Originally posted by shadowraven Hello,
I was wondering about the general cost of photography. The reason is because I am considering writing a book about the wealthy getting involved with activities and as a result the cost for everyone goes up due to corporate greed.
So;
Is any workshop really worth more than $300?
Is any Camera worth more than $500...I wonder how much they cost to make and market. Take the Sony, Lower cost Nikons, and Olympus cameras, they feel cheap and don't feel worth half the cost. Even my old PZ-1P felt cheap.
Same question on Lenses, especially the cheap feeling lenses.
Other equipment like Lowepro bags, yeah they are nice, but the $100+ price tag?
The same things apply to horseback riding, flying, boating, cars, even motorcycling.
In a free market, products are based on two things...how much they cost (R&D, manufacturing, packaging, marketing, etc.) and how much people are willing to pay for the product. The difference between the two is your profit margin. Both are open to huge variations depending on the product, the process needed to create it, the demographic and price-point it is being marketed to, and on and on.
The questions you are asking seem pretty vague and open to huge interpretation. To say a camera costs "X" to make cannot be done. Nikon might be able to make an AF system for $50 with their process where Canon can't make it for less than $60 because their process is different and has different steps...and they can't use Nikon's process because it's proprietary.
Add in the demand you think your product will have (how many you have to make). If you need to make a million, that camera is cheaper per unit. If you only need to make 1000, it's going to be more expensive for the same camera.
Now add in the different features, materials, functionality, etc. between camera brands and it becomes almost impossible to nail down a price for a "camera". You see where this can go.
Now the second part of the equation...what are we willing to pay. The market controls this and it should. As long as the market is truly free, prices/features/quality will fluctuate to what the market can sustain. If the price starts going up because "the rich" are buying it, someone will find that the cheaper market is not being satisfied and produce a product for that market.
The alternative to "the rich" buying a product and driving up the cost is a controlled market (which is where the USA has been heading for many years). Instead of the market deciding which products are good and which are too pricy, an outside entity (government, etc.) would decide how much a camera should cost. This will limit the company on what they can make thus making the product worse in the long run. And ultimately you have someone who probably knows zilch about a camera telling the entire economy what you are going to get....and that person is probably rich as well.
No system is perfect, but if you have freedom, you have choice...much more than in a controlled environment.
And don't fall for the stereotype class warfare thing. Many of those "rich" are the ones who worked their butts off developing the companies that make the equipment we so cherish.