With all the trade offs in HD prosumer cameras, I was wondering if anyone knows of a resourse where price trends ( depreciation) can be obtained for high end equiptment. It seems to me that the cost is only one variable, and if you are looking for superior quality in all areas buying a high end camera may be the way to go if the value holds. Prosumer cameras tend to loose value quite fast when the latest model is released. Thanks for the input.

Interesting post, Hugh. I think the question is really, "how long will value hold." In my opinion, this gear should be paying for itself within 60 to 90 days. It should pay for itself twice over within a year at the very most.

good point. I wonder if anyone has an idea or feeling of what the rental market is like. The rental price/ cost of equiptment is quite high. With steady demand a camera really can pay for itself and then some.

My opinion is that ProSummer gear holds its value quite well. Sure value drops, but qality cams hold a decent price. Compared to PC components cams seems to be very valuable where as a PC free falls from the second it is bought.

Wild guess: Any video camera equipment halves in value about every decade?

If you look at professional video equipment several years ago, it would be betaSP cameras at about $60k each (at least). Now you can get an equivalent camera (i.e. DVCPRO25, pro-style DV like Sony DSR-series) for a much lower cost.

And if the RED camera is what it claims it is, you'll get $50-$500k quality at however much they price it at. So you might see the price on owning a highend camera really drop in a few years. It also looks like prices will continue to drop on the highend HD cameras available... F900 (will be discontinued), varicam, XDCAM (if you consider it highend), etc.

On the prosumer side, the DVX100 debuted at $4,000? in 2002. It has since been replaced twice, but the newest model runs about $3,400 new. That's about half value every 12 years.

2- I think it's starting to get to the point where talent and experience are the main determining factors, not equipment. Money still plays a big role though... i.e. it can pay for talent and experience in other roles. And because there's a division of labour in video, it works out that commercial productions usually just end up looking a lot better. Among the many people who work on a shoot, there is a large pool of talent and experience that's hard for just a few people to have.

Interesting post, Hugh. I think the question is really, "how long will value hold." In my opinion, this gear should be paying for itself within 60 to 90 days. It should pay for itself twice over within a year at the very most.

If it paid for itself within max 3 months wouldn't it pay for itself more than twice easily in a year? (I'm just asking, I'm a student this isn't my livelyhood...yet)

Hugh, I work for a hire company and you're right, high end gear certainly holds its value more so than the consummer or prosummer gear. Firstly it stays in vogue longer and it's built to take serious use. VCRs hold their value better than cameras, a used digibeta decks value is basically determined by head hours and the same goes for 2/3" cameras.
The things that really hold their value though aren't cameras. Good tripods are a very good investment as are dollies, jibs and cranes. Cameras come and go but what we put them on remains the same. Good lenses also hold their value and lighting kit does well too, matte boxes and glass filters are another good investment.