I talked to Rod with Photomark today, and I was told Arca Swiss was going to increase its price by as much as 20% from this month. We now live in a world of inflation, and photographic equipments are no exceptions.
I talked to Rod with Photomark today, and I was told Arca Swiss was going to increase its price by as much as 20% from this month. We now live in a world of inflation, and photographic equipments are no exceptions.
Fuji prices jumped 20% on 5/1/8, according to Jeff at B.G.
Good think you have the best cam of anything I have seen on the market...Glad you got that one (the 8X10 of course). One other 810 was appealing on Ebay and it went cheap, but without the Orbix which is something that makes your cam equivalent in price. You also seemed to get a rather unique specimen, weight wise, than the one that sold on Ebay, and of course from a Forum member makes it very special.
Price hike reminds me of the speaker world and how they had to inflate the price of raw drivers from manufacturer's like Seas. Totally bunk/lame if you ask me. Not only is the Euro overkill right now, but 20% increase? Reverse back during the times when Thalman and many others were picking up things from Europe when the EUR was basically .75 of the dollar and we now see basically a close to 1.6 to the dollar+20% of that...I can't do the math quickly, but it's well, overkill.
Cheers!
As the name implies Arca are a Swiss company. Swizerland does not use the Euro, but the Swiss Franc. If we just take the last year as an example: (x-rates.com)
swiss franc dollar rates
---------------------------
April 2007 0.824858
April 2008 0.986519
% rise 19.60
You would have been better off with euros at a % rise of 16.58
So just on the exchange rate, the rise appears justified. Add in the fact that the cost of materials/energy has increased in real terms over the same period , Arca are probably sitting on most of the cost differential themselves.
P.S. as Fuji was mentioned; if you take the same period, the dollar fall is 15.84% , so Fuji are factoring in more of the materials cost rise I guess. I know if I had any money, I would be buying in the US market right now esp for used items. Even taking high shipping and the 22% import tax here into account it can be cheaper to import from the US.
thanks for the correction Bob. I had seen that it was started in Zurich and supposed that it was still Swiss.
While I have 3 Arca Swiss cameras, the price has not been my problem. I had a 5x7 on order for many months and finally cancelled the order after their promises of delivery kept being pushed back month by month. The truth is not in their production people.
Once they can supply the goods, price will matter. Also, if we see a decline in the Euro, how long will it take for a reduction in price?
Mikec, the Arca Swiss is a Swiss company with a manufacturing factory in France. To call it a French company is as correct as to call American computer firms Taiwanese firms because the computers are manufactured there.
If you press Bob Solomon on this point, he will tell you that you can choose between French and Swiss company for the Arca Swiss cameras.
You'll see... he'll tell you...
Bookmarks