GH1 When things get better in Japan, will Lumix MFT Lenses stop being hyperinflated?

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bronxjragon

Well-known member
My heart goes out to Japan first of all. I hope things get better sooner than later for everyone there.

But speaking purely as a consumer, when things get better in Japan and more MFT lenses start being produced again, do you think we will see prices start going back to normal? Or will the market have seen that people were willing to pay $475 for a Lumix 20mm pancake lens and pretty much keep it at that price?

Something tells me even if it is produced in large quantities they will just keep it at that price point. A real shame because the price of MFT lenses were comparatively cheaper than if I switched over to Canon.
 
There were times the 20mm had inflated prices before the earthquake. It's just a hot item that keeps getting hotter as MFT gets more popular. It's also an awesome lens.
 
Lots of us on this board keep forgetting that the Panasonic GH cameras are not PRO gear but are, as they were intended, CONSUMER devices.

Lots of us on this board also keep forgetting that we are just a tiny niche of the market.

Prior to the quake the 20mm was discounted everywhere and there was no shortage, it was buy as many as you want.

So that is the real market demand for the lens.

The quake and panic buying because of the shortage has led to the skyrocketing pricing.

And that's the artificially stimulated market demand for the lens.

If we remove the artificial stimulation, as in Panasonic builds and ships the lens in volume, the market demand will return to where it was before.

Once this niche that is willing to pay a premium for this lens has purchased one, the market demand from the niche will cease to be and prices will fall back to a point where the lens will again sell to the rest of the market.

So, IMO, there are two downward pressures that are probable and no upward pressures to stabilize the price at this level.
 
Lots of (relatively) cheap and awesome Canon and Nikon lenses you can adapt in the meantime. Personally I find the MFT lens lineup to be really needing expansion.

Noah
 
Personally I starting to regret buying into the micro 4/3 system. By now I had expected to see a lot more lens options. I am fairly new to DSLR's and I had assumed it was normal to have very few lens options. I'm not talking about a shortage here but the fact that other then the 20mm f1.8 there are no other fast lens options out there. There are one of two lens options but where are the 35mm, 50mm, 85mm f1.8's? 50mm f1.8 is a super cheap common lens with Canon and Nikon. Why can't we at least get something like that?

The other day I checked out the lens options for Canon and I was shocked how many fast lens options there are for under $500.00. Some of them were even under $200.00.
 
Yeah that's kinda the point though- on its own the MFT is a very new lens mount with some but not many lenses. But the flange distance is so short you can basically adapter *any* other lens type you want out there. Of course you lose autofocus but then again no pro would use that.

Noah
 
Thomas Smet said:
Personally I starting to regret buying into the micro 4/3 system. By now I had expected to see a lot more lens options. I am fairly new to DSLR's and I had assumed it was normal to have very few lens options. I'm not talking about a shortage here but the fact that other then the 20mm f1.8 there are no other fast lens options out there. There are one of two lens options but where are the 35mm, 50mm, 85mm f1.8's? 50mm f1.8 is a super cheap common lens with Canon and Nikon. Why can't we at least get something like that?

The other day I checked out the lens options for Canon and I was shocked how many fast lens options there are for under $500.00. Some of them were even under $200.00.
Click to expand...

Gh2 can adapt anything though.

AF 100 solidified the format
1. Nikon/Pentax are into m4/3 now
2. Voigtlander 3 new lenses and Panny / Oly to announce some over the summer
 
ill be buying a gh2 soon, but the biggest thing that bugs me is that the canons, nikons, etc all have a variety of fast standard zooms (with IS if preferred) at a decent price, this is something that still doesnt exist in m4/3s.
 
Once you own at least one good adapter, you can find amazing deals for Canon FD and Nikon AIS manual focus lenses on eBay. You just have to be patient, create some custom "saved searches" and troll eBay at least once a day. Most of the best deals I've seen are gone within 3-4 hours.

Also, if you don't mind using the less prestigious brands, Kiron made some very nice 24mm f/2.0 and 28mm f/2.0 lenses that you can often find for $100. I've been looking for a 24mm f/2.0 Kiron in a Nikon mount to use on a B-camera. ( so far lots of Canon, Olympus, Minolta mounts )
 
Lots of (relatively) cheap and awesome Canon and Nikon lenses you can adapt in the meantime. Personally I find the MFT lens lineup to be really needing expansion.
Click to expand...

I bought a rayqual m4/3 to nikon adapter, (and some old manual focus nikkor glass) and my happiness with the GH2 has GREATLY improved!
 
TheDingo said:
Once you own at least one good adapter, you can find amazing deals for Canon FD and Nikon AIS manual focus lenses on eBay. You just have to be patient, create some custom "saved searches" and troll eBay at least once a day. Most of the best deals I've seen are gone within 3-4 hours.

Also, if you don't mind using the less prestigious brands, Kiron made some very nice 24mm f/2.0 and 28mm f/2.0 lenses that you can often find for $100. I've been looking for a 24mm f/2.0 Kiron in a Nikon mount to use on a B-camera. ( so far lots of Canon, Olympus, Minolta mounts )
Click to expand...
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So true.... Some great deals out there and maybe 2 or 3 years ago would have been grabbed up for a song and a dance...
 
Thomas Smet said:
The other day I checked out the lens options for Canon and I was shocked how many fast lens options there are for under $500.00. Some of them were even under $200.00.
Click to expand...

You have to be patient. It had taken Canon 50-60 years to build a couple systems and 50 lenses. You cannot really expect Panasonic to come up with more than whatever they have by now in 2 years.
 
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