Camera Price Charts November 2017 Episode I: 35mm Full Frame Steady As She Goes

The time is right to start a new “Price Charts” series, this is the November 2017 edition, taking a snapshot of camera US market prices. We start with the 35mm full frame digital cameras of all kinds. Because Medium and Large Format is a small niche (all things considered), we are not tracking their prices here…

We have one exception with this edition, I am not including the Leicas in this chart, they dominate and skew the flow of the charts with nine entries clustered between $4K and $8K. Now I’m never gonna be invited to a Leica Club party 🙂 If anyone is interested in seeing the Leicas, please leave a comment and I’ll create a separate chart for them 🙂

STEADY AS SHE GOES

Here the link with the full size version of the Chart, or click on the link above.

We are introducing a new visual element in this edition of the Price Charts. On the right side of the bar, cameras that went down in price since the previous update have a red minus (-) next to them, while cameras that have gone up in price have a green-ish plus (+) next to them. New entries since the previous edition have their name highlighted in yellow. Cameras with the same price have nothing next to their names.

Unlike flagship smartphone prices that come out high and have a steady systematic decline, camera manufacturers are controlling the prices and not letting the market dictate pricing. Granted, despite adding smartphone-type features, cameras have a longer theoretical shelf life than flagship smartphones.

The mild surprise with this edition is that we had more cameras go slightly up than go down. We have only two price drops, and five price increases. Sony owns four of the price increases, with the Pentax K-1 being the other one.

Overall though, the full frame market has been steady, with two new additions in the sub-flagship price tier, both continuations in the popular Nikon D8XX and Sony a7R lines.

With neither Canon nor Nikon willing to start a price war for the entry-point into 35mm full frame, Sony can hold steady at the $1000 mark. Of course one can get a 35mm full frame camera for less if they are willing to buy used or refurbished.

As you can see, it is a mix of DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, with a trio of fixed lens cameras (the Sony R1X series) in the mix.

NOTES and FOOTNOTES

  • new entries in this edition of the price charts are the elusive Nikon D850 and the Sony a7R III
  • Prices are uniform among the three tracked retailers, the only exception is the Sony a7r which goes for $1850 at Amazon versus $1900 elsewhere (looks like a Price Bot price-match at Amazon may have lowered the price)
  • the Leica 35mm full frame cameras were removed to make the chart more readable (they cluster between 4K and 8K)
  • the Nikon D5 Anniversary edition was removed as one can consider it a special edition of the regular Nikon D5
  • Because of very limited availability, these are not included in the chart above: the Sony a99V ($2000) and Nikon D4S (increased from $5500 to $6000). The a99v is only available at Amazon, while the Nikon D4S is only available at B&H
  • Typos, errors, confusions, omissions are always possible. Please leave a comment or use the online contact form. If I don’t notice an error and no one mentions it, it won’t get fixed on its own 🙂

NOVEMBER 2017 SERIES

+ 35mm Full Frame Cameras
+ APS-C DSLRs
+ Mirrorless Cameras
+ Fixed Lens Cameras

Where Does The Data Come From?

The prices are the consensus prices between Amazon and B&H Photo and Adorama as of November 6 in 2017. These are new condition with USA warranty prices, from authorized dealers. All the prices are the body only kit prices. Older cameras that are no longer available in new condition with USA warranty from the above retailers, or are available in a very limited fashion, are not included.

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