UPDATE: I have been told by a trusted sources that following prices posted by Pierre Lepidi are NOT correct. Lepidi answer is that these prices are correct for France only.
Here is the news from lepidi posted yesterday:
——-
– The 60 mm macro f/2.8 will be priced at 599 euros,
– The ultra-pancake 15 mm f/8 will cost you 79 euros,
– And the 12 mm f/2 black limited + hood + lens cap for 899 euros. That’s 290 Euro more than the cheapest price I found on [shoplink 23576 ebay]eBay[/shoplink]. Damn, Olympus makes us pay that hood a lot! Like they do on the current 75mm 1.8 hood.
Speaking of the 75mm lens. Amazon US (Click here) is finally shipping the pre orders and the lens is marked as “Temporarily out of stock“.
75 Responses
The macro is priced better than I thought it would be.
The pancake is priced higher than I thought it would be.
The 12mm black is priced what I thought it would be- BUT comes with a hood and a bag?! That’s like $100 USD on their own usually 😉
Yes I am pleased with the macro price Olympus have a great record in macro lens design with the 75mm + hood coming in so high I was nervous
Exactly my thoughts.
It has to be said, though, that Japanese prices are among the highest in the world. The 15 mm should nevertheless be more than two times cheaper and be bundled with all new Olympus m4/3 cameras.
A Wanderlust pinhole cap for M43 costs already 30 euros on Ebay. I think nobody should complain about the non-zuiko lens/bodycap.
The idea is good, but the price should have been no more than 50 euros.
79 euros is the recommended price. I think coming with the PEN kit the 15mm will be around 30 euros. And in online shops you´ll finde it around 50.
+1
599.- would mean regular prices about and even below 500.- and this is quite competitive
The 60mm price sounds promising indeed for what could be a very useful lens in more ways than one (thinking back to the 135mm in the old OM Zuiko film days.)
I also think that the quality of the 15mm may make it worth the cost…which is still a good price compared to some lens *hoods*! At the moment, if I get it, I intend to mount it on my E-P1 (replaced by OM-D) and use it as my monochrome street shooter, easily pocketable in my winter jacket.
I was thinking the exact same though. The lens will likely breath new life into my old E-PL1, as focus speed becomes a non-issue.
The macro price is good. This will also be an effective portrait lens. Adding in the weather sealing, true 1:1 macro, relatively fast….the 15/8 and this macro will make a great pair of lenses for hiking etc!
I was anticipating about 200Eu more expensive.
Won’t complain 😉
Is the 15 a triplet?
79 euros for 15/8?!!!!
I’ve bought the not stellar, but much-much more than decent Pana 14–45/3.5–5.6 for 80(!)USD (of course, bundled with the G3 kit).
Sorry, 14–42
You mean 14-42mm right?
Of course 14–42.
Olympus, why are you ripping people off with colors, lens hoods, and bags??? Is there any other camera company that pulls this shit?
Pentax? (limited stuff) Canon? (lens hoods) 😉
.. + 100.. a good reason to change perhaps to the NEX 6: with the new collapsible standard zoom and the 10-18 mm SWW Lens, as small as the Pana 7-14, but a bigger sensor this should be point to be considerated.
i hate this “kind of marketing”, it leads to 3. party manufacturerers, dissatisfies customers and ruins the reputation of olympus.. which were starting a kind of relaunch with the e-m 5, after their internal criminal affairs..
I know people are and will be decrying the price, but I actually think that’s a good sign!
To me, being 80 Euros suggests that it will be quite good optically. I’m willing to bet better than the 17mm f2.8, at the very least. I too was thinking that it was going to be priced at around 50ish dollars, but that made me worry that the lens would suck optically. This makes me think we might be able to expect some good IQ =P
Also, I’m pretty sure it will be bundled with the new Pens.
>To me, being 80 Euros suggests that it will be quite good optically. I’m willing to bet better than the 17mm f2.8, at the very least.
Basically even if it has perfectly corrected aberrations it can’t have as high center sharpness because of being diffraction limited.
At f8? Don’t think that diffraction is a significant issue.
if THIS thingy is diffraction-limited, it will be a BARGAIN at 80 bucks…
I suppose if that gizmo were to cost $99, it would be even better? 😛
Hey Admin, one a different note. Have you ever heard any rumors about an Olympus powerzoom ? Something to be bundled with PENS for example.
is the 15mm is a weatherseal lense lol
Its way less silly then it sounds.
A weather-sealed body-cap for my E-M5 that doubles as a lens? That would actually make it worth 79 euros to me 🙂
Yes, it has no electrical contacts.So at lest it can take light rain. It’s funny all those who can’t take the basics, and who protest anyhow, despite the price and the usefulness as a device.
yes….it is weather sealed. It comes with one of those little parasols that bartenders put in cocktails!!!! (no charge!)
That macro price is great.
I was interested in the black 12mm, but the price is just crazy. Sorry, Oly, no business with me. I don’t like to be ripped off!
I think I will be waiting for some reasonable third party offerings.
The silver 12mm is €820 *without* hood. Why should the black version suddenly be much cheaper?
The price for the black 12mm is more or less as one should expect. The macro seems to be well priced.
I don’t know where you buy your equipment, of course, but in Germany the silver 12mm is available for less than € 620, see here:
http://geizhals.at/de/656624
comparing street price and list price is not always a wise thing to do… list price for the silver 2/12 is 849 EUR (IIRC)
If that’s the case, I stand corrected. So I will wait and see what the street price of the black edition will be.
The price I cited is in the webstore of a large photo store in Spain.
it should be cheaper because the initial price was a rip off. now the gangsters revolutionize the world of photography by adding a black color and charge 100 more. keep justifying the price to yourself. im sure the gangsters would not be philosophically opposed to taking more of your money.
In addition to a crappy analysis where you try to toss in words of philosophy and social criticism (gangsters), you can’t even do a simple calculation. :-). The price is €80 higher, not €100. And the cited price is for a different product — you get more than the lens (as opposed to those buying the silver one).
Now, you may think that the price is too high in the first place, and that €80 is too much for the add-on. That would be fair point of view, which I happen to support. But pretending that it is such a big shock that the price is more or less the same for the black and the silver one, well…
…the 12mm f2.0 / silver (without hood & lens cap) is EUR 839,- / list price Olympus Germany…
…so the black version with hood & lens cap is EUR 60,- extra…
The 60 mm seems well priced if IQ is good. For the 15 mm and the 12 mm it’s a joke…no way !
And the price for the lens hood for the 18mm f/8 is…………….. 🙂
I wonder if the term “limited” refers only to the color or there is also something else – like a sealing? 😉
If I remember the rumor rightly, three new Olympus lenses should have been announced at Photokina. So if those three are the already shown macro, the black version of an old lens and a body cap which doubles as a fixed MF aperture lens, it’ll be hugely disappointing.
It wil be interesting to see if the prices (especially the macro) are correct, how long it takes street prices to change from MSRP, and as well as the U.S. prices (those sometimes are different from Euro/dollar conversion ratios). Plus the ever present question of when will it ship and be available at dealers 🙂
Expensive ,especially the 15mm, but what I expected.
http://i.imgur.com/KG8uV.jpg
on Sep 18, at The Sherwood Taipei
(Maybe Olympus will introduce E-PL5 and another, perhaps.)
very nice this 15mm 😀
Coming soon: a Limited edition in silver….
I believe that Olympus may have indicated that the black 12mm will be a limited production run. Therefore it will cost more to produce.
I think that it is reasonable to charge more for it when they are just meeting the needs of the minority of so called photographers who are only looking to colour co-ordinate their accoutrements as they walk the streets ‘posing and lurking’.
I love that phrase, coined by James Hunt, late, great British Formula 1 champion referring to those non-racing people who stroll through Pit Lane before the Grand Prix.
Judging from what I read, I would rather say most people pefer lens and body color to match. I am also pretty sure that in a poll, black will turn out to be more popular than silver. Therefore it is my belief that the black LE lenses are a deliberate attempt of milking the consumer.
Personally, I don’t care, if lenses are black or silver – as long as they don’t come in Cayman Island blue and barred window green, I’m fine with it.
“…most people prefer lens and body color to match”
This is where your analysis fails: I am not much into fashion, but even I know that “color match” does *not* mean having identical color! 🙂
In my view, there is no doubt that the silver lenses match the black color of the body. Color-wise. Just like it is ok to wear a white shirt with a black suit. And I think “the Man in Black” was quite stylish, too. I don’t mind people asking for black lenses; I’m fine with some people (or many) preferring that. But to make it into a question of aestetics is a failure.
I wasn’t posting an analysis. I was making an observation based on the gear I see out in the field and on currently available equipment, and on the comments I read online. I expect the duo-tone scheme to be less popular than the monochrome scheme. Not everyone likes white wall tires, although some probably think they look phat on their Corolla. 😉
I didn’t mention or implicate fashion and aesthetics, unless you are referring to the 2013 line of hot pink lenses, which I haven’t even mentioned in this post! 😛
Why do you claim I’m making this into a question of aesthetics? I already said I don’t care if the lenses are silver or black. Given a choice, I will choose black for a few practical reasons, but it’s a very minor issue to me.
@michaelfromoz
Excellent answer your Olympus masters will be very pleased and lets face it after the corruption and terrible imaging results they need to shaft the faithful for every dollar they can get. $80 for a lens hood bargain lol
It will be very very limited !
I love that Oly punishes those who think the color black shall cloak them with invisibility on the streets with the high price 😀
I guess it is safe to assume that the 60mm does not come with that fancy-looking hood?
Olympus is not alone in overcharging for accessories. The dedicated hood for the new Sony RX1 is listed at $180! For that price it had better have both Leica & Zeiss engraved on the hood.
Sorry (off topic), but I too was intrigued by the apparent rip-off with the Sony RX1 Lens hood @ $180. I’ve bought several similar ‘vented’ hoods over recent years for m4/3 lenses and before that for Leica lenses. I never paid more than around USD10 for each of them. Olympus is no longer the only company reaming us for what should be included/standard accessories (as they are with most other manufacturers) 😉
So, which manufacturers other then Lumix do include things like a hood?
I’m pretty sure the 2 nikors I bought last year didn’t.
It has rather been my impression that those that do include such accessories are the exception.
Doesn’t change that I think especially the lens hood should be included.
every Nikon lens I have bought had a hood, I guess that it depends how far down the price list you go . One thing is certain all Nikon£800 lenses include hoods
I have never bought a Nikon lens without a hood looking at the current lens range from cheapest upwards on B&H website the only current Nikon lens without hoods was the 99 bucks 18-55 mk2 any other lenses without hoods were only the occasional old model like the old 50mm F1.8D the new 50mm F1.8G { great buy} includes a hood .Bart must have been buying some pretty low end lenses.
Those were the 50/1.8 and 85/1.8, both indeed way below $800.
Hey Bart, Here in the UK the 50mmf1.8g and 85mm F1.8g both come with lens hoods,namely the HD-47 for the 50 and the HB-62 for the 85 . the 85F1.8G is actually an amazing performer for the cash.
I was actually shocked to see that Olympus is charging £69 for a hood for an £800 lens that sucks.
Here in the Netherlands, the 50/1.8D and 85/1.8D come without. And yes, I wanted the D versions because of wanting to use them on older pre-AF bodies also.
For me it all seems rather simple, manufacturer doesn’t include a hood? JJC or such will surely want to sell me a clone for 10 euros. No, not going to buy the ‘original’, but also not going to act like this is the end of the world, unlike some people on here.
If the the ultra-pancake take some quality pictures I may go for it some day in the next year.. when price comes more real! xD
It’s too thin to be a pancake… how about we call it a crêpe? 😉
+1 This is a crêpe? Hope it doesn’t turn out to be a crap.
The 15mm is priced well. They will be peanuts second hand, I’ll probably get one for no reason at all (I dont even use my body caps – always have a lens on).
Macro is reasonably priced too, surprisingly so.
12mm black is what I wanted, but not at that price. It’s crazy money, I wouldn’t be surprised if owners kept the prices high on the second hand market too (and so they should paying that much up front).
The 15mm f8 doesn’t seem to be unreasonably priced at all. I was thinking about picking up a Voigtländer 15mm f4.5 for $600, but the Oly 15mm seems almost too good to be true. It’d be a nice match for a GF5 or EPM2, never mind it completely disappearing on a GH2/3.
My 20mm is pretty much my body cap!
Here’s my theory: final suggested retail prices will be set only after reading prospective buyer’s comments.
Prospective buyer: “The macro is a bargain at $599. Too bad they don’t have a silver one.”
Oly marketing: “Bwee hee hee, let’s price that lens at $799. Silver LE version to be released 9 months later for $899.”
+100
Yes 60mm Macro for €599 sounds too good to be true. I will wait for the real retail price.
¿Does somebody know the prices in dollars, for the american market?
I live in South America so a have to buy at the USA.
On the subject of 75mm availability, DigitalRev have it in stock:
http://www.digitalrev.com/product/olympus-m-zuiko-digital-ed/MTAwMDg2Nw_A_A
I’ve noticed over the last year that digitalrev, who I have used quite a bit in the past because of their much lower prices are now charging over the top for many of their goods.
This 75mm lens in Australia is $995 and they want $115 more.
Delivery is free of course, always has been.
We seem to have some stock now in Australia
I noticed that their D800 price was elevated and then seemed to increase even more when it went to the top of the DxO class.
I therefore have not used them for a while.
Can’t really say more but all these prices are not correct, for Europe at least and in both directions.
-p-
15mm price is insane. U can get the 15mm from off the kit from around 150e