GX1 and NEX-7

The Panasonic Gx1 and the Sony NEX-7 are now in stock at B&H. Let me 'splain.

The custom among cameramakers of late seems to be to reserve early production for kits, meaning a camera bundled with a basic lens; of course, a lot of enthusiasts already have lenses, perhaps even including a kit lens. Force-feeding kits to the early market results in more product moved for the makers, I suppose, but it creates an extra delay for the people who want the cameras the most...and they're the people who happen to be the tail that ought to be wagging the dog, I might add. I don't think it's that smart, myself, but then what do I know. I mean, lots of Sony NEX-7 buyers will be moving up from a NEX-5, and lots of GX1 buyers will be moving up from a GF1.

So what I mean here is that both of these cameras are now available body-only, the way enthusiasts most often buy 'em. We don' need no steenking kit lens.

The Panasonic is available in both basic black and a handsome dark silver.

Mike

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Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Comments

[oldsweng]

The unavailabilty of the Olympus M-E5, body only, caused me to order a Panasonic GH2. After I used it for a day I canceled my M-E5 order. I already had a kit lens from owning an E-P1 and several other lenses. I too am sick and tired of manufacturers rolling out the kits before body only. In this case it cost Olympus a sale - on a product I pre-ordered February 7.

[Tom]

I always buy the kit. Gives you a lens to sell the camera with.

[Dennis Ng]

Tie-in sale is a big topic in monopoly economic in the old days, from IBM mainframe selling cards and onwards.

If you are right, there is an exception e.g. why Sony give you a kit lens of 16-50 for A77VQ. Also, the 16mm is not bad for Nex.

In fact theoretically, if one can sell both items at higher price (if not combine) and produce more the camera but not the kit lens, the economy does not make sense to combine them. Why then?

Also, white box kit lens alone (from break up the tie-in sales) has been done and undermine a lot of these kit lens sales later for quite a while. Why then?

A very in-depth pricing theory is needed here to explain. Not for a photography blog, just to say that it is an initial pricing / pricing structure / supply-demand uncertainty issues here.

[JohnMFlores]

It's funny how impatient we've all become. What, wait another 6 weeks for a camera? I have to use my current very good camera for another 6 weeks? Life is soooo hard!

[Jonas Yip]

I tweeted a complaint in the general direction of Olympus the other day about that very issue. Something about their shipping kits before bodies being the opposite of appreciating their existing customers. Mostly I just want my camera already...

[Jeffrey Goggin]

Hmm ... I pre-ordered a GX1 body-only from Amazon on the day they were announcex and received it just before last Christmas. In fact, I had intended to cancel my order, but after receiving an email informing me that shipments would be delayed until late January, I thought I had plenty of time to do so. Needless to say, I was quite surprised when UPS delivered one to my office the following day!

[Peter Hovmand]

Dennis, the 16mm for Nex is supposed to be a disaster ...

[Pete Teoh]

I purchased my body-only GX1 the week it was released in the US from Kenmore Camera, so it's been available sans lens if you looked in the right places.

The GX1 is a great camera and the touch screen (which I initially thought was no more than a gimmick) has been wonderful to use in practice for quickly moving the focus point when shooting.

[Mike Johnston]

"It's funny how impatient we've all become. What, wait another 6 weeks for a camera? I have to use my current very good camera for another 6 weeks? Life is soooo hard!"

I'm going to answer that, but in six weeks.

Mike

[oldsweng]

"It's funny how impatient we've all become. What, wait another 6 weeks for a camera? I have to use my current very good camera for another 6 weeks? Life is soooo hard!"

Ok, so I just noticed B&H had the 14-42 kit in stock this morning. Ordered. WTH. Now I can "give away" my E-P1 with its original kit lens.

[Doug]

In regards to the Nex-7, the body-only option was actually available much sooner than the kits, and those that pre-ordered the kits had to wait a couple more months to receive them.

p.s. Peter, the Sony 16 isn't a disaster. Much of its performance comes down to sample variation and focus distance.

[Andrew E.]

Too bad a nice normal prime is so rarely offered in a "kit' anymore. It seems like such an obvious way to entice new serious photographers to buy into a system. It worked on me: Panasonic's 20mm + GF1 kit was one of the main reasons I bought into the m4/3 system. And now I've sold all my modern Nikons and use the GF1 or the X100 for everything. Panasonic's two flavours of slow 14-42 zoom with the GX1 certainly don't make me think of a camera targeted at serious photographers.