Found this book in an antiques shop. Perhaps the best book on photography I have seen.

Hi ! This is a BIG ISSUE. I had a printer with liquid tanks. if I didnt use the printer for 3 or 4 days, the jets got clogged. Then it is sometimes a simple issue to get them cleaned , sometimes I had to run the cleaning software 10 times and it took an hour.

Bluntly - it is a pain in the ass unless you are using these things everyday for work. In my opinion, unless the printer will see daily use, its not worth the hedache.

Nikon stock is going up because sophisticated investors are becoming more and more convinced they will get out of the camera business ! Investors want Nikon focussed on the far more profitable lines of business they are in - and to get out of the low margin declining share of the camera business.

The stock price is up because market expectations are they will be getting out of the camera business !

(they many other business lines that are growing and far more profitable).

Yes - this is a huge game from the camera companies.
They control the game by not honoring warranties out of the country where the camera is bought.
The prices of iPhones differ in all countries - but at least Apple honors a warranty globally.

Like everything - it depends. You cannot say that everything is 25% less. When a new model arrives like a Canon R5/6, they are about 10-12% less. Older models (but still in the current line) drop to about 25% below US prices. I only follow Canon - but I have heard the discounting is even more extreme for Nikon. And of course in China, everything is highly negotiable. Unless you are in a company owned flagship store, any independent camera shop will discount if you are there in person and want to negotiate with them.

I coincidentally live across the street from the only Photographic mall in Shanghai. It is a 5 floor mall that only sells cameras and anything related to photography. There are probably 25-30 shops that sell cameras and Canon products. Interestingly, many shops sell many brands but none sell both Canon and Nikon. Must be a requirement to get supply. Anyway - with 25 shops selling Canon, it is easy to negotiate. There are no fixed prices in a mall with 25 Canon shops. There is an entire floor for small accessories shops and an entire floor for just lighting products - amateur up to major professional studio lighting. Profoto as a huge shop for just their own products. It is an amazing place.

OK - if you believe the camera companies are not ripping you off in the US - the great. Nothing is overpriced to you ! Buy up!

To make it simple, assume there are only 2 markets.
If you price a camera at cost in 1 market, and with a profitability in the second market, is the second market overpriced ? The answer is yes, because the pricing in the second market is higher than it should be because the second market has to cover the profits from both markets.
If the camera body is $700 at cost (or even a loss leader) in China, and it is $1,000 in the US (we can then assume the profitability is $300 per unit in the US). The US is subsidizing the marketing efforts in China. Meaning it is overpriced.
Unless you dont mind paying in the US to support Canon's market development elsewhere. If that is part of your pricing equation than the US price is not overpriced.

Thats a ridiculous comment. Just because companies do not price products logically, does not mean they dont overcharge. If Canon charges $1,000 for a camera body in the US, and charges $700 for the same camera body in China, is the US camera overpriced ? Anyone that wants to buy it for $1,000 in the US is welcome to do so. They may think that price is fair - because they cant get it anywhere else with a US warranty - but the fact is, its overpriced.

Thats a ridiculous comment. Just because companies do not price products logically, does not mean they dont overcharge. If Canon charges $1,000 for a camera body in the US, and charges $700 for the same camera body in China, is the US camera overpriced ? Anyone that wants to buy it for $1,000 in the US is welcome to do so. They may think that price is fair - because they cant get it anywhere else with a US warranty - but the fact is, its overpriced.

There is no logic to pricing - so please stop trying to be logical.

If you think there is - then please explain why iPhones are all made in China, but the most expensive market in the world to buy an iPhone is China ??

And by the way - which market in the world has the lowest prices for Canon and Nikon cameras? Also China.

Which also explains that the camera is far overpriced everywhere else, as I have been saying. But in China, even the company owned Canon or Nikon stores are very low cost. Its because the camera companies are trying to develop camera market in China where there was basically none. I dont know if they are selling the cameras at cost, or even below cost, but they much lower priced.

I suspect they could sell the cameras for the same price in the US - but why bother if they can rip off customers and get ridiculous high prices.

And finally, using your example, there would be a difference in pricing. I live in China. many stores sell the same products from multiple markets of manufacture, at different prices.

Buy a can of coke here in a supermarket - made in China where coke has a huge business, and it is about .40 cents a can. But buy a can of coke that is on the shelf right next to it - looks exactly the same but there is small print that says it was made in japan - and that can of coke will cost you about $1.25. Three times the price. The cost was probably close the the same on each for Coke. Which offers greater value? The Japanese coke is overpriced - just like the cameras sold in the US.

That statement is not accurate.

It does not matter what the cost of the products are, if the camera body is priced at $25,000. You will know that it is overpriced because there is nothing in the market that expensive.

If I look at a mid-level Honda, and I compare it to a mid-level Mercedes, and they are the same price, there is no one who will tell you that the Honda is not overpriced. You dont need to know the costs of the components in the Honda to make that statement.

Of course you re correct that perceived value does vary among individuals. You may prefer a Japanese car,, and you may buy the Honda that is priced like a Mercedes, because you want a Japanese car. So your perceived value is different than mine. But your perceived value does not mean that the Honda is still not overpriced.

Its only software. Once the software is complete, there is zero marginal cost. I was talking about the cost of a laptop vs the cost of a similarly priced camera body. On the basis of what you get - the camera bodies are way overpriced. Laptops dont have AI software in them either. This is something new. So what you are saying is that a $1,000 camera body is justified being priced at $1,000 because the physical item is really worth $200 and the software is worth $800. You can justify the prices that way if you like.

I never said everything can be done in a $500 camera - we all know there is a difference in the capability of a $500 camera body and a $2,000 camera body.

But there are also differences in a $500 laptop and a $2,000 laptop. What I was saying is that the relative cost of that laptop to the camera is that you get far more capability in the laptop of the equivalent price. The implication being that a camera body - which is nothing more than a few electronic parts and a shell, are all way overpriced.

You have drunk the Kool-aid served up by the camera companies.