I guess that with the release of the Sony NEX and Samsung NX100 cameras Olympus and Panasonic cannot afford to keep the prices high. I made a check of the current deals at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto. And I found many price drops on cameras and lenses. Most of the stuff has the lowest price ever!

CAMERA DEALS (As usual click on store names to see visit the relative product page):
1) The Panasonic GF1+ 14-45mm lens is in Stock for $649 at Amazon.
2) The Panasonic GH1 with 14-140mm lens is in Stock for $999 at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto. A real deal!
3) Olympus E-P2 with 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens and Electronic View Finder for $779.00 at Amazon.
4) The new Panasonic AG-AF100 Micro Four Thirds camccorder is available for preorder at BHphoto.
5) Panasonic G2 for $633 at Amazon.
6) Not a Micro Four Thirds camera but the Panasonic LX5 is in Stock for $442 at Amazon and BHphoto.

LENS DEALS:
1) Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 for $328 at Adorama and BHphoto.
2) Panasonic 7-14mm for $999 at Adorama and BHphoto.
3) The new Panasonic 8mm fisheye is in Stock for $784 at Amazon
4) The Olympus 9-18mm lens is in Stock for $555 at Amazon and BHphoto.
5) Out of Stock but available for preorder: The Panasonic 45mm lens for $819 at Adorama and BHphoto.

It’s my opinion that unless you need a specific camera for work it doesn’t make sense to spend a lot of money to buy a digital camera. You don’t make better pictures only because you buy an expensive camera. Your ceativity is what matters! I also do believe that it is better to save money on a body and spend more for lenses. A good lens last for years if not decades!

And now you have the chance to get a Micro Four Thirds cameras for cheap. The Olympus E-P1 is a real bang for the buck! I also noticed that the E-P1 is on of the few products that doesn’t charge an extra price for europeans. The US-EU prices are almost equal (Thanks Oly!).

Let’s start with the E-P1 deals in Europe:
A friend of mine was looking for the white E-P1 and found a great deal on Pixmania Italy. The white E-P1 + 14-42mm lens for 390 Euro at Pixmania Italia (Click here to see the deal). The lens alone costs almost 300 Euro! And the same deal is also available at Pixmania France (Click here).
Pixmania Deutschland is offering the E-P1 + 14-42mm lens for 389 Euro and for both WHITE and SILVER kits (Click here to check this deal). But Germany is full of online stores and you can find it even cheaper here at EG-electronics (349 Euro). Also Pixmania Spain has both colored E-P1 kit for 399 Euro (Click here)
Our UK readers can get the WHITE E-P1+14-42mm lens for £319 at Pixmania UK (Click here to see this deal).

Please undertsand that I have no time to check all online stores in all diferent europeancountries. My goal is only to give you an idea about the current E-P1 prices. You can also check [shoplink 16885]eBay to see current E-P1 auction (Click here)[/shoplink] to see a more large palette E-P1 deals.

And now the E-P1 deals in US:
Adorama is selling refurbished SILVER E-P1+14-42mm kits for $429.95 (Click here to see the camera at Adorama). Notice that the lens alone costs $251.95! So basically the camera body costs $178 only!!!
The same package (but new) is in Stock for $547.50 at Amazon (Click here).
If you are looking for the WHITE E-P1 good luck! Not one of the stores I checked has it in Stock…not even eBay (Click here to see current E-P1 auctions)!

As you see Mirrorless cameras are becoming cheaper and they are not more expensive than a high-end compact with small sensor like the [shoplink 16886]Panasonic LX5[/shoplink] or a an entry level DSLR like the Canon Rebel. Panasonic and Olympus should make a huge marketing campaign to promote the Micro Four Thirds cameras in that price segment!

The Olympus 9-18mm lens is now in Stock for $569 at Amazon (Click here). That’s a $30 price drop since yesterday.

If you need a compact MicroFourThirds camera check the current Panasonic GF1 which now costs $670 only at Amazon (Click here) or the Olympus E-P2 + lens+ EVF deal at Amazon (Click here) for $779. Curiously the same E-P2 camera with the same lens but without EVF sells for the $20 more!!! (Click here). And if you need a cheap cam with good video quality get the GH1 for $999.

Surprise! The new Panasonic AG-AF100 Micro Four Thirds camccorder is available for preorder at BHphoto (Click here)!!! They sell it for $4,795.00 (Body Only) with the note: “Usually ships in 6-10 weeks“.

The Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 has been announced exactly one year ago. Now US stores are selling the lens with the lowest price I have ever seen…$328 only! Click on these shop links to get the lens: Adorama, Amazon (sold by Adorama) and BHphoto.

As usual we europeans are not as lucky as you americans. $328.95 is 237€, but sadly we have still to pay 340-350 Euro for the lens :(
Look at Pixmania (DE, BE, FR, AT, UK, NL, PL, ES and IT) or [shoplink 16752]eBay[/shoplink].

The hottest deals since a few days are the Olympus E-P2 with 14-42mm and EVF for $799 at Amazon (Click here) and the Panasonic GF1 kit for $670 at Amazon (Click here)

This is a modified Kowa 55mm f/1.0 lens. You can use it on your Micro Four Thirds camera without using any adapter. It is currentlz for sale on [shoplink 16724 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. Didn’t find any image smaples taken with that lens :(
A High quality alternative is the [shoplink 14988 ebay]Canon 50mm FD 1.2 (Click here to see current auctions on eBay)[/shoplink]

P.S.: As you might know Kowa announced that they will be making the 350mm f/4, 500mm f/5,6 and 850mm f/9,6 telephoto lenses for Micro Four Thirds.