{"id":11875,"date":"2026-10-02T05:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T03:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/2026\/10\/02\/why-the-difference-between-launch-price-and-street-price-matters\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T05:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T03:03:09","slug":"why-the-difference-between-launch-price-and-street-price-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/2026\/10\/02\/why-the-difference-between-launch-price-and-street-price-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the difference between launch price and street price matters"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tPrices are going up, but comparing MSRPs to discounted deals doesn\u2019t make things any clearer<\/p>\n

A large paper price label with the words \"How much?!?\" hangs in front of a modern digital cameraComposite: Richard Butler<\/span><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n
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This is the concluding article looking at why our perspective on cameras\u2019 prices can seem out-of-step with other people\u2019s initial reactions, on the day of launch. And it covers that fact the MSRPs always seem expensive, at first.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve reported on many launches without at least some people commenting, \u201cit\u2019s too expensive, what are they thinking?\u201d or some variation thereof. And then comparing the price to the cost of an outgoing model, the price they paid for something in a sale, years earlier, or a second-hand deal on a completely unrelated camera type.<\/p>\n

All of which is to miss the point. MSRPs aren\u2019t the same thing as street prices and, although they\u2019re quoted in the same units, they\u2019re not particularly comparable.<\/p>\n

MSRPs are the manufacturer\u2019s opening gambit: they generally represent the highest price they\u2019ll ever get for a product. An \u2018early-adopter tax\u2019, in many instances.<\/p>\n

On the day of launch, all cameras look over-priced because their peers have been on the market for a while, their prices have softened somewhat, or they\u2019ve explicitly been put on sale. And those MSRPs look even more overpriced if you compare them to the outgoing model, or a previous one because the manufacturer and retailers are trying to get rid of them, before they become impossible to sell.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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\"A<\/a>
The Nikon Z5IIC tied with the original Z5 as the second-least-expensive full-frame digital camera ever launched, even without considering the effect of inflation in the meantime. Recognizing that, despite cheaper options still hanging around, helps understand why, for instance, Nikon down-specced the rear screen: because it\u2019ll end up selling well below its list price, soon enough.<\/figcaption>Richard Butler \/ Mitchell Clark<\/span><\/figure>\n

But, just in case it needs saying: no manufacturer can introduce a new product at the narrow-to-no margin price that the outgoing model is being flogged-off at. Nor can they sensibly consider the second-hand prices of decade-old higher-end models, when setting prices.<\/p>\n

This all varies somewhat between markets. In the US, list prices are more aggressively maintained than in Europe and the UK, where retailers have more freedom to offer some sort of discount fairly soon after the camera hits the shelves. This, along with Euro and Sterling prices usually being quoted including tax, is a big part of why US prices typically appear cheaper at first: because the US list price is set at a level that more people will have to actually pay.<\/p>\n

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MSRPs help us see how products are positioned, relative to one another.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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None of which is an attempt to say you should just pay the MSRP on Day 1: quite the opposite. If an older, higher-end model is still floating around when the new model is launched and it suits your requirements<\/em>, you should probably buy that. Our attempts to put pricing in a longer-term context aren\u2019t an attempt to encourage you to buy something at full price.<\/p>\n

But if history has repeatedly shown that those old models disappear from the market and the price of the new camera drops to a level comparable to others launched at the same MSRP, then it would be perverse and unhelpful to pretend we don\u2019t know this. We want our reviews to still make sense a month or so after publication, which they won\u2019t if we declare all new cameras \u201coverpriced\u201d despite what we know will happen next.<\/p>\n

MSRPs let us see how things are positioned, relative to one another. They help us understand the price point, rather than the literal consumer price, of a camera.<\/p>\n

Inflation muddies the waters still further<\/a>, and prices are<\/em> going up, but it\u2019s worth remembering that launch prices have always looked too high. Even for that camera you\u2019re now holding up as an example of what this new model should<\/em> cost.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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About the Author: <\/span>Richard graduated as a scientist but had a lot more fun writing and shooting for his university magazine. A number of years spent variously as a reporter, writer and editor on science and engineering titles combined his knowledge of science with his interest in images and words. But it was spotting the connections between emission spectra, white balance and all the nonsense he\u2019d taught himself playing around in Photoshop that helped kindle an interest in digital photography. Searching for a camera led to him discovering DPReview and Richard was recruited by Phil Askey in 2007. He\u2019s been combining his love of photography, communication and attention to detail (pedantry?) ever since.<\/p>\n

He has unusually strong opinions about lenses for the APS-C format.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Want to stay up to date on the latest product news and releases?\u00a0Add DPReview as a preferred source to ensure our independent journalism makes it to the top of your Google search results.<\/p>\n

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