I must be honest, I would have loved to write a blog post about the horrible creation that is: Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’. Potentially the worst pop song to have ever gone viral. However, with such a large number of people already covering this topic, I decided to focus back on photography, because after all, what would this blog be without the occasional photography post!
With this post I just want to focus on pricing orientations. Multi-national camera manufacturers and retailers such as Nikon and Canon face heavy competition in the modern market, and hence they need to apply appropriate pricing orientations. In my opinion, Nikon and Canon operate mainly on a competitors orientation.
Source: yaffeteam.com
Competitor Orientation
In theory there is not a major difference between the products offered by Canon and Nikon. They both provide similar camera bodies, with equivalent mega-pixels and similar lenses. For example, my favorite lens is a Nikon 50mm f1.4g VR , costing around $580. Canon offers a similar model, which is a couple years older and is now priced around $440. The $140 dollar difference may seem large, however, taking into consideration that the Nikon lens is a newer, there is no surprise here.
Both Nikon and Canon price their products in such as way that they are relatively close to the prices of its competitors. In the camera industry this is especially important. Amateur photographers with potential growth can easily be won-over for their life-time value. In my case, Nikon has managed to capture my life-time value, as I won’t be switching to Canon anytime soon. By pricing in accordance to competitors, camera manufacturers stand no risk of losing their entire client base.
Comparing Prices of 50mm Nikon and Canon lenses at Futureshop
It is important to realize that this does not imply that all prices for similar products are exactly the same. As seen above, both companies provide the same product, but with slightly different features and perks.
In conclusion: Most major camera producers such as Nikon and Canon do not have much of a choice when it comes to choosing their pricing strategy. If these businesses do not stay on a relatively equal pricing plane as their competitors, they stand to loose a lot: most of their customers. The marketing departments of such companies pay a great deal of attention to choosing the correct pricing orientation, not simply to make a profit, but also to retail customers.
Want-to-Know-More-Photographer’s-Bonus: I feel that I should explain what a ’50mm f1.4g VR’ lens really is. So if this does not interest you, please skip the following lines! In essence:
50mm = The ‘magnification/zoom’ potential of the lens. In this case, the lens does not zoom and stays constant at 50mm range.
F1.4g = The largest possible aperture (determines depth of field) of this lens is f1.4. Also, the g implies that the lens has an in-built auto-focusing motor.
VR = Vibration Reduction, the lens automatically adjusts for small hand movements and vibrations.
So what kinds of pictures is this lens good for? Anything. Especially portraits!
