Official: black 12/2.0 only $799 - vs. $1199 for near-identical "Special Edition": Micro Four Thirds Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Official: black 12/2.0 only $799 - vs. $1199 for near-identical "Special Edition"

Started Aug 28, 2014 | Discussions

NZ Scott • Veteran Member • Posts: 5,201

Official: black 12/2.0 only $799 - vs. $1199 for near-identical "Special Edition"

Aug 28, 2014

Olympus today discreetly announced that the so-called "Special Edition" 12/2.0 in black is not really "special" after all.

Olympus will continue to sell the lens (minus the hood and protective filter), for $400 less.

Olympus M. Zuiko 12mm f/2.0 BLACK $799

Not a very nice way to treat loyal customers who splashed out all that coin for the special edition, in my opinion, especially since the resale value of the "special" will drop. Those customers basically got reamed.

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superflyguy • Regular Member • Posts: 211

Re: Official: black 12/2.0 only $799 - vs. $1199 for near-identical "Special Edition"

In reply to NZ Scott • Aug 28, 2014

NZ Scott wrote:

Olympus today discreetly announced that the so-called "Special Edition" 12/2.0 in black is not really "special" after all.

Olympus will continue to sell the lens (minus the hood and protective filter), for $400 less.

Olympus M. Zuiko 12mm f/2.0 BLACK $799

Not a very nice way to treat loyal customers who splashed out all that coin for the special edition, in my opinion, especially since the resale value of the "special" will drop. Those customers basically got reamed.

S

I was curious who actually bought the 'special' and and whether they found it to be 'special'.

Apparently not.

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Mark Thornton • Veteran Member • Posts: 4,570

Re: Official: black 12/2.0 only $799 - vs. $1199 for near-identical "Special Edition"

In reply to NZ Scott • Aug 28, 2014

I can't find any black versions available for sale here (UK).

Mark

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superflyguy • Regular Member • Posts: 211

Re: Official: black 12/2.0 only $799 - vs. $1199 for near-identical "Special Edition"

In reply to Mark Thornton • Aug 28, 2014

Mark Thornton wrote:

I can't find any black versions available for sale here (UK).

Mark

It was a run of 3000 Special Editions which came with hood, cap and a filter.

Non special edition black 12mm's look to be available in abundance.

Buyers of the special ed must've known its the same basic lens and were paying over the odds for some kind of exclusivity with corresponding price hike.

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tinternaut • Veteran Member • Posts: 8,138

Re: It's just business

In reply to NZ Scott • Aug 28, 2014

They see what Leica does (the Armani or whatever edition) and want a piece of the pie. They wan to be the poor man's Leica, but I think Fuji does it better.

I never buy the special edition BTW. If the silver lens is cheaper (in the case of the 25mm lens I've just bought, it was), I go for the cheaper version.

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(unknown member) • Veteran Member • Posts: 3,010

Re: It's just business

In reply to tinternaut • Aug 28, 2014

They see what Leica does (the Armani or whatever edition) and want a piece of the pie. They wan to be the poor man's Leica, but I think Fuji does it better.

I never buy the special edition BTW. If the silver lens is cheaper (in the case of the 25mm lens I've just bought, it was), I go for the cheaper version.

What's that old saying "a fool and his money are soon parted"
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Mark Thornton • Veteran Member • Posts: 4,570

Re: Official: black 12/2.0 only $799 - vs. $1199 for near-identical "Special Edition"

In reply to superflyguy • Aug 28, 2014

I can't find any black versions here in the UK. Ebay has some (limited edition) from Hong Kong or Japan but none in Europe.

Mark

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Adamant • Contributing Member • Posts: 797

Re: Official: black 12/2.0 only $799 - vs. $1199 for near-identical "Special Edition"

In reply to NZ Scott • Aug 28, 2014

And now everyone knows to never buy a "special edition" anything from Olympus again.

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Ron Outdoors • Senior Member • Posts: 1,168

Re: Official: black 12/2.0 only $799 - vs. $1199 for near-identical "Special Edition"

In reply to NZ Scott • Aug 28, 2014

The $400 premium had put me off from buying the black before. I've been waiting for this version to become available. Now I'll wait a little longer for a rebate!

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gpb11 • Veteran Member • Posts: 5,035

Re: Official: black 12/2.0 only $799 - vs. $1199 for near-identical "Special Edition"

In reply to superflyguy • Aug 28, 2014

superflyguy wrote:

Buyers of the special ed must've known its the same basic lens and were paying over the odds for some kind of exclusivity with corresponding price hike.

Puzzled here... so no optical differences, just $400 for a couple extra accessories and perhaps a look? Yeah, nobody should expect to see much of that premium in the resale market.

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letsgofishing • Regular Member • Posts: 257

Re: It's just business

In reply to (unknown member) • Aug 28, 2014

When the "special edition" was launched, that was one of the best marketing scams ever!

Big minus points to olympus IMO....

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TheEngineer • Regular Member • Posts: 396

Re: Official: black 12/2.0 only $799 - vs. $1199 for near-identical "Special Edition"

In reply to NZ Scott • Aug 28, 2014

NZ Scott wrote:

Not a very nice way to treat loyal customers who splashed out all that coin for the special edition, in my opinion, especially since the resale value of the "special" will drop. Those customers basically got reamed.

I disagree. Now they can buy the lens cheaper but its what... 18 months after the special came out? So those who bought the special got 18 months more to take images with the lens. If they wanted the cheaper lens the could have gotten the silver one. And if those 400$ are not worth 18 months of taking images with...your problem...

I use a silver 14-150mm on my black e-m10 because I got it cheaper. I know I could have paid more to get a black lens that after a while I would have gotten as cheap as the silver one but I made a conscious decision at that time to save the money towards another lens.

All in all, I don't see a problem here, only unjustified whining.

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TheEngineer • Regular Member • Posts: 396

Re: Official: black 12/2.0 only $799 - vs. $1199 for near-identical "Special Edition"

In reply to Adamant • Aug 28, 2014

Adamant wrote:

And now everyone knows to never buy a "special edition" anything from Olympus again.

I would in a heartbeat, if it was worth it to me...

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tt321 • Forum Pro • Posts: 13,854

Do "Special Edition" lenses get more checking and adjustments in factory?

In reply to NZ Scott • Aug 28, 2014

The additional cost could support some kind of special QC procedure. So you won't get stuff like "decentering" and the like. Whether this is true is unknown.

They can hardly openly say this is true, that would be admitting that the standard edition is somehow less good and can be improved but they decided not to. That would be horrid practice. But they could actually do this without saying.

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cptobvious • Contributing Member • Posts: 850

Re: Official: black 12/2.0 only $799 - vs. $1199 for near-identical "Special Edition"

In reply to NZ Scott • Aug 28, 2014

Sales of the 12mm must have tanked after the 12-40mm. Personally, I feel it is an overpriced lens nonetheless, having gone through 3 copies to get a good one and being that they moved production from Japan to China. The good copy I had was sharp, but still not as sharp at f/2.8 as a GR or Coolpix A wide open.

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Mark Thornton • Veteran Member • Posts: 4,570

Re: Official: black 12/2.0 only $799 - vs. $1199 for near-identical "Special Edition"

In reply to cptobvious • Aug 28, 2014

While it harder to justify if using a dslr style body (e-m*), I think it still has a role used on the compact bodies (GX, GM). I am currently considering one. I would get a black copy if the price difference was negligible, but they don't seem to be available here. So a silver version seems likely for me.

Mark

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OP NZ Scott • Veteran Member • Posts: 5,201

Re: Official: black 12/2.0 only $799 - vs. $1199 for near-identical "Special Edition"

In reply to Mark Thornton • Aug 28, 2014

Mark Thornton wrote:

I can't find any black versions here in the UK. Ebay has some (limited edition) from Hong Kong or Japan but none in Europe.

Mark, the lens was only officially announced today. You might have to wait a couple of months before they show up in the UK.

Mark

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tt321 • Forum Pro • Posts: 13,854

Re: It's just business

In reply to letsgofishing • Aug 28, 2014

letsgofishing wrote:

When the "special edition" was launched, that was one of the best marketing scams ever!

Big minus points to olympus IMO....

At $400 per lens additional, minus the special edition treatment and marketing costs (anything special for a small number of items cost quite bit per item), multiplied onto a few thousand in total of such items worldwide. They made less than $1M on the whole "scam". For a company the size of Olympus this is nothing. Not even worth probably the cost of the people who designed and implemented this campaign if it was outside consultancy work.

These kinds of things are not relevant in and of themselves.

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h2odog • Senior Member • Posts: 1,225

Re: Official: black 12/2.0 only $799 - vs. $1199 for near-identical "Special Edition"

In reply to NZ Scott • Aug 28, 2014

NZ Scott wrote:

Olympus today discreetly announced that the so-called "Special Edition" 12/2.0 in black is not really "special" after all.

Olympus will continue to sell the lens (minus the hood and protective filter), for $400 less.

Olympus M. Zuiko 12mm f/2.0 BLACK $799

Not a very nice way to treat loyal customers who splashed out all that coin for the special edition, in my opinion, especially since the resale value of the "special" will drop. Those customers basically got reamed.

S

What people should be annoyed by, is their charging $89.99 for the lens hood. Really!

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Mark Thornton • Veteran Member • Posts: 4,570

Re: Official: black 12/2.0 only $799 - vs. $1199 for near-identical "Special Edition"

In reply to NZ Scott • Aug 28, 2014

The e-pl7 is already listed (also announced today)!

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