price drop on Fuji DSLRs?

[ballroom_boy]

Hi All,

I just found this on the web:

http://cameracanada.com/eNet-cart/product.asp?pid=canon10d&type=1

The new Can*n EOS 10D is priced at $CAD 2,499.00 ($USD 1,697.00)... does this mean that Fuji may reduce the price on the S2? Would be really nice to upgrade from my S1...

A boy can only hope...

Cheers
Roël :D

[deluco]

I wouldn't expect a significant price drop but nothing would suprise me. You can get an S1 for $1000 now. I purchased my S1 about 18 months ago for $2700. I would wait another few months. The S1 is a fine camera and produces images just as good as (and some would say sharper than) the S2.

[bjnicholls]

S1 produces images on par with the s2? Yah, sure if you consider 3.4 megapixels (interpolation doesn't deliver any real resolution boost in the S1) to be on par with 9 megapixels (the S2's interpolation actually does deliver more detail than the 6.2 Mpix file size).

Even if the image quality and resolution was identical, the S2 delivers a far more competent camera with essential features like DOF and spot metering. I don't think a camera that doesn't offer raw mode files can be considered professional by current standards.

Nikon Canada is dropping prices on the D100 and D1 bodies. Assuming Nikon USA will do something similar, the drop would be about $300 US. I'd go for a D100 over the S2 at that price unless Fuji delivers a similar discount.

Fuji took a while to drop the price of the S1 when the new D1 cameras came out at lower prices. Fuji dropped the price a few months later and started bundling a Microdrive (a far more expensive accessory at the time) to keep the S1 competitive. I think S1 sales were really slow by the time the S2 finally came out.

So will Fuji respond and keep the S2 a contender against Canon and Nikon? I'd expect a slow response and maybe some attempt at bundling instead of really matching the competition. By the time Fuji has an S3 available, I'd expect the S2 to be priced too high for the market and sales to be stagnant. It would be great to have Fuji prove me wrong.

It may sound crazy for an S2 owner to be cheering price reductions and rapid depreciation. I'm more interested in getting better cameras across the board and the pressure is on manufacturers to keep 'em coming.

[Mike Flood]

I wonder what the fine print/ catch 22 is on this?

:rolleyes:

http://store.yahoo.com/starlightcameras/fujfins2pros.html

[deluco]

No recent reviews for Starlight Camera in www.resellerratings.com

I don't know if that means anything but there are 184 ratings for B&H in the last six months (9.4 rating).

[cbandes]

That starlight.com company you mentioned looks like it's one of those Brooklyn scam-shops. Similar prices to bway photo, similar address, etc... More likely than not it's not a good idea to shop there.