Toronto Photography Meetup Group

http://www.photoprice.ca/article/photop ... d-by-canon

"Over the last five years, we've been proud to help Canadians find the lowest prices on camera equipment, considering sources from both the US and Canada. But today we have been silenced for Canon products -- we're forced to remove the largest (and cheapest) US store from our Canon product price comparisons.

It's a growing opinion that Canon no longer wants US stores to market to Canada. Why? Most Canon products (most lenses) are still priced higher in Canada, and they would rather Canadians buy from the local distribution chain. I'm all for supporting local retailers, but it is the competitive pressure from the US (same product, same warranty) that keeps both stores and Canon Canada honest in their pricing. Over the last five years, we've seen the average pricing gap between US and Canadian pricing shrink from 19% down to 3%. Could this have been due to pressure from sites like PhotoPrice.ca?

Because US stores are no longer allowed to advertise Canon products to Canadians, some stores have asked us to remove all of their Canon products from our listings. Unfortunately, when they ask, we must comply. These US stores still sell and ship to Canadians. We're just not allowed to tell you about it, or compare their prices. Not only are we unable to show you the best price listings, we also take a large financial hit as those listings generate revenue that support and pay for this website.

I feel strongly that all Canadians should have the right to choose where to buy, and we shouldn't let ourselves be blindfolded by large multinational corporations trying to optimize their global profit. "

soooooo who's the darkside now huh?

B&H I guess? Lol, like this is going to help them get people to buy in Canada

Yeah.. thats pretty lame. Oh well.

It will help. It won't completely stop it. Won't make much of a dent but it will help a bit IMHO.

There are some people who are not aware that Canon lenses can be bought on-line cheaper in the US. Websites like photoprice.ca were for many the first indication that one can buy lenses or accessories cheaper in the US. It is these people that will now be made unaware of their options (at least until they end up on a forum like this).

if someone knows about photoprice they surely possess the aptitude to go directly to the store's website

It makes me want to shop stateside all the more.

Give me Liberty, or Give me Death

Pleezzee. Just look at the Adorama or Amazon price - that is the B+H price.

FWIW this is a disappointing turn of events but not altogether surprising.

o, I see B&H followed Aden with their own ambassador in the social field

I don't know who's following whom, but I've been doing this for B&H ever since the days when CompuServe was king, AOL was strictly for newbies, and Prodigy was providing the very first version of Netscape. :-)

- henry

....or Canon could distribute to Canadian retailers at a price that can allow them to price more competitively with American Retailers.

It's a good thing Welcome aboard, B&H!

We're collecting the set

I think it's a sad turn of events... but we're smart buyers right? We can look on another site when one goes away.

Henry ,welcome to TPMG. I have seen you on a number of other forums and it is nice to see.

The price fixing by both Canon and Nikon (and other manufacturers and suppliers in many fields) really skirts the boarders of legality in both the US and Canada, but unless we make a fuss, there will be no pressure for our governments to intervene and make change, or for the vendors to stop doing it.
The fact that a local retail store such as Aden, Henry's or Future Shop are prevented by these Vendors from deciding their own prices or offering their own sales or incentive programs is shameful and should be stopped.

Paul, while I agree -Apple has been doing this for years. You are only allowed to be an authorized dealer if you agree not to sell their products for less than MSRP.

The days of Canon Nikon monopoly is near its end... The DSLRs are a dying breed and so is the whole business model that made things work for the two Camera makers... In other words don't be surprised at such desperate measures by Canon.

By this summer, once the new generation of mirroless cameras become widely available and the masses become aware of their sex appeal, there will be so many DSLR bodies and lenses in the classified of all sorts that the prices will plummet...

Don't forget, The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo was carrying a Sony Nex...

Yeah, that's going to make me run out and buy one. There's going to be an uptick in tattoo gun sales too.

My sentiments exactly.

The target is hispter chicks, who keep wasting their time with holgas, the biggest camera market that no company has yet exploited... I don't think you fall under that category... But then again even some guys who don't consider a small camera a threat to their manhood would mind a Nex or like...

A DSLR is an outdated design. Its a noisy, ugly and heavy piece of gear that really has no place in the age of sleek smart phones and sexy camera such as the recent fuji releases and Sony Nex, oly OM-D etc.... And at some point the masses will realize this and dump their DSLRs like crazy on classifieds... In my guess that will be this summer.

Every time someone posts really good pictures of anything on the forums I'm on people always ask what kind of camera the poster used. The answer is always some kind of DSLR and the people asking are the ones using smartphones and crappy P&S. If you think people are going to dump their DSLRs this summer I have some unicorns to sell you.

The best way to become a profitable professional photographer is to sell your camera.

So start dumping away.
Won't help the quality of your work though.

You mean image quality? Well, the low-res uploads for online viewing is more an indicative of the post-processing skill of the person than true image quality - especially with current sensors... But even when it comes prints, long time ago the owner of luminous landscapes even fooled pros with prints of Canon G10 and medium format digital.

Anyway, the digital camera sensors have plateaued. What people want now is fashion, show-off factor and retro-feel... there will always be a need for DSLRs, especially where people take the size of a camera as an indication of its seriousness (wedding photography) otherwise for the average weekend shooter, he'd rather carry something that makes him/her feel good and allows him to walk around without getting tired.

I have a DSLR and I use it when I play the fake PJ, otherwise I have completely lost interest in it, and I never take it out for 'street' because not only its too heavy, i just feel rude using it against people.

I really dig your train of thought. Good photography is about having a sleek, sexy, sex machine of a camera that makes you feel superior to others. I'm feeling sexy just thinking about dumping my dslr.

That really makes no sense, but anyway, Lets agree to disagree.

I never mentioned "good photography" anywhere, this is pure gear talk... But as I said, lets agree to disagree.

Unfortunately, in this "gear talk" thread, so far, you have not mentioned anything about the actual technical aspects of any camera. You're rambling on about Sleekness, Sexiness, Show-off Factor, and Retro-Feel like a used car salesman. Either way, lets not get into an argument or anything. Lets agree to disagree.

DSLR's and Mirrorless are two completely different market segments and they will never overlap. If they did the companies that produce them would start losing money, and I don't think anyone is out to lose money. 4/3's Mirrorless is simply the new Point and Shoot camera. Digital P&S camera's used to cost $400-$700, this is how that price point comes back, through 4/3's. It's good for the consumer because they get a great camera with better quality, and its great for the company because they're making money.

It's not rocket science, Apple has been doing it for years. They put a few more features into an ipad or iphone every year and keep the same price point. Unfortunately camera makers have let the price points on a standard consumer point and shoots fall to $100 and now they're making up for lost time.

how is photoprice.ca being silenced? with a gun to their head?