Important note: We are not talking about politics here, but simply about the economic impact of the new tariffs on camera gear.
Yesterday, Trump announced hefty tariffs that will affect the entire camera industry. That’s why I’ve grown tired of analyzing the possible consequences in the form of price increases. Let’s first look at where the companies manufacture their equipment
Canon – Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, and China
Nikon – Thailand and Japan
Sony – Thailand and China
Fujifilm – Japan and China
Panasonic – China and Malaysia
OM System – Vietnam and China
Leica – Germany and Portugal
Sigma – Japan
Tamron – China and Vietnam
Assuming that camera manufacturers have very little room to offset these tariffs through some sort of cost reduction, US consumers will have to pay the tariffs on the camera/lens equipment. I have provided some examples in this table:
This is just a theoretical calculation of the possible price increases. There are many variables that could change this:
Companies could decide to cut some of the profit margins to offset the tariffs
Negotiations between US and other countries could change the tariff rates in the near future
I don’t know when these price increases will come into effect at shops like BHphoto and Amazon. The current cameras that are in stock are still ‘duty free’. But any new stock of cameras coming into the country will be affected by the new tariffs. I would suggest you to buy the gear now!
The bad news for all of us:
I have heard from managers that companies should slow down the introduction of new products due to the great uncertainty of this situation. They need to evaluate the following two important points:
Wait for negotiations to happen and see if tariffs will indeed change
Asses how much the tariffs will affect the sales of cameras and lenses on the US market
Big mess:
Again, this is not about politics, but solely about the economic consequences of such a measure. What is certain is that this is a big mess at the moment and the times ahead will be difficult.
One of my sources believes that Sigma might announce a new Sigma 200mm f/1.8 Full Frame lens for Sony E and Leica L cameras! This would be the first time we get a modern version of the almost 40 year old Canon 200mm f/1.8 EF lens that became famous under the name ‘Eye of Sauron’. The lens appears to be part of the ‘Sports’ series, and I have no further details yet on specs, release date or pricing. What I do know is that Sigma patented the optical design of the same lens five years ago (read the article here). This lens would be 24cm long, just like the current Sigma 500mm f/5.6. But the patent is quite old and it could be that the new 200mm lens is shorter and more compact, thanks to recent technical improvements Sigma has made to lenses like the 50mm f/1.4 and the soon-to-be-released 300-600mm f/4.0. I still need more sources to confirm or deny this rumor before I can bring it to 99% certainty. So if you know more about this lens, feel free to use this anonymous contact form or contact me via eMail, Signal, Telegram.
Why do I think this lens would be an EPIC addition? I will give you three reasons:
Stunning Bokeh Let’s compare a portrait taken with a 200mm f/1.8 and a 200mm f/2.8 lens (such as the Sigma 70-200). At the widest aperture, the 200mm f/1.8 would achieve a depth of field of 6cm at a subject distance of 5m. With the Sigma zoom, you would achieve a depth of field of 10 cm. The shallower the depth of field, the more pronounced the bokeh.
Great for landscapes On my alpine tours,I do use often the 200mm focal length of my Tamron 28-200mm. But the Tamron has f/5.6, while the Sigma is more than three f-stops faster! This results in visibly cleaner images.
Made for sports and wildlife photographers Sports photographers would enjoy an advantage of more than 1 f-stop, especially when shooting indoors. Wildlife photographers (although limited by the shorter telephoto focal length) would get cleaner images and more flexibility in low light conditions.
My speculation is that this lens might be price around $2,500 which would be $3500 less than the only similar lens you can buy at BHphoto today.
Wrap up: Like I said, I still need full confirmation on this rumor. But I really hope that this rumor about the Sigma 200mm f/1.8 lens will come true. It would give us a new, unique lens that we don’t yet have in our line-up. There is an exciting time ahead with many new rumors!!!
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