Who understands Olympus prices?

Marty4650 wrote:

That EPL6 price was clearly an anomaly.

It is pretty much the exact same camera as the EPL5 in every single regard... with a firmware upgrade to enable the new VF4 optional EVF.

Here are the official list prices from the DPR camera database and from CNET product announcements when these cameras were first announced:

• $699 for EPL5 with 14-42mm (better sensor, faster fps)
• $299 for EPL6 with 14-42mm lens (firmware upgrade)

Thanks, Marty, but are you certain the E-PL5 and E-PL6 are that much alike? If it was just a firmware upgrade, why not offer the firmware for the E-PL5 then? Primarily, such a firmware upgrade could have boosted sales of the VF-4 accessory. That would have made a lot of people happy without cannibalizing sales since the camera wasn't initially coming to the largest market anyway (North America). My guess is there were too many unsold E-PL5's in North America and Olympus didn't want to discount those (when the E-PL6 did finally arrive, Olympus had to drop the price of the E-PL7).

Upon release of the E-PL6 Olympus had claimed a "new all-metal body" (maybe just hype). Also, the E-PL6 added a 2-axis electronic level which would have required an enhanced orientation sensor.

Something else weird is that about half of the E-PL6 reviews I've read specify that it has a 614K LCD while the other reviews say it's a 460k display. Makes me wonder if the Asia-Europe E-PL6 had the 614K spec LCD while the later and cheaper North American version got a 460K display. That would explain the high number of English-language reviews that got that spec wrong. Such a move could have gotten rid of an excess inventory of 460K LCD displays when Olympus made the decision to put a 1037k display on the E-PL7 and E-M10 mkI (different than the 1036k display on the E-P5).

Add all those clues together and the odd price starts to have a possible explanation, yes? Either that or it's proof that I'm not as immune to conspiracy theories as I pretend to be.

Motorazr wrote:

Marty4650 wrote:

That EPL6 price was clearly an anomaly.

It is pretty much the exact same camera as the EPL5 in every single regard... with a firmware upgrade to enable the new VF4 optional EVF.

Here are the official list prices from the DPR camera database and from CNET product announcements when these cameras were first announced:

• $699 for EPL5 with 14-42mm (better sensor, faster fps)
• $299 for EPL6 with 14-42mm lens (firmware upgrade)

Thanks, Marty, but are you certain the E-PL5 and E-PL6 are that much alike? If it was just a firmware upgrade, why not offer the firmware for the E-PL5 then? Primarily, such a firmware upgrade could have boosted sales of the VF-4 accessory. That would have made a lot of people happy without cannibalizing sales since the camera wasn't initially coming to the largest market anyway (North America). My guess is there were too many unsold E-PL5's in North America and Olympus didn't want to discount those (when the E-PL6 did finally arrive, Olympus had to drop the price of the E-PL7).

Upon release of the E-PL6 Olympus had claimed a "new all-metal body" (maybe just hype). Also, the E-PL6 added a 2-axis electronic level which would have required an enhanced orientation sensor.

Something else weird is that about half of the E-PL6 reviews I've read specify that it has a 614K LCD while the other reviews say it's a 460k display. Makes me wonder if the Asia-Europe E-PL6 had the 614K spec LCD while the later and cheaper North American version got a 460K display. That would explain the high number of English-language reviews that got that spec wrong. Such a move could have gotten rid of an excess inventory of 460K LCD displays when Olympus made the decision to put a 1037k display on the E-PL7 and E-M10 mkI (different than the 1036k display on the E-P5).

Add all those clues together and the odd price starts to have a possible explanation, yes? Either that or it's proof that I'm not as immune to conspiracy theories as I pretend to be.

You might be right. The low price could have been due to Olympus clearing our parts inventories to enable more advanced future models. It also seems like a good way to put a lot of cameras out there, then sell more lenses. Like the Gillette razor analogy. You give the razor away for free, then charge a lot for blades.

This method worked pretty well for Polaroid too, who sold cameras at a lost then made huge profits on their proprietary instant film. I remember those cameras were $30, and the film cost $1 a shot.... THIRTY YEARS AGO! Back then, you really didn't want to waste a shot, since each shot was pretty expensive.

Overall, I'd say the differences between the EPL5 and EPL6 were really minor. Perhaps a little more than a firmware upgrade, but not a whole lot more.

To me... the big changes came with the EPL3 having the first movable LCD screen, the EPL5 having the first 16MP sensor, and the EPL7 being the first in the series with built in WIFI.