On Fri, Jan 1, 2010 at 12:04 PM, Graydon <[email protected]> wrote: > On Fri, Jan 01, 2010 at 11:48:46AM -0500, Adam Maas scripsit: >> On Fri, Jan 1, 2010 at 11:37 AM, Graydon <[email protected]> wrote: > [I assert Sony wants the other DSLR makers out of business] >> >> I suspect if they really wanted to put other DSLR makers out of business >> >> they wouldn't be selling sensors to Nikon and Pentax. >> > >> > Japan does have *some* anti-trust regulation, there may be long-term >> > contracts in place, and I'm pretty sure no one but Sony is still using >> > Sony sensors for the flagship cameras. Which is (I think) indicative. >> > >> > Anybody but Sony getting/using the A900/A850 sensor? >> >> Nikon, in the D3x. > > A900, top 9 results on Google Products -- 2,699 USD Release date, > September 2009. > > D3x, same top 9 minus Amazon on Google Products -- 7,499 USD for 2 > vendors, 7,999 USD otherwise. More than twice the price. Release date > roughly Christmas, 2008. > > The 5 kUSD price difference is some mix of Sony subsidies to their > camera prices, Sony charging Nikon rather differently than they charge > themselves, and (presumptively) different actual bill of materials > costs. (Though I wouldn't bet the D3x is necessarily more expensive in > BOM terms, the 900's viewfinder would be an expensive item, for > example.) > > So, yeah, I'm wrong on the "nobody but Sony" point. I don't think I'm > wrong on the "dominant or crushing position" objective on Sony's part. > Making Nikon help pay for it is just icing from Sony's point of view. > > -- Graydon
Nikon's pricing on the D3x is known to be silly. They priced against the intro price to the 1Ds mark III, but haven't dropped their price as radically as Canon has. Note there's a fairly large difference in spec outside the viewfinder and sensor. The D3x is a flagship pro camera and built and sealed like it, the A900 rides the line between amateur and pro and is priced like it. The D3x is the D3s's big brother and is priced like it ($2300 premium over the D3s, and it ain't sensor cost). You're mistaking pricing to the market (A900 is priced comparably to its competition, the 5DmII and D700, the D3x is priced comparably to its competition, the 1DsmIII) as being based on sensor cost. At this level, production cost has much less to do with pricing than perceived pricepoint, the D3x and 1DsmIII for example have HUGE margins on them. Shoudl Sony ever come out with a true competitor to the high-res 1 series or single-digit Nikon's, you can be sure it will be priced comparably to them. -- M. Adam Maas http://www.mawz.ca Explorations of the City Around Us. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
