Camera prices – Have the Japanese taken leave of their senses?

[jbCinC_12]

It's a damn shame!

Thank goodness I bit the bullet and got the Fujifilm XM-5 (by sheer luck from a camera shop in the States, since it's going through backorders like crazy) before all the shenanigans start.  I shutter to think what the future will hold.

[Andrew Reid]

An update on the US side of things:

https://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2025/05/21/camera-prices-surge-amid-u.s.-tariff-hikes-companies-respond-with-delays

Could be possible that camera companies will import greater quantities to Mexico and Canada.

[Andrew Reid]

19 hours ago, jbCinC_12 said:

I shutter to think what the future will hold.

A burst of about 8fps?

[jbCinC_12]

12 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

A burst of about 8fps?

Hence the pun.  Meanwhile the courts had blocked the tariffs, only for it to be appealed and some of it relaxed.  It's and up and down situation that can be frustrating.

[Andrew Reid]

What's annoying for the rest of us that didn't vote for Trump and aren't even American is that you just know the camera manufacturers will use this is an excuse to raise prices in other regions as well, because they've been pushed into acting like a cartel by a madman with orange makeup.

It's a bit like the world just getting over COVID and then some muppet in Russia gives us a war.

The world was getting over a lot of supply chain and economic issues then the American public decided it would be a good idea to have a convict in charge of the government and go back to 1870s trade policies.

[jbCinC_12]

5 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

What's annoying for the rest of us that didn't vote for Trump and aren't even American is that you just know the camera manufacturers will use this is an excuse to raise prices in other regions as well, because they've been pushed into acting like a cartel by a madman with orange makeup.

It's a bit like the world just getting over COVID and then some muppet in Russia gives us a war.

The world was getting over a lot of supply chain and economic issues then the American public decided it would be a good idea to have a convict in charge of the government and go back to 1870s trade policies.

That's greed for ya.  The consumer pays the price — BIG TIME! 

As an American (that didn't vote for the Orange bomb) I dread it, but I see it through and hope that the nightmare is over.  A real shit-show in the making.

[Andrew Reid]

Feeling for you. Trump is an economic abomination. It's like a horse race, think of it of all the horses chomping at the bit to get out the gates to increase their profits and prices, but if only one or 2 horses bolt, consumers will shun them and buy the cheaper products... if all the horses bolt at once, what are consumers gonna do... feck all about it.

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

Looks like Fujifilm jumped into the bandwagon.

X-E5 leaks suggest that it is a X-T50 repackaged (in a VERY beautiful body, should say) - same specs, same 2.36mp EVF. Have a film simulation dial, but FINALLY you could select personal film recipes. The back lcd hinge looks like will be the same of the X-T50, but with a downgraded LCD panel (yes - the 1.0mp unit of the X-M5).

All this for $1699. Yep, $300 more than the X-T50, which have a better LCD panel. Yep, just $100 less than the X-T5, a much superior camera.

[Andrew Reid]

On the one hand it's great, as it's the closest you can now get to an X100 VI with an X-mount.

On the other hand, the price means far fewer people will be able to justify buying it, let alone any lenses for it which is the whole point of the system - to get both smartphone & X100 VI users to step into the very profitable X-mount ecosystem.

Then again as cameras are only aimed at rich people these days, it's probably all moot.

[Andrew Reid]

17 hours ago, Marcio Kabke Pinheiro said:

All this for $1699. Yep, $300 more than the X-T50, which have a better LCD panel. Yep, just $100 less than the X-T5, a much superior camera.

And the X-T50 was already a steep rise on the pricing of prior models, even DPReview called it out, which is very rare as they act like the third arm of camera PR agencies.

Also with the X-E5 now being priced as an X-Pro... It means the X-Pro5 will have to be in the region of $2500.

A lot for an APS-C camera.

I think the pricing strategy is silly.

I think it's heading for disaster actually. And the alarming thing is that Trump's tariffs which nobody in Europe voted for has fucked OUR prices as well. Like COVID it has accelerated already existing trends and price pressures.

The entire Japanese camera industry is heading for a Leica-style niche of crazy prices.

And it will all unravel for them in a big way, when further advanced smartphones arrive (even more capable than the 1" sensor high-end current models like Xiaomi 15 Ultra) and DJI + other Chinese enterprises begin to compete more directly in terms of product line.

Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji could all be history in 10 years time.

[Phil A]

The X-E5 is baffling to me. It has premium pricing but a lot of aspects that are low to mid tier hardware. 1 Million dot display which is a downgrade even against the X-E4? 2.36 Million dot EVF still. If this is really using the new pricing that got more expensive in the whole world because of US tariffs, this is going to be 2kEUR in Europe?

We have all the image quality we need at this point since a while but it feels there is massive stagnation in usability / user experience even though the prices just keep rising. Most small cameras (S9, A7CII) have no joystick for the focus point (except for all the Fujifilm cameras that replaced the D-pad with them), the EVF stay at low resolution, the displays are actually getting worse now. And what the hell is with the image simulation wheel?! Who actively wants to change their picture profile with a physical wheel instead having that do something that impacts shooting?!

[Clark Nikolai]

1 hour ago, Phil A said:

And what the hell is with the image simulation wheel?! Who actively wants to change their picture profile with a physical wheel instead having that do something that impacts shooting?!

Right. The physical wheel should be for commonly used features like EV adjustment, not for rarely used things like picture profiles.  I have a pocket camera with one and every time I put it away in my pocket, the fabric moves the dial to some other position and I have put it back before shooting. Slows me down.

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

2 hours ago, Phil A said:

The X-E5 is baffling to me. It has premium pricing but a lot of aspects that are low to mid tier hardware. 1 Million dot display which is a downgrade even against the X-E4? 2.36 Million dot EVF still. If this is really using the new pricing that got more expensive in the whole world because of US tariffs, this is going to be 2kEUR in Europe?

We have all the image quality we need at this point since a while but it feels there is massive stagnation in usability / user experience even though the prices just keep rising. Most small cameras (S9, A7CII) have no joystick for the focus point (except for all the Fujifilm cameras that replaced the D-pad with them), the EVF stay at low resolution, the displays are actually getting worse now. And what the hell is with the image simulation wheel?! Who actively wants to change their picture profile with a physical wheel instead having that do something that impacts shooting?!

I was one that was advocating that Fuji treats custom color profiles in the same way that they do with their film simulations - which looks like they do, finally. No more complicated methods using the C positions, which are NOT meant to that.
But I agree - film recipes are a trend and probably people want to experiment more since now it will not be a pain in the ass to access them (I'm one of them), but it could be EASILY just a Q menu setting.

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

People are comapring it to the X-E4 price, but the X-E4 was clearly designed as an entry level camera.

But the insanity in price is already shown with the cameta that this X-E5 try to mimic: the X100VI.

The X100VI comes with a 23mm f/2 lens included, hybrid viewfinder with better EVF panel (3.69m dots vs 2.36 dots), a better rear LCD (1.62m dots vs 1.04m dots), the combined shutter speed / iso dial (which is expensive to manufacture), a real integrated flash with a leaf shutter that syncs much better with it, and an internal ND filter. The two downsides are the slightly less effective IBIS (much more noted in video, which is not the priority on both models), and the ability to change lenses.

The X100VI, with a 23mm f/2 lens included, is listed by $1599. The X-E5, with a 23mm f/2.8, by the rumors, is $1899. $300 more for an inferior camera / lens combo.

[MrSMW]

I think it’s great.

Another camera that could have been great but isn’t so I have utterly zero interest in and therefore will not be spending any money on.

Keep it up camera industry, you are doing good and keeping my money firmly in my bank account 🫡