Lens prices up?

Browsing today i note Pentax Lens prices seem to be peaking again. Is a big sale due soon then do you think? link I have the F4 300mm star for example which has been as low as £640 new and is creeeping back to £1000 again.

Like many I like to buy lenses when it suits my needs, not when it suits the vendors. The wide fluctuations don't seem to allow that of late.

I think that there are lots of bargains out there and if we can it pays to jump in fast and take advantage. By the time we've logged in here to ask "should we?" the opportunity is often gone.

Of course this assumes the ready cash is available, or the credit card has enough room on it.

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Best regards, John

It is very annoying and i think will backfire on the manufacturers, causing a lot of resentment. My attitude now is that I will only buy at the lowest price i've seen a photographic item for sale at over the past 12 months or so. If it doesn't become available again at that price then i won't be buying...on principle...even assuming i have the cash ready and want the item.

the problem lies a few thousand miles away
when the yen gose up they price gose up here
even if it is old stock that they have in befor the price went up

Selling old stock at higher price is arguably illegal and at least immoral.

The pound is currently very strong against the yen so prices should be falling on that logic.

I think prices are being artificially inflated again to create a false sense of bargain when the next discounting spell comes round. I get it with the cameras given the rate they change at but not stuff like long standing Star and Limited lenses.

By this logic does this not mean that if a company found a chance to buy in some lenses at a low price they shouldn't do it? Surely that can't be right. We see offers every day from various types of product, it's quite normal in today's market place.

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Best regards, John

Suspect it will fluctuate a bit with the arrival of the K-3ii (crop) and upcoming FF...

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K-3ii

Big announcement first thing in the morning from Ricoh/Pentax

Unfortunately it's not the "CLOSING DOWN SALE" that wvbarnes wants

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Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi

It's not just lenses; up to a couple of weeks ago Clifton Cameras had a really good price for Minox 10x43 HG binoculars at £579.00; other sources were at best £775.00 and £849.00. After a couple of glasses of red one evening I pushed the button, and glad I did as the next day they were up to 849.00! Double-checked that they were in fact the latest version (they are). These are made in Germany now and the Euro rate hasn't changed that much so it must be manufacturers offering suppliers special price deals like we saw a while ago with the Sigma 150-500.

I never said any such thing, just a bit of sanity after the big sales which i like too. Clearly many on here like volatile prices, I don't

There's a lot of dumping going on at present. Pentax even have the Q7 at No: 10 in the Japanese camera weekly sales chart at present..... £153 for the camera + 02 and 06 zooms, Naturally no manufacturer can stand these kind of prices for long. So less moaning please these are hard time for all camera companies. Show a bit of sympathy.

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Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi

Hi all, I clearly didn't make my point well.

When I next have the money to spare i want the DA* 16 - 50 and 50 - 135. Currently they are £1729.98 Hardly dumping.

I bought the 300 F4 for £599 used but then it was £640 new in the 'Black Friday' sale so i missed out. I don't mind. A friend wants one now impressed with my example but the price is £979.99 up from I think £829.

The pound is strong against the yen so i can only surmise that the prices are being raised to make the next price 'cuts' look better.

My only point is I would prefer to be able to buy in a reasonably stable market. It particularly makes judging used value difficult. I've noted several frustrated sellers of quality lenses on here recently. Uncertainty puts people off i think.

For many years the prices were consistent. The only AP I have handy is from July 2009. The two lenses you refer to were £1757 from SRS ....... 6 years ago..... so what's the problem? They are the same price that they were 6 years ago!!

The same AP (SRS) price for the 300mm f4 was £899. When I bought mine a few years ago it would have been around £1000 at SRS. Jacobs were the cheapest and had them listed at £900 but couldn't confirm a supply date. So I bought one off this forum for around £700.

So basically there hasn't been any increase in price...... just a bit of dumping which normally precedes a company going out of business. Very unusual on current stock.... It can happen with discontinued models when times are hard.

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Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi

I can see Bill's point - price fluctuations create uncertainty and definitely make me think twice about buying new at any point in time. Unless I was desperate for a lens I would be tempted to wait for a few months to see if another round of offers came along. Saying that the 16-50 and 50-135 are the same price as 6 years ago is all good but if they were available at 2/3 the price within the last 6 months (which, according to Camera Price Buster they were*) then the current price doesn't look so good. That could be the price of secondhand.

Maybe Ricoh want to boost their sales before certain key dates, maybe they are depleting certain stocks, maybe they just want to raise their profile - who knows? All I know is that I can probably wait until another price drop if I am patient.


*I've no idea how accurate CPB actually is and haven't been monitoring the prices of these lenses. One of those prices listed was SRS in March though so don't seem to be unknown retailers. Maybe they could have been refurbs or something similar though.

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You will only prise my 43Ltd from my cold, dead hands...

The K-3 is currently £450 in Japan....... No wonder that it's reached No:22 on the chart

http://bcnranking.jp/category/subcategory_0008.html

Prices are usually at their lowest when a retailer is out of stock

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Half Man... Half Pentax ... Half Cucumber

Pentax K-1 + K-5 and some other stuff

Algi