How do Canon's pricing tiers work with new models?

Question

When a new model of a particular class of Canon camera comes out, will it be introduced at the same price as the model it replaces, or will it be more costly?

Apple do this with the Macs - they update the specs but keep the price points fairly static relative to the previous model.

I'm wondering about this specifically because the Canon 60D should be announced pretty soon, but the currently available 50D is within my price range. I'm sort of concerned that if I wait, the 60D will bump up out of my price range and it will be hard to source a 50D.

Answer 1

This answer is specific to prices in the US. EU/AUS/CAN/JAP etc all pay much higher prices for camera gear, and as I only buy gear in the US, I can only answer about US prices.

In general prices of the refresh of Canon models in the same family, will stay the nearly the same. You may see some decrease in prices by $100 or so, but overall they're about the same.

You can expect the 60D to retail for about what the 50D retailed at when it was announced.

However, now that the 50D has been out for a while, it's street price is lower than retail/MSRP.

So, yes, the 60D will not be retailing for what you can get a 50D for--though there is a possibility that the 60D will be highly in demand, and you might even have to pay more than MSRP to get one.

The upside is that if the 50D has the features you want, you will be able to pick up a new 50D for a really good price.

Answer 2

It depends on the equipment. Anecdotally:

• cameras usually come out near the same price point as the model they're replacing (the 30D, 40D, 50D, etc were all about the same price at release)
• lenses often increase in price. A good example is the new 70-200 f/2.8L IS, which was recently updated. The new model has a price that is several hundred dollars more expensive than the previous version.

Another thing to consider is that if the 50D is adequate for your needs, you will find that the price on a 50D will likely drop somewhat once the 60D is announced. If you don't mind waiting, you can probably get a 50D at a lower price.

Answer 3

Components get cheaper to produce, and knowledge from previous models can be reused, so newer models with more features tend to be priced about the same. Producing a new model isn't so much about putting as much features in it as possible, but to choose the features that can be produced at the selected price.

Also, competing models in the same segment from other brands affect the price. If the price of a new model is much higher than the previous model, some customers will look at alternatives in a different brand. This helps keeping the prices at the same level over time.

Answer 4

It's hard to know exactly how a new product launch will affect existing products, but you can make an educated guess. Canon's got a number of product lines ranging from entry-level Rebels to advanced Rebels to the 40D/50D/60D to the 5D/7D and finally the 1D. Any new product launch has to fit in that spectrum somewhere, and it's either going to crowd out an existing product or fill a perceived gap in the product line.

Based on this, Canon occasionally allows a couple of cameras in one product segment - at least for a while. The Rebel XS and XSi were both available for a while, and right now you see the T1i and T2i available at the same time.

My guess is that there isn't enough room in between the 50D and the 5D/7D for a new camera, so I'd expect the 50D to go away shortly after the 60D is rolled out. As others have pointed out, though, this could be an excellent time to pick up a 50D on sale.