US deals: GX1, E-PL1 and 45-200mm.
There are some new USA deals:
1) The Panasonic 45-200mm lens is now in Stock for $199 only at Amazon (Click here).
2) There is a new small price drop on the Olympus E-PL1 at Amazon (Click here).
3) Another hot deal is the GX1 body at Amazon (Click here) which just got another $20 price drop.
4) The Super new Nokton 17.5mm f/0.95 is in Stock for the first time at BHphoto (Click here).
Farrukh
2 years ago |That’s half the price it costs here in England (45-200mm) – Rip Off Britain strikes again!
avds
2 years ago |So you think 2x price is a rip off? Come on it’s $678 direct from Panasonic online here in Russia
That’s six hundred seventy eight US dollars, just in case you would doubt my numbers 
(Alright, I’ll admit: it’s “only” $500 at other retailers).
Farrukh
2 years ago |Oh bummer, $678 in Russia. I won’t complain again :p
Geoff
2 years ago |The only reason it’s ‘Rip Off Britain’ is because of the fools who will pay the prices, if you refuse to pay they won’t sell then prices will have to fall. Whatever I purchase in any shop I ask what reductions will you offer, if nothing comes I walk out and go elsewhere, someone will always offer a discount, you simply have to ask and be prepared to call their bluff, it’s the fools who will pay without asking spoil it for all of us.
JK
2 years ago |They don’t really do discounting like that in the UK like they do in the US. It is true that you should always as for a discount when shopping in the US but in general it doesn’t work in the UK. It is always worth a try though.
Companies always gouge the UK/EU though, it is quite often a straight $ to £/€ swap. Not as simple as refusing to buy it at a given price. Neccesity often demands that you pay the price, regardless of cost.
Although this is camera gear, not a life essential.
You will probably find that some markets subsidise the profits of others, allowing companies to generate the profits it requires on a global scale.
On a personal note, I am envious of some of those GH2 deals lately. Super cheap.
BLI
2 years ago |E-M5 Raw DR: check out Pekka Potka’s blog at http://www.pekkapotka.com/journal/2012/4/27/olympus-e-m5-dynamic-range-raw.html .
His finding: base ISO jpg ca 10.7 steps, and RAW ca 12.3 steps. See his reservations. Two German magazines claimed base ISO DR of 11.3 (jpg).
anonymous
2 years ago |so how come the US gets the goodies available before Europe, at a lower price and still doesn’t buy?
if they would just ship all of the unpurchased stuff to Europe and offer it at that price, it would get sold no problem.
Cteve
2 years ago |Panasonic lenses dropping price like that is making me doubt about investing in their lenses…
Ted shred
2 years ago |This is starting to become a serious problem for someone like me who has invested in this system and that is price support. Panasonic has none and this become completely evident to me recently with the discontinuation of the GH2. I basically lost all my equity in it. So now I’m now considering dumping this whole format because in six months or a year whatever I buy will be worth less. So that means I’m throwing money away. I can’t do this anymore in my life.
I’m starting to see the Leica reasoning in the camera world. Buy it once and it lasts a lifetime and it has price support. No worries about it. I think anybody would be fool to buy the new OMD E5 because in the very near future it will be worth about half. So have fun throwing money away. I’m done.
Zach Wagner
2 years ago |Meh really? You think Nikon and Canon cameras really hold their value all that well? Perhaps better than m43, but technology is moving incredibly fast. Nikon is releasing a 24mp d3200. What does that do to the d7000?
It’s the lenses that are the investment, and with m43 you’re investing in plastic lenses (mostly) that probably won’t last as long as say… an L lens anyway.
But they’re way less expensive than L lenses, and much smaller and more easily portable. It all depends on what you’re going for. If you’re worried about price longevity, then buy the leica, which is so expensive you could have bought 2 m43 cams plus a bundle of lenses for the same cost.
You should also probably stop buying just about any technology-based device in existence (do you own a laptop? a television? a microwave? a stove? a refrigerator? a video camera? a car?… the list goes on), as almost all of them have an extremely diminished return (obviously some lose value much faster than others).
And just because the value of a camera (or anything else) drops quickly doesn’t mean that device won’t last for some reason. You don’t like the price of the E-M5? Then wait until the price drops to half. If it happens as quick as you say it will then you won’t have to wait long to pay much less, right?
“Wasting money” is a relative term based on a lot of things that are personal to the particular buyer. But if your definition of wasting money is buying things that lose value, then you better move to the woods and renounce worldly goods.
Mundstrøm
2 years ago |Just want to add that I got the 45-200 with my G2 in a kit – nice lens. Very happy with it. I mainly do still photography, not video.
PROS
Bokeh is pretty nice when you learn to balance distance to subject to background correctly.
Pretty sharp – It’s certainly not a bad image. It’s not a super high-end lens so keep expectaions realistic.
The 200mm range makes it very flexible for composing shots.
The build feels good, while the lens is surprisingly light.
Metallic mount bracket.
CONS
At the short 45mm range you have to keep a decent distance from your subject to get the whole scene in. This means you need to plan your shoots and change lenses accordingly if you need get close to your subject. I found it good to have in my pack when touristing around Spain, but I never have it mounted when shooting in the street or indoors. Maybe only for people-shots where you don’t want to interfere with the subject.
The manual zoom feels a bit tight – it sort of sticks to begin with and then jump-starts. This means zooming can be jerky if you don’t practice how much strength to apply to the barrel rotation. Not a problem for stills, but for video I think it’s only usable once you’ve developed a good feel for it.
Auto-focus noise – I haven’t noticed it much. It’s more of a low-end humming/throbbing than a whining servo noise.
Compared to the new collapsible lenses it’s a big device to lug around.