Canon IXUS 240 HS
Canon PowerShot SX240 HS
Nikon D800
Samsung DV300F
Olympus OM-D E-M5
Nikon Coolpix P510
Canon PowerShot SX260 HS
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ30
Nikon Coolpix S9300
UK Prices for Olympus E-1 and Pentax *ist D
Brace yourselves for the news that all Olympus and Pentax film SLR owners have been waiting for (and plenty of other people too!). Both companies yesterday confirmed the prices for their new DSLRs, the Olympus E-1 and Pentax *ist D. So without any further ado, here are those prices…
Olympus E-1 Prices
- E-1 digital camera £1,408.83 including VAT
[Including battery, charger, cable and strap]
- E-1 digital camera kit £1,820.08 including VAT
[ Including 14-54mm F2.8-3.5 lens, battery, charger, cable and strap]
Lenses including VAT
- EZ-1454 Digital Lens 14-54mm F2.8-3.5 [including lens hood and case] £495.85
- EM-P5020 Digital Lens ED 50mm F2 Macro [including lens hood and case] £390.10
- EZ-5020 Digital Lens ED 50-200mm F2.8-3.5 [including lens hood and case] £779.03
- ET-P3028 Digital Lens ED 300mm F2.8 [including lens hood and case] £5,318.05
- EC-14 Tele Converter x 1.4 [for 14-54, 50-200 and 300mm] £353.68
- EX-25 Extension Tube 25mm £105.75
Pentax *ist D Prices
- Pentax *ist D camera body £1400 including VAT
- Pentax *ist D camera body with smc 18-35mm f/4-5.6 FA AL J lens £1529.99
- Pentax *ist D camera body with smc 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 FA AL J lens £1499.99
- Pentax *ist D camera body with smc 20-35mm f/4 FA AL lens £1899.99
- Pentax *ist D camera body with smc 24-90mm f/3.5-4.5 FA AL lens £1799.99
Now in my humble opinion, these prices seem a little high when you consider that the Canon EOS 10D retails for around £1150-300 body only. And lets not even mention the sub-£1000 EOS 300D! It will be very interesting to see how many E-1s and *ist Ds Olympus and Pentax sell at their recommend retail price; how soon will it be before prices become more competitive? This is less of a problem for the E-1, as it’s a whole new camera system aimed at the advanced amateur/professional photographer, but the Pentax *ist D is aimed at a similar market to the EOS 300D, and there’s currently a whopping £500 price difference between the two cameras (body-only).
Canon IXUS 240 HS Review
Canon PowerShot SX240 HS Review
Nikon D800 Review
Samsung DV300F Review
Olympus OM-D E-M5 Review
Nikon Coolpix P510
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ30
Canon PowerShot SX260 HS
Fujifilm X-Pro1
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX200V
#1 Ed Garrard
Pentax is nuts.
6:03 pm - Saturday, August 30, 2003
#2 Mark Goldstein
Ed, that's a very succinct way of summing up Pentax's pricing "strategy"!
6:48 pm - Saturday, August 30, 2003
#3 Brian Read
Yes to a visitors gallery sounds like a good idea
10:10 pm - Thursday, September 4, 2003
#4 Mark Goldstein
Anyone else interested in a Visitors' Gallery? Would you want to have your own account, or just somewhere to post the odd photo (or both!)?
11:39 pm - Thursday, September 4, 2003
#5 Wyndham Hollis
I think Pentax got caught out like much of the rest of the industry - who would have expected Canon to be this early or quite as aggresive with the pricing? The Olympus is a slightly different proposition as Mark pointed out. I'd like to play with the Canon...
4:33 am - Friday, September 12, 2003
#6 Mark Goldstein
The question is, what are Pentax going to do about it? I don't think sticking their heads in the sand and charging £1400 body only for the *ist D is going to sell them many cameras...
1:34 pm - Friday, September 12, 2003
#7 Wyndham Hollis
I would expect Pentax to discount to their dealers so that the street price will become more appropriate but without chopping the SRP so early in the model's life. They won't have much time to respond because the speed of change is so great and they'll need to at least recoup their development costs. Another consideration is that everyone who goes for the Cannon or E system now is not likely to jump to a different standard anytime soon. Who'd be a manufacturer?
Here's a question: Portable solid state memory to CD writer. How desirable is it to users at the digi-SLR level? Do you guys rate the security of storing location shots on (multiple) CD's more than keeping them on a portable hard drive? What price would make this a "must buy"? Your comments appreciated.
5:50 pm - Friday, September 12, 2003
#8 Mark Goldstein
Personally I use a portable hard-drive when out shooting, then backup all my photos onto 2 x CD when I get home. I did consider something like the Apacer Steno, which is a portable CD drive, but I went for the Vosonic X-Drive instead.
8:57 pm - Friday, September 12, 2003
#9 Wyndham Hollis
I've been using a 10Gb Digital Wallet for the past couple of years but I always feel that's a bit vulnerable to thieving and/or damage when I'm travelling so when it's time for replacement (or maybe before) I'm going to switch to a CD writer and burn two from each 512Mb cardful. If I'm feeling particularly paranoid I can mail a set home every so often. What can go wrong?
The reason I asked was that I have been looking at importing a writer for resale and just wanted your readers' thoughts. It seems that the main photo retailers are not carrying much in the way of mass storage at branch level ("No demand" says a Jessups store manager) but I find the arguments for CD writing pretty strong.
By the way, those Notting Hill kid pics are very nice.
10:27 pm - Friday, September 12, 2003
#10 Mark Goldstein
The only CD-based portable drive that I've seen is the Apacer Steno, which I think retails for around £220. A bit too expensive in my opinion. Is that the one that you're thinking of importing? I decided on a hard-drive solution because I didn't want to have to carry a load of CDs around as well as the main unit.
I'm glad you like the Notting Hill Kids photos
10:53 pm - Friday, September 12, 2003
#11 Wyndham Hollis
No, it was this one from EZPnP (see URL below). It would have retailed for about the same price though. I'd like to develop a card reader that would simply dump to a portable HD or a CD and cost about £30 - £40. Then you could use a variety of devices and keep the cost under £150.
http://www.ezpnp.com/English/Product/Product.asp?Category=english&img=0
4:04 am - Saturday, September 13, 2003
#12 Mark Goldstein
I've not heard of that product before. It looks pretty similar to the Apacer Steno. Are there any major differences?
Wyndham, I had to alter your post slightly, I hope you don't mind!
1:41 pm - Saturday, September 13, 2003
#13 Jon Read
Mark,
After your comments last week I'm now awaiting delivery of an X'S-Drive II and a 40Gb HD. Bought for a total of approx. £170, which is a bit of a bargain.
It better be good.
Cheers,
Jon
7:13 pm - Saturday, September 13, 2003
#14 Mark Goldstein
That's an excellent price! Where did you get it from?
!!
I should have added some kind of disclaimer to those comments...
7:45 pm - Saturday, September 13, 2003
#15 Jon Read
Heh, too late now!
I'm sure it will do the job. I'm off to Cuba for a couple of weeks and intend to be shooting in RAW, so I'll need something like it!
I got the 40Gb drive from EBuyer, and the X'S-Drive sans HD from digitalwebshop.de - 99 Euros, which works out to about £69. Shipping bumps that up to around £86, the drive was £88, so call it around 175 quid all in.
Most places over here sell a 40Gb X'S-Drive II for around £250. And they say rip-off Britain is dead...
Cheers,
Jon
4:14 am - Sunday, September 14, 2003
#16 Mark Goldstein
Cuba! I've always wanted to go there...
That sounds like a very good deal to me.
Mark
11:12 pm - Sunday, September 14, 2003