower.


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## Steve (Mar 31, 2014)

rlarsen said:


> I'm troubled by the high prices for upgraded lenses. Canon improves their 24-70 f.8 and the prices jumps about $1000. The 16-35 ll and 70-200 2.8 ll zooms had similar huge price increases. As sensors improve and more people use bodies with full-frame sensor the optical shortcomings of lenses is revealed. Why should the consumer pay so much more for those shortcomings to be corrected ? I used to think my 16-35 2.8 lens was fine until I put it on a full frame body. I'm unimpressed now as I realize the lens really isn't that good.



Generally, lenses perform better, not worse on a full frame vs a crop sensor. Maybe you meant at higher resolutions imperfections are more noticeable? Even then, that does not make the older lenses defective in any way just because you have more pixels to peep.



rlarsen said:


> An improved lens replaces it and the price increase is huge. Same with other lenses. Now when there is a sale or a rebate the common reaction is "oh what a good deal !" I suggest those discounted prices are much closer to what the lens should be selling at in the first place. $7300.00 for a 300 f2.8 ! Are you kidding me ? $11,500 for a 400 f2.8 ? $2,500.00 for a 70-200 f2.8 ll ?



I agree that prices for new lenses seem pretty crazy and I'll never be able to afford most of the new, high end glass but the costs haven't actually changed much over the years. The 70-200 f2.8 IS vII is currently at $2500 but if you adjust for inflation its actually a slight bit cheaper than the vI was when it was released in 2001 for $2000. 



rlarsen said:


> I think sales, rebates and refurbished pricing set equipment prices at little closer to the appropriate amount and reveal just how much the stuff is marked up.



That could be. I have a feeling there is a lot more room to move on gear prices and I have a feeling (completely unsupported by any evidence at all, of course) that there is probably some price collusion going on between the major camera manufacturers to keep prices for first party gear artificially high. The point, though, is that the increases you see often aren't increases or are much less of an increase than they look like because of how separated in time the upgrades are. Everything gets more expensive, you just don't always notice it unless there is, like, a decade between iterations.


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## rlarsen (Mar 31, 2014)

I don't believe lenses perform better (optics)on a full-frame sensor.
I was happy with my 16-35mm on my 1D mk lln but after using it on my 5D mklll it was clear to me why it was upgraded.
If gear wasn't marked up so high how can companies offer the occasional sales they do without losing money ?

When I purchased an EF 400 2.8 years ago it was $7500, it's now almost $12,000. Yikes !


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## rlarsen (Apr 2, 2014)

Overnight the refurbished 70-200 2.8 ll from Canon increased in price $400.
I can't but wonder the cost vs profit range for lenses. When the price was reduced I presume Canon still made a profit.


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