HMC150 Price Drop!

BrianMurphy said:
FYI I just bought one in Canada. I paid $3999.00 CDN for it stock no cards extras etc. The dealer in Canada had requested 25 Cameras and was only allotted 15 and delivery will not be for two more weeks.
My usual dealer who is a small independant told me that the HMC 150 would not be sold by small retailers in Canada and reserved for the big retailers Vistek and Henry's in Ontario etc.
So right now the price I paid for the camera at the current rate of exchange for American dollars would be $3,290.00.
My dealer also said due to our falling dollar prices would be going up quickly and that Sony Canada had already increased its prices by 8% at the wholesale level. This is why I prepaid for my camera .
I changed my mind about buying an HPX170 a few weeks ago, thanks mostly to reviews here by Barry and comments from other awesome folks who make up DVXUser.
Hope this is of some use to folks.
Brian
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I paid CDN $3850.00 for mine (with delivery expected first week of November), which at today's rate works out to USD $3175.00. Needless to say, given the exchange rates, I was really happy with the deal. It was not at Vistek... But a smaller, reputable dealer located near Toronto.

I made the decision to buy this cam after using a HVX200 for several years, and while also shooting with a Panasonic SD3 at the same time. AVCHD competes quite well with DVCPRO HD (from an HVX) in situations that are well lit. My disapointment was that the SD3 turned to mush in low light. Now with 1/3-inch CCDs and light sensitivity like a DVX, I am sure the HMC150 will perform to my needs nicely even if I use the 13 mbps mode... At 21 mbps, I expect to be even more impressed. I also am considering that AVCHD is full raster HD. Those extra recorded pixels definitely make a difference--I see it in the AVCHD 13 mbps footage I shoot now with a $800 camcorder (the SD3).

I plan to continue using the HVX, but I think over time, the HMC150 will become the preffered tool for shooting the various projects I am involved in.

PV
 
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Sorry to just be getting back to you.. Yeah, Full COmpass. Call Ryan Davis.. BEst deal. I just got my batteries and actually shot my first big event today with the cam and it went really well. Just hooked my cam to my HDTV with a HDMI cable and sat back and enjoyed a very beautiful colorful picture with no noise or pixel -iz-ation ;-) at all. WOW!!

I am so used to looking at my 100B footage on my HDTV and its not very crisp at all. The HMC, well, all I can say is I am super stoked.... Sold my Gl2 and some other stuff for it.. Still have my 100B.. Thinking of selling that too. 60 hours. 4 big batteries... Hummmmm

Yeeee haaaa for the HMC... Tried the DRS settings too. Actually worked pretty good.
 
Evro said:
In Australia we're still waiting to get the first batch... I was told I'd have my two cameras by mid to late October and I'm still waiting :(
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Hi Evro,

The SECOND batch arrived late Oct. We are just finishing the lens wobble mod and they will be sent out. We thought we should mod them before they went out instead of asking you to return it to mod. Sorry for the delay.
 
Oh wow that first batch must have gone rather quickly! It's great know that the lens issue is being sorted out.

Rob do you think we'll get our units this week? We've been one camera down for the last three weeks due to intermittent battery charger problems (Anton Bauer are so darn expensive to replace) and forced to run mostly on mains power; getting these new cams before our weekend gigs would save us a bit of stress.

At the end of the day I guess we just want a realistic delivery date as opposed to "they'll be here in a week or two" since the start of October ;)

I do appreciate the update Rob because the good folks at DVT seem to be ignoring my emails.

Thanks again :)
 
Rob Myers said:
Hi Evro,

The SECOND batch arrived late Oct. We are just finishing the lens wobble mod and they will be sent out. We thought we should mod them before they went out instead of asking you to return it to mod. Sorry for the delay.
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Hi Rob are you talking about the wobble for the hcm -150 or the hpx - 170 ?
 
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I just checked MacMall with Panasonic's Dealer Locator and they aren't coming up. All authorized Dealers are required to list the AG-HMC150 cameras at $3495. If it's lower than it may be a gray market camera. B&H is offering a lower price with a "Click here for a lower cost" which follows the rules.

$0.02

Andrew Hoffman
 
Imagine if come Nov 13, Red announced that they were going to cancel the Scarlet. I guarantee you that Panasonic would sell more cameras in the 6 months that follow
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I'm actually one of those people trying to decide between a Panny 170 or the Red Scarlet for an HD upgrade some time in '09, so that statement is very true for me.
 
Paid $3399.00 at B&H today. A savings of just the cdn taxes by the time I sneak into canada and a lot for exchange rate. I live right on the border and have a US mailbox. comes in quite handy. I considered macmall but did some research on the place and found them to be possible scammers.
 
shreddog said:
Paid $3399.00 at B&H today. A savings of just the cdn taxes by the time I sneak into canada and a lot for exchange rate. I live right on the border and have a US mailbox. comes in quite handy. I considered macmall but did some research on the place and found them to be possible scammers.
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I can't tell you if MacMall is selling grey market cameras but they are definitely not scammers. They have a storefront in Santa Monica that stays busy, I've shopped there more than I can count on both hands and feet and they sell legit items.

They did have the Sony V1U and Canon XHA1, I have no idea if these were grey market items though.
 
Kholi said:
I can't tell you if MacMall is selling grey market cameras but they are definitely not scammers. They have a storefront in Santa Monica that stays busy, I've shopped there more than I can count on both hands and feet and they sell legit items.

They did have the Sony V1U and Canon XHA1, I have no idea if these were grey market items though.
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The Torrance MacMall is less than 5 miles from my house.

They are NOT a questionable store or scammers; they ARE a respectable business I purchase a lot of stuff from them.

It would be nice to know if they are a Panasonic Dealer or not. Were they just added or how do they get the camera????

Bob Diaz
 
shreddog said:
Paid $3399.00 at B&H today. A savings of just the cdn taxes by the time I sneak into canada and a lot for exchange rate. I live right on the border and have a US mailbox. comes in quite handy. I considered macmall but did some research on the place and found them to be possible scammers.
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MacMall has been around since 1987 and publicly traded on NASDAQ. I used to buy from them all the time in the 90s when I used a Mac. I don't use Macs now (for me it's all about applications, not the OS), but rarely I will buy other computer equipment from them when they have the best price. Definitely not scammers, but maybe they are not authorized Panasonic dealers.

EDIT: You could always call Panasonic and ask if MacMall is an authorized dealer.
 
Gray Market doesn't mean scammer. It means that they aren't an authorized dealer and then buy a camera from a dealer. Generally, if the price is that low, they are getting them outside the country. Not always the case though. I'm sure that they are a great store.

Andrew Hoffman
 
That's the truth on people selling gear. Personally I'm going to wait till the beginning of December and hope to buy a used low mileage camera from a person with buyer's remorse and or lack of gigs. I think there will be an abundance of gear going onto the maket so it's a good time if you are buying.. same thing with the housing market.. good to have cash in a down economy and you'll get people competing for sure...
 
Just for the record, it's not that difficult to get your hands on a genuine American-market HMC150 (or DVX/HVX/etc.) for resale even if you're not an authorized reseller. I can think of three places I could get one right off the top of my head, and probably more if I dug a little. Also just for the record, I typically don't, because I feel a person is better off buying direct from an authorized reseller (and they're almost certainly going to get a better price if they do). But the option is there.
 
we are down to 7 in stock as of today, and we are indeed an authorized reseller as well. You are welcome to pm me for more info.

Happy voting!!
 
I bought mine from Shawn at Full Compass. I placed my order with him late in the day and asked if he could please try to ship that afternoon so I would have it by my desired date. He said he would try but couldn't promise because I was a first time customer (they have to do additional verification) and it was so late in the day. He called back to say he got it out to me that same day. Then, on the day it arrived he called to be sure it had in fact arrived and that I was happy with it. Outstanding customer service, and their price beat anyone else I talked to.

Jerry

tallrd said:
we are down to 7 in stock as of today, and we are
indeed an authorized reseller as well. You are welcome to pm me for more info.

Happy voting!!
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