Canon 'L' Lens Prices

[smurfster]

I was looking at buying the Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM II Lens a couple of months ago at a price of £1800 but the same retailer now has it listed at a whopping £1985 - almost £200 more! The cheapest I can find it is from Amazon at the rather strange price of £1902.58 (prices from camerapricebuster.co.uk).

I guess my question would be - why do these lenses go up in price the longer they have been released? Is it to do with availability? And should I have any reason to believe it will return back to £1800 at some point in the near future or should I buy it now before it goes up even further?

All those with crystal balls, please reply and put me out of my misery!

[Manfred M]

I guess my question would be - why do these lenses go up in price the longer they have been released? Is it to do with availability? And should I have any reason to believe it will return back to £1800 at some point in the near future or should I buy it now before it goes up even further?

There are many factors that affect the price of equipment; if something is selling well, the supplier has no incentive to drop the price, whereas if there is plentiful inventory, then the price may have to be dropped to move something that is not selling. The f/2.8 70-200mm pro lenses are a great money maker for both Canon and Nikon, so why would they discount them?

The other issue is that the manufacturers and distributors are always reacting to cost pressures. If raw material or production costs go down (something that rarely happens on a mature product), the product could be discounted, and while development and tooling costs are amortized over some period, tooling does wear out and ongoing engineering changes will occur during the production cycle, so these costs are built into the cost of the lens.

The third main variable is the international exchange rate; camera components as well as the final products are manufactured off-shore, so they are subject to currency fluctuations. I don't know how the Japanese Yen is performing agains the Pound Sterling, but that is part of the pricing puzzle as well.

All those with crystal balls, please reply and put me out of my misery!

Crystal balls tend to be very murky at best; you always take a chance with them. As a general rule, outside of a major economic downturn, prices tend to trend up, not down...

[deetheturk]

Hi Sam, UKBnS on ebay are selling this lens for £1,640 with free deliv,hope this helps!

[HaseebM]

I have bought three L lenses over the past year or so and the prices of all these three have gone up by about $100 each. I guess exotic glass is not easily available and I don't see prices dropping any time soon. If you see a good bargain, take it.

[Donald]

It may not make much sense at the time of having to hand over all that cash, Sam, but the thing to remember is that your 'Ls' will pretty much maintain their price. So, if like me, you have a less-than-convinced partner to persuade, you just tell her/him that you're not actually spending money, your just diverting it to another use in order to gain some pleasure that will make you nicer to live with and that you'll get your money back if you ever need it.

It doesn't really work, but it salves my conscience.

[Kaye Leggett]

Donald, I like your style - does it work with other items too ? I usually put my expenditure down to trying to keep up with the boyz when it comes to toys

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Sam,

I recently purchased a Nikon lens, the price of which, on Amazon UK has varied from approx. £600 (at lowest) to (at highest), some £680 over the months of 2013. Prices often went up and down a bit daily (sometimes hourly).

I had decided I wanted to wait until it was around 600 again before buying, after weeks being at 660, then 640, it dropped to 608 and I clicked and now have a new 'toy'

One more thing, for something this expensive, I paid a bit extra to buy it from Amazon themselves, not a re-seller - because if things go wrong (e.g. with delivery), it can take a lot longer to sort out if a reseller is involved.

HTH,

[Colin Southern]

Just a word of caution ... if you've found a place that's cheaper than the rest, DO YOUR RESEARCH FIRST -- lots and lots (and lots more lots) of scammers out there - especially on eBay & craigslist.

[Geoff F]

How does £1458.95 suit you?

From Simply Electronics.

But they do ship from Hong Kong. However, I have used them a couple of times with no problems except for a long delivery period. Not sure about guarantee though; but I did purchase a Canon camera from a Gibraltar company and that guarantee was valid.

Gibraltar is in the EU so that may make a difference.

Expect prices to increase as Christmas approaches then drop again in February.

[smurfster]

Thanks for all the replies. I am kicking myself for not splashing out when the price was relatively low. I was particularly hoping to buy this lens before the end of the cashback window but seeing as this closes in around 2 weeks, I don't foresee the lens dropping significantly in that timeframe

Dave - I do the same! In fact, I stalk Amazon prices a lot. It's not just camera gadgets that prices fluctuate wildly for, over the days/weeks/months. A good tip is to leave items in your "saved for later" basket and purchase when there is a price drop. It's a great way to get gifts cheaply if you plan ahead!