Aaron MC

The lenses are the same size? Olympus and Panasonic marketing will be shocked to discover this.

@Naveed: Yes, every size has some unique challenges, but some challenges are more easily (and cheaply) overcome than others.

@Revio: Yes, but the mere act of moving the optical design closer to the sensor achieves much of this. Moreover, it has as much to do with the density of the sensor as its size.

Also, I know very well that the markup on the retail end is low. Camera resellers get kinda' screwed in this regard. The high mark-up comes from the companies themselves.

@Digifan: At a certain point. But that situation only applies on VERY small lenses. Also, old 35mm lens designs are frequently awful. They have character, certainly, but technically they are very poor. I own a whole fleet of old Olympus lenses (go-go-gadget Ebay!), and even on the small 4/3 sensor, I get some vignetting on a couple.

Blohum: That's certainly true. But complex lens assemblies can only go so far in this regard. A company can only grow crystal so quickly, for example.

Micahmedia: Actually, about video, the 12-35mm lens has a non-constant aperture that's causing many pros to abandon the lens. They're willing to pay, but they demand things. And while people rarely pay list for many things, the list price affects the market. That was stupid of Panasonic.

Ptox: No, but that's common knowledge. The larger the sensor, the harder and more expensive it is to design lenses for it. Thus, the reverse is true.

To everyone defending Panasonic's pricing, the reason why this is a legitimate complaint is because everything on the smaller sensor is cheaper. Panasonic cannot claim manufacturing cost as a reason for the price.

Moreover, the markup on Nikon, Canon, and Zeiss lenses is very large, because they have gigantic extant systems with millions of fans. Essentially, they can afford to extract some profit from the value of their brand. Panasonic has no such freedom.

Awesome.

Magnificent. It perfectly captures the look and feel of old pictorialist photos while also adding muted color that they didn't have. This is easily my favorite.

I find this kind of amazing. For a company rep to actually come out in defense of products means that the market reaction was wildly negative. Because if the reaction was even mostly negative, it's always best from a PR perspective to not recognize the criticisms in public and instead internally decide what course to take.

To those hatin' on the lens, y'all be crazy. I'm totally happy to plunk down the cash on a lens like this. Olympus is finally giving me what I've been wanting for THREE YEARS. Good lenses FTW!

I am upset by the lack of a lens hood, though. That's pretty cheap on Olympus' part.

Detail is suitably good. Good on Leica for trying something unique. Bad on Leica for charging even more than they usually do for it.

The ISO performance is at least noticeably better than the M9. That's a plus.

I guess that all I can say is that I'm not interested enough to warrant such a premium.

It could be worse, the camera that you want could be insanely expensive. For the IQ, this is pretty damned cheap. Think of it like you aren't SPENDING money, you are, in fact, saving money over an NEX-7 of A77.

I have used one. At Hunt's Camera (plug alert: If you live in New England, you should go there. They're great.).

I loved everything about the camera, but in just ten minutes of playing around, the AF was a noticeable downgrade even from my old GF1. I have no idea what you are talking about when you say that you have had no problems. I found the AF to be unacceptable at the price.

I think that it will be fixable with software, which I await. Until then, though, I can't see through to paying over $2k for a camera that falls on its face in demanding situations.

Very competitive. Definitely better than Canon's offerings at the same price.

I hope that Fuji keeps these updates coming. The ONLY thing keeping me from buying an X Pro 1 are the focus issues.

Very Georgia O'Keeffe. Excellent.

FINALLY! I have been saying for some time that whichever camera company does this first owns the future. Because this IS the future. I knew that it wouldn't be Canon or Nikon, but Samsung is a bit of a surprise.

I am happy with this camera. I didn't much like the A77 because of noticeable degredation in sharpness and ISO quality in comparison to the same sensor in the NEX-7. I don't know what they have done, but they appear to have licked the sharpness issue, and the ISO problem is small enough to not matter.

I run the risk of sounding like a Sony fanboy, which is funny since I don't own any of their gear, but bravo, Sony. Bravo.

Yeah, I'm confused. The images appear very good to me. The light loss from the ST mirror appears to barely effect the IQ, which is great.

@ T3: If you already have that equipment, then essentially, you already own the competition. You have no choice but to buy m4/3. If I were you, I would be even more annoyed than I am, now, since I would feel trapped, forced to accept whatever they gave me.

Everything that Olympus has provided with this camera should have been provided a year or more ago. It is not innovation, it is standard equipment for serious enthusiasts and long overdue.

Instead, both Panasonic and Olympus gave us iteration after iteration of the same camera, and six different versions of the 14-4xmm lens.

And Sony has shown immediate and forceful interest in expanding their lens selection. The success of the NEX-7/5n caused them to completely alter and expand their future lens line-up. Equivalents to all of your listed lenses will come soon enough.

@OneGuy: What?

@Michael_13: I certainly hope that Olympus does just that.

@T3: That is true, but I want a system in which I can grow. I feel that Micro 4/3 has become stagnant.

Moreover, I am willing and ready to spend that much. I plunked down similar amounts for the Oly 12-60mm and even more for the 50-200mm. I WANT to spend more, but I won't further invest in a system that is being helmed by two companies that have shown little interest in innovating.

@T3: All I can say is that I disagree. I think that both the NEX-5n and the NEX-7 either match or beat m4/3 on everything except lens selection, and that will be rectified in the future.