Why are fast lenses so expensive?

runnah · Jan 4, 2015

snapsnap1973 said:
Yes, I agree they may be "more expensive to make" ..... a little more, but it's all bs. Just like with t.v's, first they market and sell lcd's to everyone, whilst all along behind the scenes the technology's already there for LED's, but they wait until you pay all the money for the LCD and then a few years later they sell you the "already outdated technology" called LED for more money and profit. They've already got new technology hidden away so that in a few years they can sell us something new and make even more money.

The same with Microsoft selling us some new sh*! window blinds every year or two, it's all a bunch of bs to make money and all the people fall for it every time.

I agree making certain cameras and lenses may take a little more money, although I think that's BS too because they get everything pretty cheap. Bottom line is they have to keep selling you new s*!t to stay in business, nothing wrong with that I guess, but you have to remember that and understand how marketing, advertising is all a load of crap for the most part.

Watch the drug commercials at night with all the happy, good looking people jumping around in summer fields or good looking older couples all excited about each other again all hyped up on some $500 pill that cost $2 to produce, it's all a bunch of crap and I'm not falling for it.

THe most important thing is they gotta make money to pay their big salaries and the big shot CEO's million dollar bonuses so they keep pumping out crap that they say will make you happy and work better, while all the while they know it's BS and the poor people at home are to dumb to realize it.

Realize that the advertising is all a bunch of BS to get your money, that's the bottom line truth. Nothing else matters.

Same thing with cameras and lenses. There's NO plastic and glass worth $7000 anywhere and it doesn't cost $1000 to make a $7000 camera, nor does it cost $500 to make a $4000 lens, it's all a lie to get your money.

Same thing with guitars (I'm also a classical guitarist for 20 years). Yes, there are some beautiful handmade luthier guitars out there, but for $8000 because some guy spent a month making a pretty piece of wood that may sound a little nicer? That's a bunch of BS.

Now, if stupid people are willing to pay $8000, then the guy should be entitled to it cause there's a demand, however if nobody payed him $8000 for that guitar he may have to settle for $3000 or go hungry.

The deciding factor is that there are suckers that will pay high prices, so in turn the price goes up.

Frankly the lack of understanding you have exhibited is shocking.

Yes new stuff is expensive because companies need to make up all the money they spent in developing a product. $10k lenses are expensive because they have lots of expensive pieces of glass inside them. They also take a long time to design and perfect. Not to mention that they don't sell a ton of them. The profit margins aren't very high on some of the really expensive stuff.

astroNikon · Jan 4, 2015

umm .. okay

Trever1t · Jan 4, 2015

so out there it cracks me up

Vtec44 · Jan 4, 2015

You sound like a business expert

. Supply and demand, if you don't want to buy that $10,000 lens or camera then don't. Let them go hungry. Some of us think of the money spent as a business investment. That tool will return a lot more to the business in the long run regardless how much it cost to make or how much profit the manufacturer earned from it. It's a really simple concept

snapsnap1973 said:
Yes, I agree they may be "more expensive to make" ..... a little more, but it's all bs. Just like with t.v's, first they market and sell lcd's to everyone, whilst all along behind the scenes the technology's already there for LED's, but they wait until you pay all the money for the LCD and then a few years later they sell you the "already outdated technology" called LED for more money and profit. They've already got new technology hidden away so that in a few years they can sell us something new and make even more money.

The same with Microsoft selling us some new sh*! window blinds every year or two, it's all a bunch of bs to make money and all the people fall for it every time.

I agree making certain cameras and lenses may take a little more money, although I think that's BS too because they get everything pretty cheap. Bottom line is they have to keep selling you new s*!t to stay in business, nothing wrong with that I guess, but you have to remember that and understand how marketing, advertising is all a load of crap for the most part.

Watch the drug commercials at night with all the happy, good looking people jumping around in summer fields or good looking older couples all excited about each other again all hyped up on some $500 pill that cost $2 to produce, it's all a bunch of crap and I'm not falling for it.

THe most important thing is they gotta make money to pay their big salaries and the big shot CEO's million dollar bonuses so they keep pumping out crap that they say will make you happy and work better, while all the while they know it's BS and the poor people at home are too dumb to realize it.

Realize that the advertising is all a bunch of BS to get your money, that's the bottom line truth. Nothing else matters.

Same thing with cameras and lenses. There's NO plastic and glass worth $7000 anywhere and it doesn't cost $1000 to make a $7000 camera, nor does it cost $500 to make a $4000 lens, it's all a lie to get your money.

Same thing with guitars (I'm also a classical guitarist for 20 years). Yes, there are some beautiful handmade luthier guitars out there, but for $8000 because some guy spent a month making a pretty piece of wood that may sound a little nicer? That's a bunch of BS.

Now, if stupid people are willing to pay $8000, then the guy should be entitled to it cause there's a demand, however if nobody payed him $8000 for that guitar he may have to settle for $3000 or go hungry.

The deciding factor is that there are suckers that will pay high prices, so in turn the price goes up.

snapsnap1973 · Jan 4, 2015

Yeah, they don't make much profit on a $10,000 dollar lens .... good one. I guess they must've spent $8000 in "expensive" glass and plastic to build it. Not only that it probably took them painstaking months of time and money to build, rather than a machine that did it in an hour.

Everything boils down to the "owners" and the sheep that follow. George Carlin my favorite comedian said "There are the owners and then there's everyone else" You're either an owner or you're everyone else.

The Owners of this world control the sheep, who slavishly buy everything and believe everything that the owners tell them so they can control them and make big profits. The Rich own the world and control everything, the middle class do all the work and consume and the poor are there to scare the middle class and keep them going to their "jobs" every day, so they can keep the rich rich and in control.

Go buy a $10000 lens why don't ya.

runnah · Jan 4, 2015

snapsnap1973 said:
Yeah, they don't make much profit on a $10,000 dollar lens .... good one. I guess they must've spent $8000 in "expensive" glass and plastic to build it. Not only that it probably took them painstaking months of time and money to build, rather than a machine that did it in an hour.

Everything boild down to the "owners" and the sheep that follow. George Carlin my favorite comedian said "There are the owners and then there's everyone else" You're either an owner of everyone else.

The Owners of this world control the sheep, who slavishly buy everything and believe everything that the owners tell them so they can control them and make big profits. The Rich own the world and control everything, the middle class do all the work and consume and the poor are there to scare the middle class and keep them going to their "jobs" every day, so they can keep the rich rich and in control.

Go buy a $10000 lens why don't ya.

You are on another planet.

Vtec44 · Jan 4, 2015

This is why I teach my kids to work and be one of the "Owners". If not, they'll be online bitching about how expensive everything is on a photography forum.

snapsnap1973 said:
Yeah, they don't make much profit on a $10,000 dollar lens .... good one. I guess they must've spent $8000 in "expensive" glass and plastic to build it. Not only that it probably took them painstaking months of time and money to build, rather than a machine that did it in an hour.

Everything boils down to the "owners" and the sheep that follow. George Carlin my favorite comedian said "There are the owners and then there's everyone else" You're either an owner or you're everyone else.

The Owners of this world control the sheep, who slavishly buy everything and believe everything that the owners tell them so they can control them and make big profits. The Rich own the world and control everything, the middle class do all the work and consume and the poor are there to scare the middle class and keep them going to their "jobs" every day, so they can keep the rich rich and in control.

Go buy a $10000 lens why don't ya.

astroNikon · Jan 4, 2015

They do make a profit
But it's not 100% profit. Just as a pill may cost $2.00 to manufacture there may have been tens or hundreds of millions gone into research, development and testing of that drug. Those costs have to be recouped in the end cost. And those profits may go into helping kickstart research into new materials for new drugs.

Research and Design has to go into making each lens. And there are many more 70-300 lenses made than 600mm primes. Basic Quantity in relation to cost theories.

Then there may be glass quality differences, with the better glass costing alot more.
And more quality checks and processes done on the better glass.

Then once they make those lenses there are fewer people buying a 600mm than a basic 70-300. Thus many get put into inventory and that is a cost sitting in inventory too.
And shipping costs. how much does it cost to ship a 70-300 vs a 600mm ??
And a retail store may stock a dozen 70-300 vs they may not even stock one 600. Why .. the cost of inventory and turnover, ie Demand.

Musical instruments are the same way. You have one CUSTOM maker making an instrument. he determines that if he is paid say $50 an hour and takes a month to make one instrument then his pricing should be $X. Just because you don't like his pricing that doesn't matter. If he sells his products then he has the right pricing.

In saxophones one new maker, the Silver Eagle had a very high price tag. After development, etc they determine a cost per instrument. They had a team of people hand crafting each instrument. The cost was very high compared to more mass manufactured saxes. The demand was NOT there. They folded the operations very quickly. So sometimes yes, the price is too high.

But it exists everywhere. Look at Custom motorcycle makers. Why on earth would someone spend $60k or $120k on a motorcycle that a group of people handcrafted?? How is it different from a $8,000 mass manufacturer motorcycle ?

The buyer knows.
And if the buyer has the money, then all is fine.

Just look at Leica, or Zeiss ??

Whats the difference between Rokinon, Nikon and Zeiss lenses ??