Tag: musings

CSC Camera prices. A brief history

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Palantir See All mystic DSLR CSC
Palantir See All, the mystic DSLR

Are camera CSC body costs rising, stable or falling?

* NEW * Table updated January 2023 to include the mirror-less R series!

To answer that question I took a look into the past. Checking in on the mid level CSC bodies from Canon since the introduction of the venerable 3.1 megapixel D30 way back in 2000. I grouped both DSLRs and mirrorless bodies under the CSC umbrella.

I created a table of a brief history of Canon DSLR & Mirrorless introduction dates and their pricing at the time of introduction.
Not including the top end 1D series and low end Rebel series.
Basically cut the top and bottom off,  just looking at the middle so called prosumer level bodies.

The table lists the Canon body “Manufacturer Suggester Retail Prices” in the USA at time of their announcements.
Which surprisingly seems to have remained fairly stable over the years for each series of bodies.

If you factor in the ever rising inflation rate the actual cost of the bodies has in fact been slightly decreasing! Right along with the decreasing buying power of the mighty dollar as the years advance.

Body Month Year Suggested Price
at introduction		 Megapixels ProcessorSensor Size
D30May2000 MSRP US$3,50003.1mp –
D60February2002 MSRP US$2,19906.3mp –
10DFebruary2003 MSRP US$1,49906.3mpDIGICaps-c
20DAugust2004 MSRP US$1,49908.2mpDIGIC iiaps-c
30DFebruary2006 MSRP US$1,39908.2mpDIGIC iiaps-c
40DAugust2007 MSRP US$1,29910.2mpDIGIC iiiaps-c
50DAugust2008 MSRP US$1,39915.2mpDIGIC 4aps-c
60DAugust2010 MSRP US$1,09918.0mpDIGIC 4aps-c
70DJuly2013 MSRP US$1,19920.2mpDIGIC 5+aps-c
80DFebruary2016 MSRP US$1,19924.2mpDIGIC 6aps-c
77DFebruary2017 MSRP US$0,89924.2mpDIGIC 7aps-c
90D (end of line for xxD)August2019 MSRP US$1,19932.5mpDIGIC 8aps-c
7DSeptember2009 MSRP US$1,69918.0mpdual DIGIC 4aps-c
7D mk-ii (end of line for 7D series)September2014 MSRP US$1,79920.2mpdual DIGIC 6aps-c
5DAugust2005 MSRP US$3,29912.8mpDIGIC iiFF
5D mk-iiSeptember2008 MSRP US$2,69921.1mpDIGIC 4FF
5D mk-iiiMarch2012 MSRP US$3,29922.3mpDIGIC 5+FF
6DSeptember2012 MSRP US$2,09920.2mpDIGIC 5+FF
5DSFebruary2015 MSRP US$3,69950.6mpdual DIGIC 6FF
5DSrFebruary2016 MSRP US$3,89950.6mpdual DIGIC 6FF
5D mk-iv (end of line for 5D series)August2016 MSRP US$3,49930.1mpDIGIC 6+FF
6D mk-ii (end of line for 6D series)June2017 MSRP US$1,99926.2mpDIGIC 7FF
Mirror less R series
All EF series discontinued
ROctober2018MSRP US$2,29930.1mpDIGIC 8FF
RPMarch2019MSRP US$1,29926.2mpDIGIC 8FF
R5July2020MSRP US$3,89944.8mpDIGIC XFF
R6July2020MSRP US$2,49920.1mpDIGIC XFF
R3November2021MSRP US$5,99924.1mpDIGIC XFF
R5CMarch2022MSRP US$4,79944.8mpDIGIC XFF Cinema
R7June2022MSRP US$1,49932.5mpDIGIC Xaps-c
R10June2022MSRP US$0,79924.2mpDIGIC Xaps-c
R6-mkiiNovember2022MSRP US$2,49924.2mpDIGIC XFF
R8February2023MSRP US$1.49924.2mpDIGIC XFF
R50February2023MSRP US$67924.2mpDIGIC Xaps-c

The Photographers stages of being.

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The Photographers stages of being.

plasma ball lightning

plasma ball lightning

stage 1 “The Complete Newbie”

Knows they want to take pictures but have no idea how to go about it.

stage 2 “The Interested Beginner”

Knows there is more to photography they begin the process of learning and spend time looking to forums & groups to help grow their skills.

stage 3 “The Obsessive Amateur”

Has a growing evolving kit of equipment.
They spend large amount of time pouring over manufacturer equipment specs and arguing over even the most trivial of details on forums.
They become overly obsessed with the equipment IQ capabilities.
Unfortunately while sidetracked by all the neat equipment available to them they do not spend much time actually growing their skills by working on task of image making.

stage 4 “The Image Maker”

Realizes the equipment is just a tool, a necessary evil.
They finally embark on the real journey of understanding light and imagining. They have a tendency to become a bit reclusive while chasing their new found vision and drop off from or become infrequent visitors to on-line communities in favor of actually working on their skills of producing images.

stage 5 “The Master”

at the zenith of their abilities they reach the Zen of image making.
They become one with the image making process and their equipment (Anyone who believes they have reached this stage, have not!)

stage 6 “There is no stage 6”

By far most people who embark on the photographic journey appear to progress fairly quickly from stage 1 through stage 2 to stage 3 where many tend to get stuck.
They become mired down in trying to understand all the wonderful equipment that keeps appearing on the market for them to obtain.

Many fortunately eventually escape the bling and flash of all the new kit after a while, and get back on track of becoming a proficient image maker.

Though not all make it to stage 4, their hobby becomes the photo equipment in itself. Which is fine, especially if you are a photo equipment manufacturer!

Stage 5 is a myth, no one ever actually gets to this point though some have gotten very close!