PriceSCAN Blog: Digital SLR Price Rebellion (With Canons!)

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Digital SLR Price Rebellion (With Canons!)

Digital Cameras & Camcorders | Aug 10, 06

Lately, online merchants have been touting significant cuts in the prices of digital SLR cameras, especially in the Canon Rebel line. A quick check of the price histories of various popular models seems to prove these claims out.

Consider the Canon EOS 350D Digital Rebel XT with 18-55mm lens, currently the most popular digital SLR on this site. As can be seen from the graph below, following a period of stability, recent weeks have seen a drop in the low price offered by merchants from around $720 to just shy of $620.

Time Period: 3/7/2005 through 8/7/2006
Each tick mark represents one week
Red = High Price, Blue = Average Price, Green = Low Price

But the cuts aren't only in Canon pricing. Indeed, it seems many of the more popular SLR cameras have been marked down sharply as the thermometer has risen. For example, over the summer, the somewhat more up-market Nikon D200 Digital SLR with 18-70mm lens has fallen from approximately $1.900 to $1,525.
As the transition from film to pixels gets closer to completion, many have commented on the inevitable slowdown in digital camera sales. Now, as we enter the late summer vacation period and with "back to school" shopping upon us (and holiday buying following soon after) manufacturers and retailers may be adjusting price points downward to accommodate the new reality. Apparently, not even the SLR digicams favored by more serious shutterbugs are immune to this effect.