Since the beginning of this year, I have rarely written about market price fluctuations.
There are two reasons, one is that everyone's sensitivity to price reductions is decreasing. To be precise, I am used to PUA by manufacturers, so much so that I have the illusion that I am lucky to buy a camera that does not increase in price. Second, there is an obvious hot and cold imbalance in the market, and there are only a few hot sellers, and the rest are not easy to sell.
During this time, I paid more attention to the Japanese market, because many people left me messages that they wanted to take advantage of the summer vacation to travel to Japan with their children, update their equipment, and earn back their travel expenses. After all, looking at the exchange rate, the yen has collapsed and fallen to a new 34-year low.
If you shoot according to the price of the yen half a year ago, you can really get a seven or eight discount, the problem is that Japan has made up for the BUG, the price has risen, and the final price of the hot-selling model is even higher than the price of a certain treasure in China, you say it is outrageous. Of course, some clearance cameras are very cheap, and second-hand SLRs can also be found at a good price.
Back home. The most recent sudden price cuts are the Canon EOS R6 Mark II and R8, which have been selling well before.
The latest transaction price of EOS R6 Mark II is 135xx yuan, you must know that it was at least 15,000 yuan a month ago.
The latest transaction price of EOS R8 is 98xx yuan, and the transaction price before May Day is at least 11,000 yuan.
Many people speculate why Canon is cutting prices at this juncture, is there a new product? In the short term, only the EOS R5 Mark II will be available, and there is no direct competition with these two models.
There is a rumor in the market that Canon has such a promotion for the sake of parallel imports and the influence of the international version on the national bank. I checked, and the new price is indeed much cheaper than buying it in Japan, not to mention the Hong Kong version and the international version.
What about the truth?
I don't know if you have noticed it recently, at the end of April, Canon released its financial report for the first quarter of 2024. Revenue in the Imaging business area decreased by 8.8% year-on-year to 175.5 billion yen. This is the first time in recent years that Canon's imaging business has experienced a decline in revenue, and the decline will continue as there will be no new profit growth points in the short term.
Many people will definitely ask, why can't Canon cameras sell well? First, the product line update speed is slow, and Canon still thinks of itself as the boss. The second is that the bayonet has not been opened, and Nikon and Sony not only open the bayonet to Japanese brother manufacturers, but also allow domestic lens manufacturers to develop a variety of cost-effective ultra-ultra-high fixed-focus large-aperture lenses, which who can stand it.
At present, "expensive" has become the first keyword used by many people to describe Canon, and Canon finally reacted and opened the RF mount some time ago, and it was only a residual frame lens.
I think it's useful to reduce the price of these two cameras. The EOSR6 Mark II is a standard hexagonal warrior, and this fall is finally qualified to compete with the Sony A7C2, which has been selling like crazy in recent months. Nikon's upcoming Z6 III pricing will also be in this range.
As for the EOS R8, in my opinion, it is the EOS Mark R6 II with no stabilization and weak battery life, and this drop is back on its feet compared to the Panasonic S5M2, Sony A7C, Sony A7M3, and Nikon Z6 II.
The good days of Canon lying down and making money are over. In this market, there is no most volume, only more volume, and finally began to fight for competitiveness and price, otherwise it will not be able to retain users just by moving.