[Quartermaster James]

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Here's a question that came up the other day for which I really have no good answer:

With the price of all other things tech dropping rapidly, why aren't there any affordable full frame digital cameras?

I know affordable is a relative term, but all the money I've spent on two Pentax bodies and a moderate collection of lenses still wouldn't buy an entry level FF body alone.

Thoughts?

[Imp]

Canon 6D - 1,400, or 1,000 if in a kit with a lens. Is that more than what you've spent total? K-3 700, K-30 500 is already 1,200...

[luftfluss]

Sony A7 has been around $1000-1200 for a couple of months.

In general, I don't think it's in the best interest of manufacturers to drop FF prices to the point where they squeeze their own APS-C cameras.

[Imp]

In general, I don't think it's in the best interest of manufacturers to drop FF prices to the point where they squeeze their own APS-C cameras.

Especially when their aps-c camera are so expensive!!! Canon t6i, 7-800 dollars body only! In comparison to the K-50, arguably still a better camera, at least ergonomically, at only $300!

[Darley]

Well you can buy a used Canon 5D for about £250 / $380 which is cheap enough. Sensors are expensive to make and there aren't the economies of scale with FF because there will never be the demand, bearing in mind the lenses are much larger and more expensive too. Ordinary people (not like us) are increasingly looking for compactness and carryability (made-up word) rather than IQ.

[luftfluss]

Especially when their aps-c camera are so expensive!!! Canon t6i, 7-800 dollars body only! In comparison to the K-50, arguably still a better camera, at least ergonomically, at only $300!

To be fair, the T6i should be compared with the Pentax K-S2, since they have a more similar feature set.. and even then, the K-S2 is cheaper and IMO a better all-around camera.

I really like my K-30.

[Adam]

Here's a question that came up the other day for which I really have no good answer:

With the price of all other things tech dropping rapidly, why aren't there any affordable full frame digital cameras?

I know affordable is a relative term, but all the money I've spent on two Pentax bodies and a moderate collection of lenses still wouldn't buy an entry level FF body alone.

Thoughts?

Yup, the D600/610 and Canon 6D certainly fall in the affordable category. They're priced just above enthusiast APS-C bodies.

Adam
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[Alex645]

Here's a question that came up the other day for which I really have no good answer:

With the price of all other things tech dropping rapidly, why aren't there any affordable full frame digital cameras?

I know affordable is a relative term, but all the money I've spent on two Pentax bodies and a moderate collection of lenses still wouldn't buy an entry level FF body alone.

Thoughts?

Nikon D610 right now is under $1500. Their high end APS-C, the D7200 is at $1100. Affordable is relative when you compare these prices to medium format, higher end full frame, or even the Nikon F6. Considering what DSLRs used to cost in the first 10 years, the prices are relatively cheap. I've known pros that bought the original 4 MP Canon EOS-1D for over $10,000 in 2001 and owed more on their loan than the camera was worth by the time they paid it off.

Because I can't afford FF, I continue to shoot medium format film with a Pentax 645 and then scan huge TIFF files. Many photographers still shoot 35mm and get great scans. At a certain point, it is not economical to do this, but if you're an art photographer or a hobbyist, there are wonderful films like Kodak Ektar and Ilford XP2 which scan beautifully and give you great bokeh, dynamic range, and resolution.

[JeffB]

Kodak 14n $450 on ebay Kodak DCS Pro 14N 13 9 MP Digital SLR Camera in Original Box | eBay

I had one of these 10 years ago and the image quality was far, far beyond any other DSLR at the time.

[pinholecam]

FF cameras are already very close to the price levels of aps-c cameras, though it may not match feature to feature.
Usually the lower end FF is close to the price of the highest end APSC.

If you don't need any bells and whistles, the used Canon 5D is a steal and a very relevant/good camera imo. (I had one)
Max ISO3200, but its a ISO3200 that 'works'

An A7II is about USD1100 here.
The older A7 is probably cheaper.

IMO, camera companies are killing themselves with a yearly product cycle and FF priced too cheaply.
Its not sustainable in the long run, since the running/rnd costs can't keep up to this sort of short cycle.

Sony clearly knows this and wants to get ahead and they have an advantage as their MILC are simpler to make (basically a PCBA with 2 LCDs)

[beachboy2]

I'm enjoying trying out my FF Pentax K and Takumar lenses on my FF Pentax SLRs SP1000 and KM!

[bigdavephoto]

Something that nobody else has said is the amount of people that buy FF or Dslr's in general.


Yes, camera companys do sell a lot of cameras but when you compare them to DVD players, camera companys only sell a couple of drops in the bucket. 9 or 10 years ago DVD players were around 75-100 dollars for a cheap one, now they run around 35 dollars.

[biz-engineer]

Price is not a primary competitive element in the interchangeable camera business except when the goal to acquire new customers. The reason is when a customer has invested into lenses of a specific lens mount, the cost of switching from one camera brand to another is such that customers often don't switch. Therefore, depending on the goal, cameras are priced to make more profits (D810, 5DIII) or for market penetration (incentive to get invested into a lens mount) such as D610 and 6D entry level cameras. Pentax had the same approach with entry level bodies such as K200D, K30,K50,K500,K-S1, the goal is to hook new users with incentives to buy a crippled cheap cameras , lenses and get them wanting more and buy a more expensive body. And that works. Exception is : D600 was a market penetration price attack initiated by Nikon, and Canon replied with the 6D, but in the meantime Nikon had developed the D750 better spec then the 6D. For people who think that a FF cost twice as much as an APSC they are plain wrong. As Falk mentioned, the price barrier between FF and APSC is not related to cost, but the artificial market segmentation due to the cost barrier for changing from one system to another.

[Quartermaster James]

Thanks for all the responses! Seems like my buddies and I were far off the mark as to what a full frame camera actually costs!

[EssJayEff]

If you use a camera to earn money, then "affordable" is relative to the income you can produce. If you can create sufficient income from its purchase, especially if you can depreciate it for tax purposes, then the camera is very affordable. If you use a camera for personal enjoyment, then it is only affordable relative to your disposable income. To some pros, cameras costing tens of thousands are affordable.