How much interest in 5dMII?

DB83 · Oct 12, 2009

How rare is it to find a new Canon 5d Mark II body for sale? A lot of retailers seem to be out of stock.

Sue Bruce · Oct 12, 2009

I put my name on a wait list at Camera's Inc (arlington, MA) and my 5dmkii came in about 3 weeks later. I've had it for about a month now ... I'm glad I save a little extra and went with the 5d ... was very attracted to the 7d .. but stuck to my original spec list.

Sue

Derrel · Oct 12, 2009

The price limits the interest of the 5D Mark II, the Nikon D700, EOS 1D series, and Nikon D3 series; all of those bodies each, individually, account for less than 0 percent of the sales for Canon and Nikon. The vast majority of d-slr sales are in the Nikon D40-D60-D80- level, and once the prices go over $1,000 the individual models sell progressively worse and worse.

Just as an example, this past spring, a Nikon Europe vice-president announced to dPreview that the D40-D60 class represented, "over eighty percent" of their d-slr sales. In 2008, I saw a breakdown on sales figures; the world economy has dampened sales of $2,500 cameras pretty badly.

chip · Oct 12, 2009

I bought my 5d2 4 months ago on ebay from a camera store. I had to get it with the 24-105mm kit lens. They didn't have it w/o the lens. At first I didn't want the lens but after having shot a couple of thousand shots with the lens I actually like it. This camera was released about a year ago. So it should start to come down in price now. I found that Beach Camera has it in stock: They also have the camera w the kit lens

http://www.beachcamera.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=CNEOS5DM2

Village Idiot · Oct 13, 2009

Derrel said:
The price limits the interest of the 5D Mark II, the Nikon D700, EOS 1D series, and Nikon D3 series; all of those bodies each, individually, account for less than 0 percent of the sales for Canon and Nikon. The vast majority of d-slr sales are in the Nikon D40-D60-D80- level, and once the prices go over $1,000 the individual models sell progressively worse and worse.

Just as an example, this past spring, a Nikon Europe vice-president announced to dPreview that the D40-D60 class represented, "over eighty percent" of their d-slr sales. In 2008, I saw a breakdown on sales figures; the world economy has dampened sales of $2,500 cameras pretty badly.

The 5D MKII was very anticipated. It was almost impossible to get one without a preorder for the first few months and even now, almost a year later, some sites don't always have them in, unlike other more expensive cameras.

Derrel · Oct 13, 2009

Many smaller sites don't stock them because they are not selling well.
Look how many people are inquiring about the various Rebels and the Nikon D40,and D60....retailers stock what sells fast and reliably...whether they are web-based retailers or brick and mortar stores, or combo outfits.

The original 5D premiered at $3100 or so...but the market could not/would not support the initial price,and massive rebates pushed the price down to around the $2,000-$2100 price point. Many people cannot afford a camera that costs $2,500, and so many retailers do not stock 5D Mark II's, and that's why so many outlets are out of stock.

This has nothing to do with the camera's quality of fitness or anything--it has to do with the way people in the USA now are saving money at a pace that's more like Japan than America. Americans are socking money away at a rate higher than we've seen in decades,and even the affluent have cut back.

inTempus · Oct 13, 2009

The 5D2 is selling very well, much faster than anticipated. The large retailers are often back ordered. They're not back ordered because they're not selling, they're back ordered because once they get a shipment it's gone pretty much the same day. Go into your local Calumet and ask them how long their 5D2's last once they get a shipment.

The 5D2 is a very popular camera... Hell, just try getting OEM batteries for the damn thing.

The second a used 5D2 goes up for sale on the Canon forums, it's sold. I've seen people sell them within a few hours for damn near what a new one would cost.

ErectedGryphon · Oct 13, 2009

Larger volume stores also keep larger stock, I was in "Houston Camera Exchange" saturday and they had 20 boxed on their shelf. I was there for 30 minutes spending my measly $45, and saw two get purchased.

inTempus · Oct 13, 2009

ErectedGryphon said:
Larger volume stores also keep larger stock, I was in "Houston Camera Exchange" saturday and they had 20 boxed on their shelf. I was there for 30 minutes spending my measly $45, and saw two get purchased.

You must have caught a shipment day.

24 hours later I bet those 20 were gone, especially if they have good prices and an internet presence.

ErectedGryphon · Oct 13, 2009

inTempus said:
ErectedGryphon said:

Larger volume stores also keep larger stock, I was in "Houston Camera Exchange" saturday and they had 20 boxed on their shelf. I was there for 30 minutes spending my measly $45, and saw two get purchased.

Click to expand...

You must have caught a shipment day. 24 hours later I bet those 20 were gone, especially if they have good prices and an internet presence.

not much internet presence, but a well known and popular store in houston, they are high volume just on local sales. And have a very nice selection, I picked up a Lenspen for 1/2 of MSRP.

Village Idiot · Oct 13, 2009

Keep in mind guys, those expensive cameras make up less than 0% of their respective manufactures sales. In fact, they cost manufactures to lose money apparently. I mean, that's what every business is in...business...for.

schumionbike · Oct 13, 2009

I would guess that the Nikon D3-D700 make up about 5-10 percent of the total dslr sales just by looking at the people they employed at the different plants that make them. The Nikon D3 and D700 plant is much smaller and at time, probably don't make enough to satisfy the demand and hence they're not in stock.

Rob Galbraith DPI: Nikon D3, D300 already being manufactured for sale in November