- Nikon has announced a ‘necessary price adjustment’ for cameras in the US
- This is happening “due to the recent tariffs”, according to the camera giant
- The price hikes will take effect from June 23
Nikon is officially joining the list of camera manufacturers who are raising camera prices in response to, you guessed it, the US tariffs.
In a short post on the Nikon US press site, the camera giant said that “due to the recent tariffs” it was planning a “necessary price adjustment for products”. This will apparently take effect from June 23, making it a potentially good time to pick up that Nikon camera you’ve been eyeing.
We don’t yet know which cameras (or lenses) will be affected, but that should become clear in the next few weeks. Nikon offered a small crumb of comfort by stating that it will be “carefully monitoring any tariff developments and may adjust pricing as necessary to reflect the evolving market conditions”.
That could mean an adjustment in the wrong direction if the trade wars continue to heat up, but hopefully the price changes won’t be as damaging as the ones we’ve already seen from other manufacturers.
The DJI Osmo Pocket 3, for example, has jumped from its $500 launch price to $800, and has remained at that level despite a 90-day truce on China’s tariffs that have temporarily reduced the rate on US imports down to 10%.
What other camera price hikes have we seen?
Nikon is far from alone in announcing tariff-related price hikes, though not all of them have come into effect just yet.
Canon gave us a similar warning earlier this month by stating in its quarterly earnings call that it had “notified major dealers that we will raise prices and are in the process of estimating the timing and amount of the increase”.
This means we’re in a strange waiting period where camera fans are bracing themselves for price rises, without knowing exactly which models will be hit and how they might affect existing stock that’s in the US already (in theory, the latter shouldn’t be hit by tariff-related price rises on imports).
As spotted by Sony Alpha Rumors, Sony has seemingly already raised prices on its China-made cameras and lenses, which include the Sony RX100 VII and a number of lenses including the FE 70-200mm F4 Macro G OSS II (which has seen an 18% price jump). But we don’t yet know if these prices are a temporary reaction to the current tariffs or a more permanent hike.
Fujifilm, meanwhile, was recently forced to pause pre-orders on cameras including the X100VI, GFX100RF and X-M5 (black version), while the new Fujifilm X half has a high price in the US compared to other regions ($849, compared to £699 / AU$1,349 in the UK and Australia).
It’s clearly a tumultuous time for cameras and lenses – and while panic-buying is never a wise option, if could be worth pulling the trigger soon if you’re in the US and have been considering buying new from Nikon or Canon.
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mark.wilson@futurenet.com (Mark Wilson)
