As noticed by our reader “Dutch” the Limited edition Black 12mm lens is definitely gone from all major US stores like Amazon (not available), Adorama (not listed) and Bhphoto (no more listed). I guess Olympus will soon release a “Normal edition” and “Normal” priced Black 12mm soon 🙂
UPDATE: The Panasonic GH3 is in Stock at BHphoto (limited quantity).
54 Responses
Sure, they’ll announce it at the same time they announce their new 35mm film SLR.
until Olympus starts making black primes, these are as useful as a pile of warm… spilled milk ^_^
black 17 DOIT!!!
yes black 17 please. I have no idea why they only release silver version when they do make black bodies.
Because Olympus is a company with fantastic engineers and incompetent management.
if you’ve spent any time in Japan you’ll know that salarymen are so loyal to their company and its management that they will never criticise their decisions. This is how we end up with silly things like this, some senior manager probably decided that it would be a a good cost cutting decision to produce only silver lenses to reduce costs and everyone below him dutifully agreed.
Contrast this with the more collaborative and open nature of most western companies where something like this would be shot down as stupid from the start.
IMHO there is a balance to be found between the Eastern ‘salaryman’ culture and the Western ‘mercenary’ way of doing business, Olympus appear to be too far tilted towards the salaryman end of this spectrum.
Well blow me down! Poor management?
Well! Who made a whole truckload and sold them at well over premium price and none left?
I was assured in earlier comments that no one would buy them. Seems many commentators have never heard of marketing. Or are very poor readers of trends and consumer markets.
So you come back and say Oly hasn’t any idea of marketing just look at what they do. They sold them ALL. Proof is in the pudding.
Its simple math – they made for sure some more money with that one than they’d have made with 3000 silver ones but I also doubt it was that much more that Oly did for the money. They rather did it for the sake of it, for making a limited, as a bait to see if further limited could sell (apparently they will sell..) and some money.
Even if they made 400.- per pc, that’s 120 k€. It#s a wellcome money, but this is not much in industrial terms.
my bad, its 1.2 millions – ok, it could be also the money;) I wonder however how many 12 they sell for one year (and what is the profit per pc) – thigs we’ll never know…
The management could indee have been incompetent – think of the financial scandal and who made. I reckon, it wasn’t the engineers
Black ’em all!
+1
I can take nice photos even with the silver versions 😉
Aren’t you talented, would you like a medal?
Only if the medal is in silver and matches my silver lens & camera combo! Lol Don’t worry about my stealthy ability: I’ll wear my Boots of Silence and the Cloack of Invisibility! 😀
lets see your talent alterego-are you a victim of GAS
GAS ?
No, I’m not suffering from Gear Acquisition Syndrome: I try things because I love photography, and I buy what I need and can afford. I’ve been told I have a “good eye”, but I can improve it, obviously. If curious, you can give a look at my Flickr account, same name as here. Polite and constructive comments are more than welcome! 😉
Black 75mm (drools)
I MIGHT even be willing to pay the premium for it.
just as I did with the 12 😉
suckers 😉
as soon as one comes out, im buying it
I think a silver lens on a black body looks absolutely gorgeous!
paint it black!
I am prepared to pay as much as 399$ for it, with lens.
2 left on ebay $1200 each. $399! Bollox.
Admin, look at this: https://twitter.com/McGillicuddy1/status/307107188223119360/photo/1
What is this?
no secret stuff 🙂
THAT is an E-7!
I think that Olympus choice to limit production to silver lenses it boils down to manufacturing capacity, in other words, if they made both black and silver lenses they would either have to double the number of lenses (this is financially stupid)for there to be equal number of both colors, or reduce production of both colors to half to meet current production numbers. This is essentially a gamble for Oly, they would end up with too many unsold lenses solely because of aesthetic preferences, as in, people would prefer one over the other and 1 of those 2 options would not sell as well as the other.
I can understand Olympus choice to limit production to just 1 color. Now, why would they be stupid enough to choose silver over black is beyond my understanding. black lenses go well with both silver and black cameras but not the other way around. Black is pretty much the standard for all manufacturers. Sure, I like silver lenses , IF THEY WERE AN OPTION!
If they want to play safe and impose just one color they should go black only, but since they already made the mistake of going only silver they have no choice but to offer both, at their loss. Asking premium prices for such a simple design choice is just a slap in the face.
Well said!
On top of that their silver colours aren’t even consistent…
An interesting argument, AMVR, and it makes sense for a lens maker. However, Oly makes camera bodies in such numbers and over such time that they certainly know, down to an actuarial art, what the demands for which percentages of what colour of body and lens will be from season to season. I prefer to imagine that their designers have convinced themselves that there is a higher aesthetic at work, while to us lowly consumers, it only appears to be the height of arrogance for them to release a bullshit higher priced oh so special black version of their already premium range lens models. Penance for those of us who were deviant enough to choose a black body in the first place. Long live hubris!
There’s nothing that says that it has to be an even split. Even if they start out with even projections, once they start seeing a preference, then they can ramp back production of the one with the less popular color, using that capacity to produce the more popular one. If I had to guess, black would be the more popular of the two.
Actually, I’d be willing to bet that if they produced both colors, they’d sell more units than they are of just silver (or champagne, depending on the lens.) I know it’s supposed to be all about the pictures, but a lot of people care about aesthetics, even if only subconsciously. There are likely consumers who have not purchased lenses because they don’t come it black.
By limiting production to one colour, silver, they have left a nice little window for a special black production run. They have also now proven this strategy works, it means that they can use it again and move all stock to retailers immediately, not in dribs and drabs as the retailers now know there is a market and certainly a demand.
Its the same as giving kids lollies. Do it after the meal not before. Or they will be full of lollies not food.
Sad to see it gone. But you should see a silver on a silver OMD!
http://flic.kr/p/dYxun4
I have it too, and it looks gorgeous. Btw, when I bought it I used it on my old black epl-2. Those who noticed it, actually people who were by my side or in front of me, found the lend beautiful, and never noticed the coupling black/silver. The main question was: is it an old lens? On E-m5 they ask me: is it an old camera?
“Al it’s gorgeous, completely!”
😉
Except that if you hadn’t posted a B&W picture, but a coloured one, you would see that the OM-D is a different shade of grey (silver, lol) than the 12mm.
Now, THAT’S a BIG problem!
Did a back to back with my old OM-1 and the new OM-D with an old legacy lens. A beautiful combo…
http://flic.kr/p/c8YeAm
Take a look!
that pick is nice…as I never saw omd live…I had even problem to identify it 🙂
I have been looking for this lens and found that the guys at AcePhoto.net have the 12mm black in stock.
There goes the fat profit margins.
I’d like to see comparison shooting between black and silver versions of the same lens. I suspect that silver will reflect more heat, reducing noise. They also may be able to save money by making it slightly less resistant to heat warp. Cannon’s oh-so-famous white lenses are that color for a reason.
You can probably shoot at slower shutter speed being that your wallet will be much lighter. 😛
hahahaha!! nice sarcasm there greenly!
I would have bought one, had they made a black one from the start, but Olympus had to try and jerk us around, so I bought a 12-35, instead. If I were a stock holder and heard this type of thing -which I suspect is not an isolated case- I would be furious with Olympus management, for screwing me out of dividends. It’s sort of like Olympus screws three times every time they do stupid stuff. 1) They screw their customers. 2) They screw their stock holders. 3) They screw themselves. I guess I think Olympus is pretty much screwed.
What a weird statement. Stock holders unhappy? that’s the weirdest thing ever said of a company that has sold the entire stock of a product that was marketed at way over the odds.
i want A BLACK 75mm F/1.8
Yes please!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope it will be replaced with gold color 🙂
They are out of stock because it was a limited edition… Obviously!!!
They are out of stock because it was a limited edition… Obviously!!!