Sony lens price hike due shortly

[pakodominguez]

FYI Pentax new prices policy
http://nedbunnell.posterous.com/lens-pr ... y-in-the-u

[bfitzgerald]

No shocks there. I got a friend to email Ned about the AF issues on the K-r..of course he got no reply from him at all (surprise!)
They're ramping prices in the UK too, after they had started to fall a bit. Can you actually believe they were trying to sell a 50mm f1.4 (and 20 years old design too) for £410 at one point? It since dropped so have some others, but the increases in the USA are huge.

And I really don't see how this is to encourage sellers and shops to stock more Pentax stuff? More likely the reverse effect. I can't see the mount lasting if they carry on like this. Prices are up a bit all round everything all makers, but you can nab some ok deals from Tamron and some Sigma's (I say some Sigma as some of their newer HSM/OS models are overpriced quite a bit)

[pakodominguez]

Prices are up a bit all round everything all makers...

I was trying to find an article from David Kilpatrick (but I finally gave up...) about prices, he made a comparative on what meant the cost of professional equipment back in the 70's and now, and the conclusion was that equipment now is inexpensive.

I remember when I bought a Nikon 135 f2.8, early 90's. I paid 300$ second hand in Buenos Aires. At the same period, I paid about 500 $ for a Nikon 20mm f2.8 in NYC (brand new) HOw much are 1992's 500 $ today?

[David Kilpatrick]

I can't speak for the exact dates of for dollars, but £3 in 1952 equalled about £60 by 1982 and in 2012 is equal to about £240. About an eighty-fold inflation rate in terms of average wages/GDP/cost of living in the UK over 60 years.

David

[bakubo]

Using this website $3 in 1952 would be $11 in 1982 and $26 in 2012. Not at bad as in the UK though. Our really big spike of inflation was in the Carter years in the late 70s and early 80s. The U.S. Treasury 30 year bond yield peaked in September 1981 at 15.19%.

http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

[David Kilpatrick]

If there were 30-year bonds at 15% around today, I could buy myself a pension right now.

David

[bakubo]

If there were 30-year bonds at 15% around today, I could buy myself a pension right now.

Yeah, I would love to load up on 30-year U.S. Treasury bonds at 15% right now. Imagine the people who bought them in 1981 and kept them until maturity in 2011. Earning 15% guaranteed, risk-free all that time.