Lens price development tendencies?

I heard the 35/2 IS's price dropped nicely a while after introduction. - Is such common with EF glass or was it a unique thing to sell some lenses at all and be more competitive?

It is common with EF glass for the street price to drop significantly after introduction. This tends to occur to a greater degree with the consumer grade lenses than the Ls, but they too drop... just usually takes longer, but usually the price drop can be pretty significant depending on production volume and demand (for example the 24-70/2.8L II started at $2300 but now can be bought new for under $1700). Most of the lenses in the line have dropped significantly in price since their introduction, though some only minimally (like a 50/1.8 ;) ), and some of the most expensive not at all (think 500/4L IS II - my understanding is it was introduced at $8999, and still commands that street price new)

Marcus has it, I think.

Different classes of lenses have different price curves. The mass- and regular-production lenses get cheaper, not least because economies of scale and competition come into play.

 

Exotic, low-production lenses can actually go up in price, too.

 

Sometimes, when a new "version" comes out, you can score an older version for much less. Being on the "trailing edge" is cheaper and much less painful than "cutting edge". You may not need the new features -- for example, I bought the older Mark I version of the EF 100-400 IS after the new one came out. It was cheaper and completely adequate to MY purposes.