I am still not sure if the rumor is true but I heard from one of my sources that Sony may will increase the prices of camera and lenses up to 30% starting from February! The reason is simple. The Stock are now almost empty and 100% full production will be reached in March only. Even the NEX-5n is getting out of Stock. There are only a few left at Amazon (Click here). Sonystore (Click here) says the NEX-7 will ship in early April only. And the 50mm for NEX is still desaparecido! I really hope that rumor is wrong!
The only small good news I can share is that the Zeiss 24mm for NEX is back in Stock at Adorama (Click here). And the Sony NEX-7 body is in Stock in Europe at Fotomundus DE (Click here), Sony Netherland (Click here) and with only 2-3 weeks shipping at Sony Italy (Click here), [shoplink 11106 ebay]Atirahome ebay (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 11107 ebay]foto-woehrstein ebay (Click here)[/shoplink].
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Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!
68 Responses
It looks like Sony is getting drunk by its own success.
I have seen this many times and it usually ends up badly.
There is a graveyard full of companies who died by their own arrogance.
So you had some success, great – enjoy it, build on it, create more….but don’t screw your customers who made you successful in the first place.
Jack
supply and demand buddy.
I really suspected this! Sad…
first nikon and canon did it. then leica offically annouces it. now sony must do it too??
Its SR3. I cant believe it. When its not true, its an evil rumor. Price increases shouldnt be rumored. Be angry when its real.
It’s just basic supply and demand economics. Just look what happened and is happening on Ebay. For example when a particular car model is short on supply dealers will often charge above MSRP except of course where this is illegal.
At 30% increase, what would happen to demand? *cues falling sfx* I call BS on this rumor.
Too many eager buyers chasing limited stock equals increasing price for the stock available. When the demand dwindles because of the price gouging and the amount of product increases, the price will drop again. Once again reference EBay. People were willing to pay whatever was needed to get what they wanted immediately. I suspect though that this will be more at the retail level rather than Sony upping the MSRP.
This would confirm that there’s someone demented leading the bus 😀
Has anyone tried the new OLED EVF?
The one for NEX 5n or NEX-7?
I tried the one on NEX 5n and it is beautiful. My only complaints are:
1) The view is not 100% of what is on the larger LCD screen (bottom 10% is cut off)
2) The area is small. Would like a larger one since it is an add on attachment.
The one used in the A77/NEX7 is a real joy to use. If you don’t know it, you could say it’s actually an OVF – only that you can overlay a level gauge or a histogram and you have an accurate picture-preview
NICE. Looks like the X-Pro is going to be an NEX-7 competitor after all! 😛
Reply to Cody:
I have one for my NEX-5N and I love it.
I haven’t been able to try it out yet but I do like how you can see your black and white image (or any other effect) before you can take the image. I am really close to buying an a77.
Mr Mom
I don’t leave home without it!
That’s sad, I wanted to buy it but it’s $850 in Argentina 🙁
If they actually increase the price of the NEX-7, I’m done. I’ll wait for a used one but won’t be buying new from Sony. If the rumor were true, I could only see a temporary price increase until production is back to normal. But that would be even worse. People wouldn’t like it.
I was considering a Nex 7 or a Fuji Xpro1. But if this news is true I’m definitely with Fuji.
I doubt it’s true, because it would be like shooting yourself in the foot when you still have a marathon to run.
It could be true for individual stores though.
30%?……Damn… if USD1000 = USD300?…. NO WONDER PEOPLE JUMP SHIP……………
You mean to Canon and Nikon who are more expensive and putting their own prices up too?
The price increase seems highly unlikely to me (in the face of stiffening competition) – but the take-away for me is no NEX 7 until April? That’s another 2-month push-back – why isn’t this the lead story? This makes a week of very bad news for serious Sony users (I really need that full frame camera too).
Thanks Adnrea
I got it ordered at fotomundus (in stock) , I took the 5 year warranty
Sony NL was already out of stock
This is very good news! At least for Fuji with its’ Xpro1…
Sony’s pulling a Fuji on us.
😛
Just another reason not to get a NEX.
lol
wow, nice reason to by other stuff
not in stock and higer prices…wrong way for a new system
i dont care for my 500 euro sony stuff
its not like having 5000 euro dslr stuff where you think twice to chance!
This is almost certainly not true. It’s almost certain that any legitimate store wouldn’t do this (as in, any store that cared what Sony would think). Sony will almost definitely not do this. But it could stay expensive in unofficial places like ebay.
It’s true that Sony is increasing prices on most Zeiss and G lenses by at least 30% starting in Feb, but it should be limited to Hong Kong only, as far as I know. It’s been widely discussed in local photography forums for the past week and shops have already updated the prices on those lenses ahead.
Most likely you will see price increases… and most likely those increases will be from the camera dealer not from Sony. Just like when a car manufacturer makes a limited production car the dealers often sell it above the MSRP simply because they can. I expect the same with Sony.
Canon and Sony have raised prices on their full frame lenses this past year. Part of it is the bad yen to dollar exchange. Not sure what the other parts are.
Yes, I can confirm reality. NEX 7 is legally sold in Europe for 1700 usd. This is 500 more than the U.S.. Somewhere expensive, somewhere cheaper. But. I have a bad feeling that it is the policy of Sony and not cause flooding. Who would not want more money for less.
Is this alpha mount too or just NEX?
I fully respect the hard work that Andrea puts into this site & really do aplaud him but do wonder if there is an opening for an alpha-mount-rumours site as sonyalpharumours seems to be dominated by NEX gossip which is of no interest presently to myself &, I suspect, many of the readers here from before NEX came along whos main interest is in the alpha mount.
I fully appreciate that Andrea works d**n hard for us & is just responding to what we the public are calling for the most, but proper alpha mount rumours seem a little bit sparse on the ground these days….
Of course Andrea only has so many hands but would having another like minded person on board & splitting this site into Sony NEX rumours & a seperate Sony alpha mount rumours work do you think?
Either way keep up the good work! Even if this site is less for my own needs these days you still have my full respect & visits most days 😉
As a user of both, Alpha cameras and a NEX-5n I think it’s totally the right thing to combine NEX and Alpha rumors. As you see on the NEX overview page http://www.sony.de/hub/nex-kompaktkamera Sony itself is calling it the Alpha-NEX system. And both systems can be combined (lenses via LA-EA1/2 for example).
Echoing “Is this the Alpha mount as well?”
I’m finally going to get a Zeiss 135mm f/1.8, it would be utterly bad luck if its price went up 30%
Plain and simple; “Supply and demand”
It’s economic “nature”. If a million people wanted YOUR NEX7 and were will to pay $5,000 instantly for it, would you say; “no thanks, I’ll sell it to you for $1,200.
I don’t blame them.
Cliff
The problem with your logic is that there aren’t a million people who would pay 30% more for a NEX-7. The reason there is a shortage is due only in small part to their product being successful, but much more importantly, because of all the production issues caused by flooding. If people were readily willing to pay 30% more for a NEX-7, there wouldn’t be NEX-7 kits on ebay for $1800 right now.
This rumor is most likely untrue, as it would be an awful business tactic, and one I’ve never seen Sony partake in. That being said, if I were selling NEX-7’s on ebay right now for 30% over MSRP, I would definitely want people to believe this rumor 🙂
Well, Sony knows how many models they have in stock. If they increase the price 30% and they STILL sell all of them before March or April. Then they made a profitable business decision. If they don’t, you can laugh at them!
I’m betting their limited stock and price increase will pay off for them. The cameras WILL fly off the shelves at +30% increase. No doubt.
Supply and demand.
I will never shop again at any store that puts prices up 30%
Are you sure? Leica glass up 5-15% annually. Street price is 30% on top of that. Lenses still sell. supply and demand
In the last few days there are talks in Hong Kong that Sony lens prices will increased by 30%~50% .
Distributors are now selling stocks above MSRP as they have already received the new price list from Sony.
Not sure this is a Global hike in price (Due to strong Yen and low stock level) or just for Hong Kong to aline its pricing strategy with other countries (Historically Hong Kong prices are around 10% below US’s price).
Rather than reduce demand, how about they increase supply instead?
They aren’t reducing demand by choice, have you been living under a rock the past few months?
Not buying this one. Why would Sony increase price just in time for full production to be restored? Why wouldn’t they have raised prices immediately after Christmas so they could take advantage of low supply between then and Feb/Mar?
Companies don’t raise prices with the intention of immediately lowering them, so I doubt this. And NEX lenses are already WAY more expensive than Alpha lenses and have very healthy profit margins as is. Any more expensive and they’ll start pricing themselves out of the market
I don’t believe that this rumour is true… Except for nex 5n/7/a65/a77 other cameras and lenses are quite in stock (maybe except the 300mm)..
How many months of waiting for the Nex-7 and still not there… Now price increasing ?… The worst thing in this, people still buy it and says thank you Sony ! Not me…
I think time to get used to announced but not in stock cameras…
In Hong Kong, A-mount lenses were sold with 10-15% discount on list price.
Now every shop is selling at list price, expecting Sony to increase the list price by 10% to 30% on Jan 15.
Supply and demand? ? ? Who is going to buy a Chevrolet at Cadillac prices. Maybe some fools will, but not many. Both the dollar and the Euro are in bad shape and not looking to get better any time soon.
Value for money spent — the 5n may be a little low, but the Nex 7 and SLT77 are about right. A Nikon D7000 is $1,199.95 MSRP and the SLT77 is $1,399.99 MSRP, for comparison.
Unlikely for them to do so as the production costs of these cameras are very much out of Japan and influence of yen.
It would be a marketing disaster if the prices of newly launched products goes up because of its popularity. Cant imagine the backlash. I wouldnt be surprised if its the retailers that are jagging the price up, especially those online retailers who are holding on to limited stocks.
Sony is seeing a huge demand that outstrips their current supply. Scalpers are making a killing and if they do bump prices, it would still be considered undercutting the scalpers/resellers.
Those who absolutely need the gear will buy now to avoid the bump, those who wait will buy with the 30% bump to avoid the third party bigger bumps. It is win-win.
Those who are going to hold off because of the 30% were holding off for other reasons already. Saying a 30% price bump will be detrimental or is a sign of hubris/ego/etc. is kind of silly, since the rate of sales of the units suggests that the cameras were under priced.
If anything, I would call it a “correction” to the pricing.
😀 lol… expected!
Please continue to make the camera hard to find in the market, never speed up the production please. then charging price increment of 30% or > for the demand versus stock problem. Win-win approach for store and sony. lol…
Yes it happened in Hong Kong.
The following is the new official listed price in sony Hong Kong.
Effective from Feb 1
>30% up!!!
USD 1 = HKD 7.8
SAL1680Z HKD 5390 > HKD 7390
SAL1635Z HKD11990 > HKD 15990
SAL2470Z HKD 12590 > HKD 15990
SAL85F14Z HKD 9990 > HKD 12590
SAL135F18 HKD 10990 > HKD 13880
SAL70300G HKD 5980 > HKD 7790
SAL70400G HKD 10990 > HKD 15990
haha.. bye bye Sony ! XD
Well in uk I bought a 5n with 18-55mm for 425 about a month before xmas. Now the same retailer is selling it for nearly 100 pounds more. Either its the retailers or sony but its the lack of stock thats bumped it up. once more stock is out there it’ll go back to norm im sure!
I will stop buying Sony, shame, but there are other options. Great nex7 but not so great lenses… Look around for other brands.
Enjoy spending more on Canikon then. 😀
BTW, was this one of those good news :-[
I noticed that most of Sony’s lenses went up in price at B&H several months ago.
Both Nikon and Canon price their 70-200/f2.8 at $2,399.00 USD but Sony list it’s at $1,900.00, so it looks as if all three will be priced about the same.
It should be noted that Canon and Nikon’s lenses are both a much newer design and include stabilization and optically considered by many to be better in the corners than the Sony product.
I bet nobody will complain when production finally hits the shops, everyone who wants a Sony has one, the FF’s are now much more than rumour, and current models to be had in retail for much less than MRRP.
There is no conspiracy. It’s just a matter of patience.
I got my current A500 camera a few month after release, second hand and half MRRP price.
Last time I spoke with Sony UK (about 1.5 weeks ago) they stated the next run of Nex-7 stock would hit our shores at the end of January.
I agree with Ben, last week I visited Store World Show Room, and they said me the same thing its due to reach in store before end of January.
Peter @ India
Ah that wonderful law of supply and demand!
If the B&H is out of the 5N, then that’s good indication that there’s strong demand for the Sony product.
Contrary to belief that there’s mounting competition, the 5N has no peers at this time.
As I see it, it has taken the mirrorless system to a whole new level of play. As a result, it’s basking in it’s success.
It amazes me that Sony is being so imperious in the dissemination of information regarding their various delayed products. I think the community has been pretty generous and understanding of the problems caused by the floods, and we’ve by and large kept our rabid object lust for these cameras in check. Sony is rewarding us by being elusive and uncommunicative, thereby squandering this goodwill – which is now turning to rancor and soon might be open rebellion. They are VERY lucky that the Fuji offering leaves many feeling ambivalent at best – if it had been a home run, a lot of Nex 7 folks would have bolted.
My advice to Sony? Take the exact opposite approach to what you’ve been taking. Keep everyone REALLY informed. Start a blog. Show pictures of the progress that you’ve been making with the new factory, and talk about the problems you face, and the shipments you’re making. Let the community feel like they’re being let in – not getting a punch in the face!
In fairness if you just take the time to ring them they’ll tell you as much as they know. I don’t disagree with your comments (they could be doing a lot more) but a lot of people just want to be constantly spoon fed rather than simply asking the question (which takes all of 2 minutes).
Problem is… when you ask the question an honest informed answer is not the response. The answers are not uniform they are expeditious.
I actually had a rep tell me that one answer was official yet the second, more accurate answer was above his pay grade. Neither was entirely believable. –After a time, even the truth seems suspicious.