Historical prices

Does anyone have historical price data for the current primes? As a relative new comer I'd be intetested in seeing this.

What do you mean by historical price data? If older prices then here is what I remeber:
FA43 - £450 mark or thereabout
FA31 - £650-700
FA77 - £500 ish
FA50/1.4 - £150

DA21 - £275-300
DA40 - £200
DA70 - £275-300
DA35 macro - £250 or there about
DA* zooms were around 500 each
DA*55 around £365 and up
Not sure about the rest of the line up

Wish they were still those prices!

Thanks axl

How long ago was that?
Did they take a sudden jump, or has there been a steady rise in the price of pentax glass (higher than the rise in other makes)?

Those prices were about 12-18 months ago, then there was a sudden price hike to current levels. Supposedly it was due to the currency rates, but lately there seem to be suggestions that Hoya want to push prices up closer to Canon/Nikon levels.

I definitely remember reading that on here a while ago - an interview with a Hoya bigwig who wanted to make Pentax an aspirational premium brand like Leica. Commercial suicide IMO - the mass market keeps a company afloat and allows them to research and develop the more upmarket parts of their range. They need to offer more sanely-priced lenses to tempt newbie DSLR owners to buy Pentax rather than any other brand.

What mass market are you talking about?
The share of the market is very little when compared to CaNiSon and I wouldn't be surprised if Oly and Panasonic would. Have bigger share then Pentax.

Going the Leica way would make sense IMO but they need to start offering something quite different to what they do now. Anyway, as it stands, the higher prices didn't seem to scre people away, just look at the bodies sales. K-x and K-5 were big hits in stores when they hit the shelves.

It's alright for you with your FA31/43/77mm's

The likes of me have sweet FA

Would love to invest in the 31 & 77 at some stage but simply hiking the price on an established product on the back of a marketing decision doesn't sit well with me and makes buying these primes at this time a very difficult decision. As you say axl, if they developed new improved products which took the brand closer in real terms to the likes of Leica then fair enough, but not simply hike the price of established products and expect consumers see such a hike as reasonable

... and if the product still sells (and you're not going to annoy previous buyers by ensuring minimal depreciation, now, are you?) then they've won every single time.

If the new price goes up, the used price will follow. Ergo: buy it while you can and get the best deal you can.

Bret

Having recently bought a Kx rather than a Canon (EOS 33V + three lenses),
I bought partially because of the excellent value for money of Pentax DSLR bodies coupled with the vast number of possibilities lens wise on the used market. I can't afford to buy premium priced new lenses at Canon/Nikon price levels. I would therefore be looking at used Pentax in excellent condition or possibly Sigma (or equivalent) new.

If Pentax want to see increased revenue from their lenses range, they should keep their new prices a rung below Canon/Nikon (like for like) and
possibly more importantly they should bring out a FF DSLR undercutting other makes, which will open up a huge potential market for their excellent 'primes' many of which are of limited value on a cropped sensor, and thus sales of these will otherwise decline year on year without a FF DSLR body to open up new customer base.

Isn't that what estate agents were saying for years? Seriously

As I recall the lens prices went up in two stages. The first in Jan 2009 when lenses like the 12-24, DA*s etc. went up by about £50-100 - from over £450 to over £550. Then they went up again (a lot) ca. July 2009. Then the price of the 12-24 went mad - to an RRP of about £1200 & a shop price around £1,000. Same with the DA50-135.

I bought quite a few lenses in Dec. 2008 in the knowledge that prices were about to go up (and because they were offering cash rebates on lenses), but I wish I'd bought more now. I remember a guy at SRS (not Chris - someone at their old Rayners Lane branch) saying this had happened before and that they would come down in time. They said the same in July that year, when the latest hike had been announced - but while they've come down a tad they're still way more expensive than they were in 2008.

BTW all the other mfrs lenses went up around that time too. I seem to recall the Sony hikes were particularly extreme.

let's think this through? the trend is towards more complex lenses and inflation has seriously hit on pretty much everything. We're talking 30% in some areas in a year. Do you really think that lens manufacturers are immune to this? My transport costs have gone up well over 15% in the last 12 months from the UK and that's without the VAT rises. I suspect that the 2008 prices are the lowest and someone somewhere said "enough! this stuff is too cheap, we need to make more money on this".

Your economy is in the toilet (or at least that's what the currency guys think) and your exchange rate is down as a result. It's at the lowest point now since the new year, and I really do keep a close eye on this.

Moral? Prices for *everything* are on their way up. Lenses will be spectacularly hit if you ask me, as they don't have to sell that many - they'd rather sell fewer but at a greater profit margin, and I think that applies to a lot of things.
Just look at the prices of rigs... (google zacuto)

Bret

Its basically a gamble for the manufacturer, do you sell lots at a small margin or a few at a higher margin. I just think it is a shame that Pentax risk losing the expanded customer base they have acquired by selling decently priced entry and mid range DSLRs.

I wouldn't put money on it, but my gut feeling is that by the end of this year or certainly by this time next year, peoples disposable income after paying for 'essentials' will be so reduced that camera gear for many will be seen as an unaffordable luxury. Don't forget also that the UK is still pretty much carrying the 'Treasure Island' label, known internationally as a soft touch by multinationals keen to make large profits. My bet is, that prices will fall to much closer to mainstream EU prices within a year or so.

Another 'downward pressure' on prices must surely be that the number of people able to make a decent living from photography is falling as amateur gear proliferates and competition from the sheer number of devices which now include the ability to take an image, increases. Fewer pros means fewer customers for hi end lenses which in the short term may result in lower prices as manufacturers and distributors try to offload stock they can't sell. Ultimately it may mean fewer manufacturers although Canon and Nikon would be hit the hardest as their pro base is larger.

The prices in Germany are solid, too, I've been surprised by that, but the race to the bottom has not happened with the D7000 / 7D / K5 that I would possibly have expected.

Oh, and your prices already do match German ones. €1180 for a K5 is "normal". Right now, that's just over £1k. And Germany is the cheapest market in the EU that's worth mentioning, at least in my experience.

I don't see the proliferation of gear as a problem; gear doesn't mean capability to take good photos.

Bret