The US government announced global “reciprocal tariffs”, which include a 24% tariff on Japan. The tariff, which is expected to take effect in one week on April 9th, would levy a tax of 24% on imports of all goods from Japan.

As the majority of Canon cameras and lenses are manufactured in Japan, if the tariff proceeds as planned, most Canon items will see an import levy of 24% when entering the USA. We expect that this would add 24% to the cost that Canon USA would pay when importing Canon cameras and lenses from Japan. Once Canon USA exhausts its current inventory of products, we predict that the higher cost would be passed on as a significant price increase to dealers (and eventually to end-consumers).

Note that shipping via a third-country does not avoid the tariff (as tariffs are based on country of origin, not shipment). For example, purchasing Canon cameras from stores in Canada would still be subject to the 24% tariff on Japan, as the “country of origin” is Japan (not Canada).

There is still significant uncertainty as to the magnitude of the actual tariffs and the implementation date, but the next few days are an excellent time to purchase cameras and lenses before what may be a lengthy period of price uncertainty.

Peak Design‘s 14th kickstarter campaign, the Peak Design Roller Pro, is just shy of $10M of pledges, one of their most successful crowdfunding campaigns yet. Due to the demand, they’ve added new fulfillment options: you can choose “Standard Fulfillment”, which will ship in July & August, at a price of $425; or you can now choose a new “2nd Fulfillment”, which saves you an additional $10 (now $415) and ships in September/October. Please note they have limited spots left for their “Standard Fulfillment”.

This campaign has been very popular, as their roller is very impressive; it’s obvious that great care has been taken to design this bag with utility in mind. Check out this entertaining six minute video which explains their design ethos and steps through the many features. They also have the new bag available to view in-store at their New York, San Francisco, or Los Angeles retail locations.

Check out the Peak Design Roller Pro Kickstarter campaign.

As with all Kickstarter campaigns, there is always a risk that creators will not be able to fulfill the rewards of the pledge. The company behind this campaign has a history of delivering successful campaigns, so the risk is lower (but never zero). Pledge at your own risk!

It’s amazing how fast time flies — this month, we’re celebrating CanonPriceWatch’s 15th anniversary. We created this site in March of 2010, to track Canon prices (and discover those secret “add-to-cart” discounts). One of our earliest site archives from 2010 shows a simple page tracking prices and rebates across a set of cutting-edge Canon products — including the EOS 5D Mark II and the recently released EOS 7D.

We have been on a remarkable journey in these fifteen years. Despite shifts in the market and pricing, we’ve been able to find and share all the best deals: the “mail-in-rebate” deals in the early days, the reputable unauthorized dealers in 2013-2016, the “great MAP crackdown” and subsequent introduction of the street price program in 2014. Printer bundles were once all the rage (2014 to 2018), and Canon refurbished has always been great, but especially over the last four or five years.

Whether you’ve been following the site since the very beginning, or just joined us last week, thank you for being part of such a great readership — we truly enjoy bringing the Canon deals to the Canon photographer community. We greatly appreciate all the support that you’ve shown us over the years, and we look forward to many more years and deals ahead.