When camera and lens prices drop

Camera and lens prices often move in steps rather than drifting down smoothly: when a maker runs a promotion, when a newer model arrives, or when a sale season starts. Knowing those patterns, and checking a product's price history before you buy, helps you avoid paying more than you need to.

Maker promotions: instant savings and cashback

Many promotions on new gear are run by the maker, not the shop, for a set period.

Instant savings in the US

In the US, makers' promotions often take the form of instant savings: the discount comes off the price for a fixed period, with no claim to make. Sigma's autumn 2026 instant savings in the US, for example, run from 28 September to 15 November. When the period ends, the price usually returns to its regular level.

Cashback in the UK and the EU

In the UK and the EU, makers such as Fujifilm often run cashback instead. You pay the shelf price, then claim money back from the maker. Fujifilm UK's lens cashback for June and July 2026 shows the kind of terms to expect:

• the purchase had to be from a listed qualifying retailer in the UK;
• only new lenses counted, not second-hand or refurbished ones;
• claims could be made no sooner than four weeks after purchase, and no later than 25 September 2026;
• you needed an invoice or receipt (an order confirmation was not enough) and a photo of the serial number;
• a lens returned to the shop for a refund or an exchange could not be claimed for.

Fujifilm aimed to check a claim within 14 days and to pay within a further 28. Some schemes pay out only if you also buy a second item: one Fujifilm UK camera cashback in 2026 required the XF23mmF2.8 lens or the VG-XH battery grip. Some promotions offer an extended warranty instead of cash.

Before you count on a promotion

• Read the dates. A scheme can have a purchase window and a separate, later claim deadline.
• Check where you buy. Promotions are often limited to particular retailers in that country. Grey imports and marketplace sellers often don't qualify.
• Keep the paperwork. You may need the invoice and the serial number.
• Work out the net price. Our prices are the retailer's price on the day. A cashback you claim later isn't subtracted.

Minimum advertised pricing in the US

A minimum advertised price (MAP) policy sets the lowest price at which a maker's dealers may advertise its products. It limits the advertised price, not necessarily the price you pay.

The Federal Trade Commission explains that a manufacturer may deal only with retailers that follow its resale price policy, and may stop dealing with one that doesn't. Since a 2007 Supreme Court decision, federal law judges minimum resale price rules case by case rather than banning them outright, though some state laws are stricter.

Where a maker enforces such a policy, buyers see two effects:

• Authorised dealers tend to show the same price, so shopping around between them saves less than you might expect.
• Drops tend to happen together. Instant savings let a maker's dealers advertise the lower price for the same dates.

A listing well below the usual price can be a grey import, an open-box or used item, or a marketplace seller. It can still be a good buy; check what you are getting.

The UK, the EU and Australia take a different view. Their competition law generally forbids a maker from setting a fixed or minimum price for a shop to sell at, though makers may recommend a price. The European Commission's guidelines list minimum advertised prices as one indirect way of imposing resale prices. Shops in those markets set their own prices, so a drop at one doesn't have to appear at another.

When a successor launches

The older model, new

When a maker replaces a camera or lens, the outgoing model may be discounted or put on promotion while stock lasts. Once that stock runs out, new copies can become scarce, or come mainly from grey or marketplace sellers. Our product pages say when a model is discontinued.

The older model, used

A launch can also bring more used copies onto the market, as owners sell to fund the upgrade, and more supply can push the used price down. But when demand outstrips supply, used prices can hold up, or even rise for a while.

The new model

A newly launched camera may not be discounted for some time, and popular models can be on back order. The first discounts may come with a maker promotion or a sale season. If you don't need the newest features, the previous model at a reduced price can be better value. Use compare to see what the newer one actually adds.

Sale seasons

Market	Sale periods to watch
US	Black Friday and Cyber Monday (27 and 30 November 2026), year-end holiday promotions, Amazon's Prime events
UK	Black Friday, Boxing Day (26 December), Amazon's Prime events
EU	Black Friday, winter and summer sales (set by law in some countries, such as France), Amazon's Prime events where Amazon has a local store
Australia	End of financial year (EOFY) sales in June, Black Friday, Boxing Day
Singapore	Marketplace "double-date" sales such as 9.9, 11.11 and 12.12; Black Friday; Amazon's Prime events

In the US, Amazon's Prime Day has fallen in June or July in recent years (23 to 26 June in 2026), with a second Prime event, Prime Big Deal Days, in October. Dates vary by country. Australia's financial year ends on 30 June, which is why many shops there run EOFY sales in June.

A sale label alone tells you little. Check two things:

• Was the price higher just before? A "deal" can simply match a price that was available weeks earlier. In the EU, a shop that announces a price reduction must show the lowest price it charged in the previous 30 days. The US, the UK, Australia and Singapore also ban misleading price claims, but you can't count on the same 30-day rule, so check the history yourself.
• Whose discount is it? If it is the maker's, every participating dealer will usually have it. If it is one shop's, it may sell out.

Used, refurbished and open-box prices

The cheapest copy of a camera or lens is often not a new one:

• Open-box and ex-demo stock is new or nearly new gear that has been unpacked, returned or used for display in a shop.
• Refurbished gear has been checked and, where needed, repaired, by the maker or by a dealer. Some makers, such as Nikon in the US, cover their refurbished products with a warranty; check how long it lasts.
• Used gear has had at least one owner. Its condition, and who is selling it, decide what it is worth.

Who sells it matters as much as the price. The main protections apply when the seller is a business:

• UK: the Consumer Rights Act covers goods a trader sells you, second-hand included. They must be of satisfactory quality, judged against how they were described and the price.
• EU: second-hand goods from a professional seller get the same minimum two-year guarantee as new, though some countries let the seller agree a shorter period with you, never under one year. Goods bought from private individuals aren't covered.
• Australia: the consumer guarantees cover second-hand goods from a business, taking their age and price into account. Most don't apply to a one-off private sale.
• US: the implied warranty that goods are fit for ordinary use (merchantability) applies only when the seller deals in goods of that kind.

Cashback schemes such as Fujifilm's exclude second-hand and refurbished stock, so during a promotion a new copy, after cashback, can cost less than a used one.

Using price history on CamCompare

Once a day we record the lowest in-stock price for each camera and lens we find offers for, new and used, separately for each market and in its own currency. Amazon's prices appear on product pages but are not kept in this record, so the chart and the deals page leave them out.

The deals page

Deals lists the cameras and lenses whose lowest price fell the most over the past week, new and used, comparing today's price with the one recorded a week earlier. It also lists where buying used saves the most. There are no sponsored placements.

Each product page

Every product page under cameras and lenses shows:

• Today's lowest new and lowest used/refurbished price. The used figure covers open-box, refurbished and used offers.
• A deal note, once we have 14 days of records: whether today's new price is the lowest we have recorded (looking back up to 90 days), or how far it sits above or below its 30-day average.
• The launch price, where we know it, and how today's price compares.
• A chart of the lowest new and used price each day since we started tracking that product in your market.

Body-and-lens kits and out-of-stock offers appear in the offers table but don't count towards the lowest price. The Save button keeps a product in a list in your browser and shows how its price has changed since you saved it.

Reading the chart

• A flat line with sudden steps often means a maker's promotion started or ended. Promotions can recur: Fujifilm UK ran lens cashback in both April–May and June–July 2026.
• A gradual slide in the used line can follow a successor's launch.
• The used line can be noisier. It follows whichever used, refurbished or open-box offer is cheapest that day, and condition varies.
• A one-day dip may be a single marketplace seller. Check the offers table for the seller, the condition and whether the shop is an authorised dealer.

A simple plan

1. Narrow the field with the finder, and check which lenses fit on mounts.
2. Open the product page in your market and read the chart and the deal note.
3. If a successor has just been announced or a sale season is weeks away, waiting may pay. If the price is already at its recorded low, it may not.
4. Compare the best new price, after any cashback, with the best used or refurbished one, and weigh the warranty and the seller.

See about for how we collect prices and which retailers we cover.