Pentax and Olympus have very different criteria for pricing their new DSLRs
Pentax and Olympus here in the UK, quite by co-incident, have revealed confirmed suggested retail pricing (SRP) for their soon-to-ship digital SLRs on the same day. The prices quoted are not necessarily the ones punters will pay; street prices are likely to be a few percent lower to start with. Bear in mind that the Canon EOS-10D body was launched at the beginning of March with an SRP of £1499. The typical street price of the 10D now is around £1200.
The Olympus E-1, body-only is set at £1,408.83 inc.VAT (reduced sharply from the initially proposed price of £1699) and with the 28-108 equivalent lens, as a kit, the price is £1,820.08. For more comprehensive Olympus E-system component pricing, click here.
The Pentax *ist D body has been set at £1400 inc.VAT. There are also a number of 'kit' prices according to which lens you'd prefer:
£1529.99 - *ist D + smc 18-35mm (approx equiv 28-55) f/4-5.6 FA AL J
£1499.99 - *ist D + smc 28-80mm (approx equiv 43-125) f/3.5-5.6 FA AL J
£1899.99 - *ist D + smc 20-35mm (approx equiv 31-55) f/4 FA AL
£1799.99 - *ist D + smc 24-90mm (approx equiv 37-140) f/3.5-4.5 FA AL
Making fair comparisons of Olympus and Pentax pricing is not easy. Many Pentax customers will already have lenses, so probably won't need to buy a kit deal and there is no direct Pentax equivalent to the Olympus 14-54 zoom. Meanwhile, all Olympus E-1 customers will, presumably, need to buy a lens as it's a brand new system
The *ist D is, in my opinion, much closer to that of the Canon EOS-10D than the E-1. I've just seen a production example and while it's a lot more solidly built than the prototype I handled at PMA 6 months ago, it's clearly aimed at the high-end amateur market. So it raised an eyebrow when I saw that the E-1 and *ist D body-only prices were confirmed to be within £10 of each other. Technically, you could argue that both are about £100 cheaper than the Canon EOS-10D SRP, but it's street pricing that really counts and we only know where the 10D is in that respect.
On the other hand, the Olympus E-1 is a camera body full of expensive features like weather-proof sealing, die-cast alloy chassis, interchangeable focus screens, sensor cleaning system, etc.
So you could say you are getting more features for your pound with the E-1, but you'll have to spend quite a lot more, overall, as you are forced to buy a lens as well. A Pentax buyer can choose from a wide range of Pentax and third party lens manufacturers.
At the moment, E-1 buyers are confined to Olympus lenses and while Olympus says their pricing is competitive in terms of build quality and specification, if you want a cheap lens, you don't have that option.
What do you feel about the prices that have been revealed? Click on the feedback button above left or the feedback link below to share your views.
