Olympus E-P1 pricing announced

Leonard Goh | Jun 18, 2009

The E-P1 with the 17mm lens and the optical viewfinder. (Credit: Leonard Goh/CNET Asia)

Olympus recently introduced its first Micro Four Thirds camera, the E-P1, and only today made its pricing known. We've mentioned that the shooter will go for less than S$1,300, and the company kept to that price ceiling for the basic kit.

Olympus has set the price for the camera body and the 14-42mm lens at S$1,298 (US$934.55) . If you prefer to use just the 17mm pancake optics, the E-P1 will retail for S$1,448 (US$1,042.55) with this glass. Shutterbugs who want both lenses will have to fork out S$1,598 (US$1,150.55) for the dual lens bundle. The S$1,448 and S$1,598 packages will come with the 17mm optical viewfinder.

In Singapore, all kits will come with an 8GB SDHC card. Promotions in other Asian regions will be advised by their local offices and retailers.

Will consumers still go for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 which costs S$2,184 (US$1,499) with the 14-140mm HD lens? Considering that the GH1 has full-HD video recording, advanced users may prefer it over the Olympus with 720p HD video recording.. But for the average shutterbug who wants to upgrade from a point-and-shoot, the E-P1 has very attractive price schemes, and that may help propel Olympus back into the market to gain a stronger foothold.

The E-P1 will go on sale in Singapore and Japan from July 4. Availability details for other countries to follow soon.

Filed under: Digital Cameras
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hardjoe

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hardjoe says...
Does anyone know what the casing for this baby looks like?

In terms of comparisons being drawn, one of the competitors may not be the Lumix DMC-GH1 but rather the Leica D-Lux4 Refer to asia.cnet.com....

Yes, I know that the Leica is only 28mm and not 14mm but in terms of form factor that is where the 2 share some common ground. Shooting with 17 is nice but at the end of the day we want our cameras to do most things well. Am I not right? Olympus is clever. They have obviously done their gap analysis and decided to compete directly with Leica and Ricoh. Cameras do not just get made.

Ardi

Jun 19, 2009 11:12