(UPDATED) US deal: All E-M5 kits in Stock!!! Body only in Stock in EU and Asia.
Suddenly all E-M5 kits are in Stock and here is a short overview of where to find them in U stores:
Black E-M5 with 14-42mm lens at BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here) and Adorama eBay (Click here).
Black E-M5 with 12-50mm lens at Willoughbyscamera eBay (Click here) and Popflash eBay (Click here).
Silver E_M5 with 12-50mm lens at Amazon (Click here).
Ranks: The Silver E-M5 is also leading the overall Mirrorless ranking at Amazon (Click here).
E-M5 Body only in EU and Asia: It’s in Stock in Asia (Digitalrev) and in Europe (Amazon Germany, Amazon UK) but still not in US (1-3 months delivery according to Amazon).
UPDATE: BHphoto (Click here) will start shipping the E-M5 body only options on July 30th.
More US deals: Panasonic-Leica 25mm lens back in Stock at BHphoto (Click here). 14-42mm X lens for $287 at Amazon (Click here).
Diane B
11 months ago |Got my silver kit with 12-50 (which I planned to sell but now think maybe not) Saturday morning relatively local–1.25 hour drive each way. They are smallish and said they have been getting some in, mostly black, and they have been walking out. I had choice of black or silver, expected to buy black and bought silver LOL. Hopefully now everyone on lists will get theirs soon.
Diane
twoomy
11 months ago |Yahoo!!! Now let’s see some “1st party” batteries and the grip already! Oly, please don’t make us wait so long. Perhaps I should break down and buy a 3rd party cheap battery with alternate charger, but geeze, I’m conservative.
Ranger 9
11 months ago |I had an interesting chat with an Olympus rep at a local dealer event over the weekend. He said “first-party” batteries are so scarce because Olympus underestimated the demand.
If I understood him correctly, he said that initially they had ordered only 40 extra batteries per 1000 cameras! He said they’ve realized that’s a mistake and are ramping up batteries as fast as they can — but it’s a slow process since they don’t make the batteries themselves, but order them from a subcontractor.
What’s driving the unexpected demand for batteries, he said, is the HLD6 grip — lots of people want one, and once they have it, the first thing they want is an extra battery to put in it.
Incidentally, I’ve got some of those third-party batteries that require a nonstandard charger, and while they’re getting me by, I’m not looking at them as anything but a stopgap. The problem with them is that they run out abruptly: one minute the battery meter will show 2/3 full, and the next minute the camera will go completely dead with no warning. I’ve lost shots because of this, and have had a memory card corrupted because the battery died while the camera was writing to the card (recovery software saved it, fortunately.) So I hope Olympus gets its battery act together soon!
twoomy
11 months ago |Ranger 9: Thanks for that info. That’s quite enlightening. Glad Olympus is aware of the shortage and is attempting to do something! Looking forward to getting the grip and an extra battery sometime relatively soon.
As a footnote, I can’t imagine why any manufacturer would so greatly underestimate the need for spare batteries, even without the grip. I won’t take any camera onto a job or day of shooting without have a spare battery or 2 charged and ready to go.
Fish
11 months ago |I’m surprised by that too. This whole time I had thought that the majority of people used at least two batteries. I cant imagine why anyone would be content with having to wait until their only battery charged before being able to take pictures again. What happens if it dies while you are in the middle of something?
I would have guessed more like 600 spares for every 1000 cameras.
Don Pope
11 months ago |I’ve been using third party batteries exclusively and they work just fine. No problems at all with the battery meter.
(plus you can adjust the battery meter in the menus).
Also, the 3rd party charger is a reasonable size and has the socket prongs built-in.
The Olympus charger, is almost as big as the camera and has a long cord.
twoomy
11 months ago |If you don’t mind me asking, what brand did you buy? The 3rd party choices are daunting and it’s hard to tell who’s making what and what works and what doesn’t.
Grant
11 months ago |Thanks for the heads up on Stock!
Managed to swap my body order for a Black 12-50mm lens kit at B&H.
The website does not say they have stock but they do have…