DMC-L1 Price anounced - ouch!!!!

[Phill D]

Jeffs latest news shows a potential price of $1999. If this is the correct starting price I don't see many sales. Surely Panasonic have shot themselves in the foot with this. Even if it was a typo & it should have been $999 I'd say it was too expensive to sell well. I hope this isn't correct

[Bill Markwick]

Jeffs latest news shows a potential price of $1999. If this is the correct starting price I don't see many sales. Surely Panasonic have shot themselves in the foot with this. Even if it was a typo & it should have been $999 I'd say it was too expensive to sell well. I hope this isn't correct

Agreed. Even if the street price is somewhat less, it'll still end up in Canada at around $2500, which puts it in the same range as a D200 or 30D with a basic zoom lens. I love my FZ20 and I was really looking forward to seeing the long-awaited DSLR, but the price (if correct) is ridiculous.

Bill

[Jeff Keller]

That price is definitely accurate. I wonder if they'll sell it without the expensive lens?

[Phill D]

Hmm... maybe, but without the lens the Oly 330 looks to have fairly similar spec and a moveable LCD - hot competition from a partner! . It seems to me that Sony & possibly Pentax are set to be the ones to make the biggest waves in the future DSLR market. It's a shame I too really like my FZ20 Bill & was also looking forward to evaluating the L1 as a trade up route to a dslr. This puts it way out of my upgrade path.

[coldrain]

The price is not as high as everyone seems to think. The lens is a high quality light sensitive standard zoom, just like Canon's EF-S 17-55 f2.8 IS USM. Both have IS, the Canon costs above $1100. The Canon has a f2.8 over the entire range, for the rest they seem very comparable.

Nikon's offering, the 17-55 f2.8 DX, is even more expensive than the Canon, and lacks IS.

So... add a 20D or 30D to the Canon lens, and you get a price that is above the price of the Panasonic L1. Add a 350D/XT to it, and you get a very similar price to the L1 with its lens.

Same with the Nikon... add a D70s or D50 to the price of that Canon lens, and the package again is very comparable in price.

[Phill D]

Ah so that's how they justify it. I hadn't realised that IS lenses were quite that expensive. Pehaps I'll stick with my FZ20 for a bit longer.

[coldrain]

Ah so that's how they justify it. I hadn't realised that IS lenses were quite that expensive. Pehaps I'll stick with my FZ20 for a bit longer.

What makes the lens expensive is the quality of the glass elements used. The IS is only part of its price, most goes to the glass itself.

[Bill Markwick]

The price is not as high as everyone seems to think. The lens is a high quality light sensitive standard zoom, just like Canon's EF-S 17-55 f2.8 IS USM. Both have IS, the Canon costs above $1100. The Canon has a f2.8 over the entire range, for the rest they seem very comparable.

True that it has an excellent lens, far better than the usual kit lens. But I expected a lower price range because it's a 4/3 system. Lens prices seem to skyrocket with small increases in diameter, so the 4/3 should be somewhere between the small-sensor cameras and bigger DSLRs.

Point of interest: the Olympus E-330, which has most of the same features as the L1, has a Toronto street price of $1380. That's with a run-of-the-mill 14-45 kit lens.

Regards,
Bill
Panasonic FZ20 (and clinging to it)

[jcon]

It may be just me but doesnt it seem strange that the hot shoe is located a little to the left of the lense? That seems like it could cause some lighting problems with a flash.

On a side note, I cant wait to see the 14-50mm kit lense, I loved the Lieca on the FZ20 and am intrigued to see this lense.

[Blacklumix]

Frankly I can't wait to see how the L1 performs. While I love the idea that all basic controls are now similar to the "M" series Leica, to me the biggest difference is the introduction of a (C)MOS sensor manufactured by Matsushita (Panasonic) which is in the L1 and the Oly E330. Since to date Lumix has been at the relatively shallow end of market share, like a Leica in addition to the presumed quality control, fewer units means higher per unit pricing. I wish Panasonic would divulge more technical information about their CMOS sensor, because it is supposed to accomplish a number of things. Not only is it supposed to be part of the newer generation of MOS sensors that deal effectively with questions of quality (Canon came up with the idea of adding micronic magnifiers to each sensor pixel to increase the amount of light each took in and this is the kind of info that Panasonic should provide) but noise is supposed to be a relative non-issue AND power consumption is supposedly reduced. But that's why the sensor is so much larger; it's NOT a CCD. Which explains also why as large as it is (comparatively) it contains less than 8mp. But there is the "other" issue: that each lens will bear its own separate OIS instead of it being part of the lens mounting or body, since presumably the more accurate way of providing IS is lens-specific. That will mean that each other lens that becomes available will be bumped up to handle its own IS. Frankly, since the lens mount for the Oly E330 and the L1 are the same, one theoretically could buy the Oly and mount the Lumix lens, but pricing of the lens alone is not available as yet. I do see this as the entry hardware, however, because to me the L1 should quickly be upgraded to an L2 w/ the following additional bells which would equate it to the Oly and be to me the "ideal" hardware: (a) vario-SUMMICRON standard w/ slightly more focal length (hope hope); (b) moveable LCD (this must have been a cost-saver on the intro unit); and (c) CCD viewer senor option in addition to the "live" view. My biggest question, however, is why was Oly allowed to market the MOS technology effectively 6 months before the developer/manufacturer of it???? Was the Oly a "test" run? Time will tell.