Canon’s R3 and R5 are its highest-performing full-frame cameras and as such they each carry a high asking price. That is poised to change, however, as the R5 price will come down by $500 while the EOS R3 will be $1,000 cheaper.
While these discounts are coming, they weren’t visible everywhere at the time of publication. While Canon had been running a promotional discount on both cameras through the end of January, Japanese camera store Map Camera today published a blog post highlighting what it calls a “price revision” on both the R3 and the R5, specifically calling them a price drop that isn’t associated with any kind of temporary promotional discount.
“Until now, there have been cashback campaigns, but it is rare for the price of the product to drop,” Map Camera writes, translated from Japanese.
The biggest drop is the EOS R3 which previously had an asking price of 792,000 yen (including tax). After the price reduction, Map Camera has the full-frame professional sports camera listed for 712,800 yen (including tax). With tax excluded from the equation, the Japanese camera retailer says it’s a price drop of about 60,000 yen, or about $411. Japanese customers can expect to save closer to 79,200 yen after taxes though, which is closer to $540.
The R5 is also seeing a reduction in price. It was previously available for 539,000 yen (including tax) but that has dropped to 485,000 yen (including tax), another rather significant savings of 54,000 yen, or about $370.
Of note, both of these reductions see the cameras drop to prices lower than the most recent promotional discount that ended on January 31.
At the time of publication, these discounts were only available in Japan but were not even reflected on Canon’s website in the country.
While PetaPixel hasn’t seen any changes in North America, Wex Photo in the United Kingdom is showing two different discounts for the Canon R3: the previous discount that ended on January 31 as well as a new higher discount. The incongruity is very strange since both are shown at the same time.
On the one hand, the lower right-hand side of the banner above shows a discount of £380.99, which is in line with Canon’s previous limited-time discount. But at the same time on the upper left, Wex Photo shows a £500 pound discount. At the time of publication, navigating to the actual product page only shows the smaller discount, but the values here are in line with what Map Camera has already published. Wex Photo’s listing for the R5 remains unchanged.
A Price Reduction Has Been Approved, But It’s Up to Retailers
When reached for comment about an impending permanent price reduction, Canon USA tells PetaPixel that a price reduction for the two full-frame cameras has been approved by Canon’s headquarters but when those will be visible in specific regions is up to each retailer.
“Canon initiated a price drop on EOS R5 ($500) and EOS R3 ($1,000) in the U.S. on Jan 1. Each individual Canon sales company determines the timing of price drops,” a Canon representative writes in an email to PetaPixel.
Based on this statement, retailers could have dropped the price on these two cameras much sooner, but since Canon was already running a promotional discount on the R3 and R5 that ended on January 31. Odds are high that retailers choose to let the first discount expire before revealing that the prices would fall even further.
Obviously, this price cut will lead to speculation that something more impressive than either the R5 or the R3 is coming down the pipe, but Canon has not commented on that possibility (and PetaPixel did not expect it to). However, signs do point to the fabled R1 dropping this year at the very least and there have been rumblings that an R5 Mark II is also on the way.
Even if nothing new is coming soon, the price reductions still make sense. Both bodies are very good, but the market has changed since they were announced a price drop for both is certainly warranted.