In economics 101, there is this graph of price vs quantity vs marginal cost vs marginal revenue vs maximum revenue. It's still burned into my brain from my days as an econ major.

When manufacturing anything in quantity, there is always a LOT of cost upfront for research, design, engineering, marketing and advertising...

That means the cost of the first unit is astronomical. Make two, and the cost of each unit is cut in half. Make 100, and it's down to 1%. But it's still astronomical. Make (and sell) 100,000, and it is very reasonable!

Manufacturers typically price new goods or services high, for several reasons. First, they want to recoup as much of their startup investment as possible. Second, if the product is any good, they want to take advantage of "new, exciting, innovative, cool," and similar demand drivers. Demand for a product falls over time, as there are fewer likely buyers, competition sets in, and even newer devices become available.

A camera manufacturer might release a body at launch for $1999. But two years later, it is likely to be priced 20% less ($1599). That is the sort of case with several cameras I've followed over the past few years. The company has recouped most of its tooling costs, demand falls, and the price falls to boost demand and take advantage of reduced costs of production due to efficiency. If it is EXTREMELY popular, the price stays the same, because the demand supports it. Apple, for instance, enjoyed a ten year ride with iPhones being priced the same at the beginning of their product cycles, all the way to the introduction of each successive model. Only the new model would knock down the price of the old one. As the market matures, that is changing...

Mirrorless is new, in demand, exciting, etc. Once the dSLR market fades a bit, prices of mirrorless will fall slowly (adjusted for inflation and currency floats).