We expected the Sony NEX cameras to be cheaper than MicroFourThirds so we compared the current prices with other (compact!) mirrorless cameras:
Camera+prime lens combos (cheapest on top / click on the product name to visit the shop):
Sony NEX3 + 16mm Lens ($549 on Adorama)
Sony NEX5 + 16mm Lens ($649 on Adorama)
Panasonic GF1 + 20mm Lens ($844.16 on Amazon)
Olympus E-P2 + 17mm Lens ($1,029.95 on Amazon)
Camera+kit-zoom
Olympus E-PL1 + 14-42mm Lens ($549 on Amazon)
Sony NEX3 + 18-55 Lens ($599 on Adorama)
Sony NEX5 + 18-55 Lens ($699 on Adorama)
Panasonic GF1 + 14-45mm Lens ($749.99 on Amazon)
Olympus E-P2 + 14-42mm Lens ($899.99 on Amazon)
The only cameras that seems to be overpriced are the GF1 and the E-P2. But you also have to consider the features. The GF1 has a built-in flash, allows the use of the optional electronic live viewfinder
The Olympus E-PL1 is the cheapest item in the camera+zoom section. To bad they do not offer the E-PL1+17mm option.
The NEX is cheap, but not cheaper than MicroFourThirds. I guess the real battle is about image quality and features!
P.S.: Interesting:
After 36 hours amazon has still no Sony NEX product and if you search for Sony NEX you will get a MicroFourThirds advertising instead of NEX 🙂
16 Responses
Costco has E-P1 + kit zoom for $499, making it cheaper than even E-PL1. Amazon asks $599 for the same kit.
Ha! Germany is up to date.
http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?__mk_de_DE=%C5M%C5Z%D5%D1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=sony+nex&x=0&y=0
Good thing with the competition from Sony NEX. Eventually it will make µFT products cheaper (and better!?) I think.
I’m still waiting (in)patiently to get an e-p2! but i just can’t justify it at current prices in regards to what else is available. hopefully there will actually be a bit more shake-up in June when the NEX models start shipping.
Sony didn’t undercut m4/3 concerning prices. It looks more like price agreement than price war. Prices are nicely spread – if you want a bit more, you’ll have to pay a bit more.
And the more I read NEX reviews, the more it seems to me like a system made for people not prepared to buy more than one lens and rarely using manual modes, thus a complementary system to m4/3, not a competitor …
In Europe NEX is in NX’s price range, and in general they both are cheaper than m4/3. E-PL1 is the cheapest one but is crippled as well, therefore should compete with other cripples, which will certainly born sooner or later.
PS one should be paranoid if he doesn’t see competition.
So “better ergonomics” and the “option to” 20k EVF on GF1 are worth $300 more than NEX3’s 92k tilting screen and aps-c sized 14M sensor? Oh wait, built in flash must’ve cost a fortune for Pany to make over the included external flash Sony throws in!
Let’s be fair, NEX are cheap, whichever way we look at it, and the NEX are even still quoted in MSRP, while some of the M4/3 are 6 month old street price!
Looks like Sony will be putting the pressure on m4/3. EP-2 should be priced about the same as the E-620 and I think it will get there. Olympus has been moving fast to sell as many m4/3 as they can while they can get a premium.
IF Sony does things right they can pick-up a lot of market share.
@43zoom I like the look of the Sony’s but I’d take in-body IS of the Olympus over the look of the Sony’s any day. Sony has to fight against the E-PL1 in terms of pricing and from the looks of things they’re similar. Can’t speak for the Panny. They’ve always been a bit pricier.
I like the fact that you can have IS for any lens, and tack on 4/3 lenses and use AF. Sony can’t do that with their DSLR lenses. Sony does seem to have better high ISO (though surprisingly poor at low ISO if you compare ISO 100 images at IR), but really who shoots at ISO 3200 all the time? I have a 5D2 and I barely shoot that high and I know its way better than most cameras out there!
If anything Panny will adjust. Oly has enough range I don’t think it has to. I’d like them to but I don’t think they will in a significant way.
In Japan,
now,according to Kakaku.com(the site shows the 3C and Camera current prices,also it has the histogram of prices)
Gf1 pancake kit cheapest price is down to 605.17USD(56,400 Japanese Yen)
Wish to be down a little bit.
Because the GF1’s price in Taiwan is more or less linked to the KAKAKU.com
now, In Taiwan, it costs 20000NTD (632.36USD) to get the Zoom kit
plus 10 dollors to get the pancake kit.
(I don’t know why the pancake lens kit is more expensive in taiwan,
on the contrast, the Zoom lens Kit in Japan is more expensive)
Perhaps, The Panny should develop more cheap primes to compete with Sony.
Show us tirst the 14/F2.5 with new generation G-series camera,
@George
On price
I suspect the true premium GF1 charges over E-PL1 or NEXs is from the labor cost, rather than the “perceived value”(buttons, ergonomics, options to bla bla) indicated in this post.
Unless Panny moves the production line oversea like Olympus and SONY, it will have a hard time fighting the price war. Plus, SONY is known for selling products below cost to grab market share(take PS3, unsuccessfully though).
On sensor
M4/3 has done a lot in a year head start, but the holly grail of modern digital camera lies in the sensor technology. The new G2/G10 pretty much uses the same sensor from G1/GF1, and we know how it performs. Nobody shoots at 3200 all the time, but if it works, at no extra cost, why not?
Olympus has great optics, all it needs is a sensor good enough to go with it. Panny’s LMOS sensor just doesn’t cut it. Leica knows it, thats why they opt for Kodak sensor for their “true” cameras, M9 and S2 to show what their lenses are really capable of.
As I have mentioned before, Sony ILCs are not even released to the market, who knows what the price will be one month later. In addition, the 20mm/f1.7 pancake (and there will be 14mm/f2.5 pancake coming soon…) is not comparable with the 16mm/f2.8 pancake because the Sony pancake has higher CA, though it has wider angle-of-view optically. Remember, the real battle of ILC/EVIL will actually appears in the next half of this year.
It has been prooven by Sony’s NEX series what is technically feasible when in comes to compact designs. Even with an APS-C sensor the body is thinner than the competition /(GF-1). However, with a (ultra) zoom lens attached to it the compact size is a kind of useless.
Here I see a big chance for Pana to strike back, by fitting it’s MFT sensor into the LX3 successor and adding a f2.0 collapsable lens (26 – 104 mm equivalent). Together with full HD AVCHD video this would be a killer machine, if manual operating (focus, aperature lock, etc) mode available.
I am doubtful about the real size advantage of NEX cameras vs. GF1/E-PL1…
When you take into account the grip and the lens mount, the only place where the NEX 5 is thinner is where the fingers go in between — and that isn’t helpful to put the camera in a pocket.
Of course, the figures are stated for this area (“thickness at the slimmest point”), and Sony’s design of the mount that extents outside the body in a completely different appearance (chrome of the lens instead of black of the body) is very, VERY smart to make the camera LOOK thinner than it is.
Nex prices are MSRP. In a couple of months the street prices would be $100 lower.
Sony really went aggressive here. I think they want to try to own the market before the Big Two decide to join.
And now that m43 isn’t the only game, it’s time for them to drop their prices… big time!