20D - expected price drop

cj1150gs

Hello,

Noob with first question here... I am willing to replace my Canon 300D (Digital Rebel) with something more durable.

The 20D fits my needs and I was about to order it when I heard of the 30D. Besides spot metering I have no special interest in the 30D so I thought I could profit from lower prices on the 20D. But as far as I can tell prices are about the same as they were 6 months ago...:dunno

I have not observed what happened with the 300D price when the 350D got announced, :dunno So I was hoping you Canon pros could help: What is the expected price drop on the 20D in the near future?

Thanks in advance,

Carlos
www.cj.smugmug.com

photobug

...The 20D fits my needs and I was about to order it when I heard of the 30D. ... I thought I could profit from lower prices on the 20D. But as far as I can tell prices are about the same as they were 6 months ago... .... So I was hoping you Canon pros could help: What is the expected price drop on the 20D in the near future?

I believe the answer is simple Supply and Demand. The 30D would have to compete with the 20D before any vendor would discount new 20D's. And a fair number of 20D owners would have to be stampeding to upgrade to the 30D for the price of used 20D's to drop.

Let's look at each of those.

NEW -- The price of new 20D's have bounced around, but you can get one for about $1160 now (reference: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002XQI2E/). The 30D is coming out at $1499. That's $340 (30%) price difference. So "at the moment", they don't compete any more than the Rebel XT competes with the 20D (on the other end). Secondly -- and this is a big one -- the 30D isn't even available yet, in any quantity. So there is no competition between the two, except for customers that might have bought a 20D but are now holding off on their purchase while considering a 30D.

USED -- is the used market seeing an increase in Supply of used 20D's? No ... at least not yet. Personally, I don't think we'll see a flood of 20D's hit the market after the 30D comes out, because the differences between the two aren't that earth-shaking (I have a 20D and don't plan to upgrade). The differences between the 10D and 20D made for a much more compelling "upgrade" story (I did make that upgrade, immediately after the 20D came out).

Also, one could argue that at $1160, the price of new 20D's already has dropped (it was more like $1300 just a couple of months ago ... albeit, with rebates available). Nonetheless, after the 30D is out in volume (maybe 4-6 months from now), I'd expect a slow price slide (with a shallow slope) in 20D prices (both new and used). I'd be surprised if there are very many new 20D's available after the end of this calendar year, as the supply pipelines drain out.

...But heh, those are just one fella's opinions.

LiquidOps

cj1150gs wrote:

Besides spot metering I have no special interest in the 30D so I thought I could profit from lower prices on the 20D.

I read a rumor somewhere, Trying to find the source again, that spot metering will be availabe to the 20D via a firmware hack coming soon.

True or not... I don't know... but it's just what I heard....

Steven

wxwax

I suspect that when the 30D comes out, it will be next to impossible to find a new 20D for sale.

Normally, with a model change, you'd expect the Fleamarkets to be flooded with used versions of the outgoing model. But the 30D is such a small incremental improvement over the 20D, you might not see it this time around.

Still, if you're OK with used (and I always am) you might be able to get a good deal by being vigilant over at www.fredmiranda.com

windoze

LiquidOps wrote:

I read a rumor somewhere, Trying to find the source again, that spot metering will be availabe to the 20D via a firmware hack coming soon.

True or not... I don't know... but it's just what I heard....

Steven

THAT RUMOR MIGHT BE FROM BHPHOTO.COM, A REVIEWER OF THE "30D" MENTIONED THAT RUMOR...
Review:


As a National Geographic writer I have tried the 30D before
the announcement. Just a few words: if you have the 20D, do
not exchange it for 30D unless you're really have money and
think that the 2,5LCD is really useful for you. About the
Spot medition, 20D will now have it with a new pirate firmware.


TROY

David_S85

FYI, the 20D is already less than $1,100 at B&H.

Same exact image quality as the 30D, as far as we know.

In B&H search, type in "psjan06" and then place the 20D in your cart for the special price.

LiquidOps

windoze wrote:

THAT RUMOR MIGHT BE FROM BHPHOTO.COM, A REVIEWER OF THE "30D" MENTIONED THAT RUMOR...
Review:


As a National Geographic writer I have tried the 30D before
the announcement. Just a few words: if you have the 20D, do
not exchange it for 30D unless you're really have money and
think that the 2,5LCD is really useful for you. About the
Spot medition, 20D will now have it with a new pirate firmware.


TROY

yes... that's where I read it....

who knows if it's true... but definately interesting...

Steven

BassAngler

Wondering if anyone has gone through this recently

OMG, I was a mess just a week ago but have slowly plugged away, asked questions and now have a presentable site. Just nned to learn more now and tweak!

Good luck and welcome!!

cj1150gs

Hello,

Thank you very much for your opinions/info/links. I have just ordered a 20D - your fault .

Thanks again,

Carlos

limbik

I really hope that firmware pans out, I wouldn't be so upset with canon at squashing the value of my 20D while it happened to be up for auction. In that case I'd just keep it Arrrrr!

mercphoto

The spot metering firmware update might be nice. But what I really want is pirated 20D firmware to:

1) not auto-rotate on the LCD, only on the computer.
2) 9999 images per folder.

limbik

mercphoto wrote:

The spot metering firmware update might be nice. But what I really want is pirated 20D firmware to:

1) not auto-rotate on the LCD, only on the computer.
2) 9999 images per folder.

Yea, even if we don't get the spot metering I want it for the 9999 (heck even 999) images/folder, no rotate also, 1/3 ISOs, faster raw bursts, and pssibly improved af algorithms.

jimf

limbik wrote:

Yea, even if we don't get the spot metering I want it for the 9999 (heck even 999) images/folder, no rotate also, 1/3 ISOs, faster raw bursts, and pssibly improved af algorithms.

Seeing as you are one of the people who really want this, what's the big deal about the number of images per folder? I'll shoot hundreds of shots at a whack but the folder organization is pretty much moot because whatever software I use to pull it off pulls it out of the camera's folders and into a single folder.

So, why do you care?

Curious,

Eric&Susan

limbik wrote:

Yea, even if we don't get the spot metering I want it for the 9999 (heck even 999) images/folder, no rotate also, 1/3 ISOs, faster raw bursts, and pssibly improved af algorithms.

What are the advantages to having 9999 images/folder? What would it be useful for?

Sorry if it's an obvious question but I've heard it before and don't understand.

Eric

limbik

I don't use software to pull images off the camera. I copy files directly from the CF card. Its easier to organize shots even if they are all in one folder simply with a "hand" shot or somthing to that effect, but when they get auto sorted into multiple folders, its much harder to see what's there and move only what I want in one action.

jimf

limbik wrote:

I don't use software to pull images off the camera. I copy files directly from the CF card. Its easier to organize shots even if they are all in one folder simply with a "hand" shot or somthing to that effect, but when they get auto sorted into multiple folders, its much harder to see what's there and move only what I want in one action.

OK, although it seems like too much work to do the copy by hand in any case. While I can see not wanting to pay for software to do it (I went years before I bought software for organizing shots) I wrote a shell script to do the job. The script would ask the name of the folder to create, create it with the date, then suck all of the shots off the camera and into the folder. So I never bothered with the folder structure in the camera.

limbik

I've actually tried several different apps, and finally decided I really prefer direct copy. Its one less application on my hd, using cpu cycles, and one less step in my workflow. However, the RawViewer powertoy for xp is absolutley essential.

Nikolai

Well,

jimf wrote:

OK, although it seems like too much work to do the copy by hand in any case. While I can see not wanting to pay for software to do it (I went years before I bought software for organizing shots) I wrote a shell script to do the job. The script would ask the name of the folder to create, create it with the date, then suck all of the shots off the camera and into the folder. So I never bothered with the folder structure in the camera.

During the days of yore (Sony DSC F-505x) I did the same thing: wrote a little app to grab everyhting from the MemoryStick in one click.
Now I grew old and lazy and simply do following:
1) plug the card into the reader
2) do search for (*.cr2) (or, rarely, *.cr2;*.jpg)
3) select al the results and then use wonderful SendToAnyFolder tool from XP PowerToys (get to use it since the time when they were PowerToys for Wndows 95 :-)
This tool has its own history, it autocreates all the folders, so using it is a breeze.

Just my f/0.00000002

HTH

mercphoto

jimf wrote:

Seeing as you are one of the people who really want this, what's the big deal about the number of images per folder? I'll shoot hundreds of shots at a whack but the folder organization is pretty much moot because whatever software I use to pull it off pulls it out of the camera's folders and into a single folder.

When I put CF cards into my Epson P-2000 device I lose the ability to use any existing software to pull images off the P-2000. I'm then forced to use Finder to copy files from the P-2000 to my notebook. And that means dealing with a number of folders that have (at most) 100 images per. And that is a royal pain.

jimf

mercphoto wrote:

When I put CF cards into my Epson P-2000 device I lose the ability to use any existing software to pull images off the P-2000. I'm then forced to use Finder to copy files from the P-2000 to my notebook. And that means dealing with a number of folders that have (at most) 100 images per. And that is a royal pain.

It would still be easy to script, but I note that this particular problem is fixable for less than $20 by buying a standalone card reader. Way cheaper than a $1400 camera :-).

Anyway thanks guys, you answered my question.