PriceSCAN Blog

As I write this, a remarkable seven of the top ten most popular digital cameras on PriceSCAN.com are made by Canon. Yet popularity does not translate into price stability, if the plunging prices of some models are any indication.
Case in point: the 6.0 megapixel Canon PowerShot S3 IS, currently the most popular digicam on this site. As you can see from the PriceTrend graph below, it would have cost you $500 some six weeks ago, and now can be purchased for under $390, a decline of over 20%.

Time Period: 3/13/2006 through 6/19/2006
Each tick mark represents one week
Red = High Price, Blue = Average Price, Green = Low Price

Even more remarkable is the fall in price of the runner-up in this popularity contest, the 7.1 megapixel Canon PowerShot A620, dropping over 50% since last September.
Interestingly, the same phenomenon has not been as pronounced in the case of the sole Sony camera on our top ten, the 6.0 megapixel CyberShot DSC-W50, off only about 10% from its price in late February. The same might also be said of at least one of the two Nikon SLR models that round out the list, the 6.1 megapixel D50, whose low price on this site has actually risen slightly in recent weeks (the other model, Nikon's professional 10.2 megapixel D200, displayed considerable price stability until the last month, over which its low price has fallen from approximately $1,950 to just over $1,600).
Now of course the recent price drops of the PowerShot S3 IS and A620 may be at least partly responsible for maintaining their popularity. Be that as it may, if you want to run with the pack, buying the Canons so many want will now cost you a lot less.