Possible price drop on 5D mkII?

<p>I've looked through the forum threads, so my apologies if I missed something relevant.</p>

<p>My question is, given the economy and it's likely performance through the end of 2009, are we likely to see a price drop on the 5D mkII kits below the current $3499? Canon rebates? Dealer desperation?</p>

<p>I know that demand is still relatively high and that the $3499 is less than the initial price for the kit. Though I don't have a sense of the profit margin for prosumer/pro cameras.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

<p>I can say with absolute certainty the the answer is yes. When the price will drop and what it will drop to is a much tougher question to answer and anyone who tells you either of those things is just guessing.</p>

<p>I doubt there will be any huge price drop and I doubt that any price drop will happen soon. People are still lining up outside stores overnight in the rain to get one, so there's enough demand to keep the price at full retail (or even higher at some stores who are trying to sell them for a premium).</p>

<p>I beleive it's going to go up before it goes down, but it will go down. The reason I say that is that canon is updating all their prices to reflect the exchange rate (weak yen) so in effect we pay more on our end. But as soon as that stabilizes, and it looks like it is slowly, prices will go down as demand and hype go down. </p>

<p>Assuming you are in the US, the Yen is very strong vs. the Dollar, plus the 5D2 is selling like mad, so I'm fairly confident there will be no price drop for quite awhile, and probably not a significant price drop for a couple of years, maybe not till the camera is about to be replaced. There may be reasons to delay getting the camera, but price advantages are not among them.<br>

The above is strictly my opinion, but I'm pretty confident about it! Enough so that I ordered the camera Thursday night....</p>

<p>What Bob says. I'm guessing that with the Yen soaring, we'll be lucky not to see a price increase in the short term. If I didn't have a daughter in college, I'd be doing what Mike is.</p>

<p>The price of 5D mk II drops significantly during the last 2 weeks. Check this link: <a href="http://kakaku.com/item/00490111151/pricehistory/">http://kakaku.com/item/00490111151/pricehistory/</a></p>

<p>Quite interesting, particularly for those of us who are fluent and can read Japanese (NOT). However, it does show a price drop in the chart, <strong>but this is in Yen, not dollars</strong> , and may just reflect Canon's or the market's effort to keep the price steady in dollars, rather than having the dollar price rising with the Yen.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for the responses. Particularly the moving piece about exchange rates; that hadn't even crossed my mind.</p>

<p>I should've been more specific as to when a drop could occur. If I'm reading the answers above correctly, we're unlikely to see a decrease this calendar year or next. Does that jive with everybody's intuition?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>Exchange rates should not cross your mind.</p>

<p>Camera prices are set more by market demand than production cost. If they could sell the camera at the $4500 price point. . they would.</p>

<p>It will drop in price before the end of 2009 without a doubt. Past history shows all of these cameras drop in price as their lifecycle moves on. Past Canon lifecycle was 3 years for the 5D but that was before Canon faced any competition from Nikon. Nikon now has 3 FF cameras and will have D700x anounced by the middle of the year. Canon will respond either by shortening the lifecycle of the 5D and putting in more professional features in its replacement like weather sealing for the same price, or by cutting the price of the 5D and introducing a 3D above it at the current 5D price.<br>

I'd like to say Canon will introduce a digital Elan but that is what the 5D is, minus the affordable price tag.<br>

Also by mid 2009 the world economy will be soft as melted icecream, so prices will be cut.</p>

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