How to get refurbished Olympus stuff in Europe (I bought my white E-P1 with lens for 201 Euro)

[shoplink 21561 ebay][/shoplink]

Better late than never! Finally I found a place where we Europeans can get tons of refurbished Olympus stuff. I just bought my second white Olympus E-P1 with lens for 201 Euro only ([shoplink 21561 ebay]Click here to see that item[/shoplink]). That’s less than half the price of a high end compact camera with small sensor like the Panasonic LX5). The silver E-P1 with lens sells for 30 Euro less ([shoplink 21565 ebay]Click here[/shoplink])! I highly recommend the E-P1. It has a high quality body (it feels solid) and takes amazing JPG pictures. Yes, there are other cameras with faster AF, that do have built-in flash and  better High-ISO performance. But for 170-200 Euro you can’t buy anything better than this!

What does it mean “refurbished”? “Refurbished products cannot be sold as new products, which is why they are relabeled as refurbished or refreshed units even if they are good-as-new (if, for example, the unit was returned for some reason unrelated to the product itself, such as the customer changing their mind about the color). Refurbished items may have scratches, dents or other forms of cosmetic damage which do not affect the performance of the unit.” (Source: Wikipedia).

I also looked for Panasonic refurbished items and didn’t find everything. Do you know where I can get them? P.S.: And where can we find US and asian stores with refurbished items?

A few items you can buy right now:
– The Olympus E-PL1 double kit ([shoplink 21562 ebay]Click here[/shoplink]).
– The Olympus E-5 camera ([shoplink 21563 ebay]Click here[/shoplink]).
– The Olympus 9-18mm lens ([shoplink 21564 ebay]Click here[/shoplink]).
To see al current auctions just click on one of the links above and than on the resellers name “Olympusmarket”.

BHphoto sells the Nokton 25mm f/0.95 for $815. Europeans now can fly to NYC almost for free :)

[shoplink 15659 eBay][/shoplink]

I noticed that in Germany the price of the [shoplink 15659]Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95[/shoplink] went up from 875 to 899 Euros (Source: Idealo). And you can’t find it cheaper on [shoplink 15659 eBay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. But there is on store selling the Nokton for a very good price. You can get the lens for $819 at BHphoto (Click here).

For us European readers 819$ is an incredible price of 565 Euro. A flight from Frankfurt to NYC costs you 420 Euro (Source: Kayak.com). Summa summarum if you fly to NYC and buy the lens at BH you pay 85 Euro only extra for the flight! :)

And if along the Nokton you buy the GH2 which costs 1.429 Euro in Europe and 1034 Euro ($1500) in US Than you save 310 Euros!

There are only two problems with that story:
1) Theoretically you have to pay taxes for imported products
2) Bhphoto doesn’t have the lens in Stock right now.

So you might take a look on [shoplink 15659 eBay]Nokton eBay auction anyway (Click here)[/shoplink] :)

Huge GH1 deals for US! + GH2 in Stock at Adorama


And here we are with some new GH1 US deals (yes GH1 and not the GH2).

The Panasonic GH1 ody only costs $399. But it’s even cheaper when you buy it with a Panasonic lens. Check out:

1) Panasonic GH1 with 14mm lens for $699 at Amazon (Click here). The lens alone costs $364. and if you would buy it separately with the GH1 it would cost you a total of $764. With that deal you save $64!
2) Panasonic GH1 with 20mm lens for $699 at Amazon (Click here). The lens alone costs $399. You save $99!
3) Panasonic GH1 with 45-200mm lens for $649 at Amazon (Click here). The lens alone costs $349. You save $100!
4) Panasonic GH1 with 14-45mm lens for $649 at Amazon (Click here). The lens alone costs $359. You save $90!
5) Panasonic GH1 with 14-42mm lens for $499 at Amazon (Click here). The lens alone costs $199. You save $100!

More deals:
The GH2 with 14-140mm lens is in Stock at Adorama (Click here).
There is a $7 price drop on the XZ-1 on Amazon (Click here).
Gadgetclick is selling more than 10 RED GF1 body only cameras for $435 on [shoplink 21387 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

A Fuji X100 review made by a GH2 owner (First X100 on Amazon for $4,000)

I just noticed two things on Amazon. First a third party reseller is trying to cheat you by selling the Fuji X100 for….$4,000!!! Click here to see that on Amazon. The second news is that a current Panasonic GH2 owners posted a Fuji X100 review made from a m43 user perspective (Click here to read the full review on Amazon). You might be interested to hear what he thinks!

“The [shoplink 16254]GH2[/shoplink] was my first exposure to an electronic viewfinder (EVF) and despite its real limitations when working in sub-optimally lighted conditions, I appreciated the ability of the EVF of the GH2 to display information that an OVF could not display. I decided to add a [shoplink 14796]Panasonic 20mm f/1.7[/shoplink] and [shoplink 16258]14mm f/2.5 lens[/shoplink] and was happy with the resulting setup which was even more compact and lighter than my [shoplink 21426]Nikon D3100[/shoplink] and [shoplink 21427]35mm f/1.8G DX[/shoplink] lens. While the image quality of the Nikon D3100 was still better than the GH2, the smaller lighter size of the GH2 and its excellent video capabilities made it my choice for many situations.

Then came the [shoplink 16841]Fujifilm X100[/shoplink]. Combining the small compact size of the GH2 and its compact prime lenses plus incorporating the advantages of both the optical viewfinder of the D3100 and the electronic viewfinder of the GH2, I became seriously interested in the X100. The fact that the lens was not interchangeable was not an issue for me as the X100 lens is a 23mm f/2.0 – the perfect focal length as far as I was concerned. The 35mm equivalent of 35mm would have been my favorite focal length with the D3100 and the GH2 but neither Nikon nor Panasonic makes a compact and light prime lens that has a 35mm equivalent focal length of a 35mm. That the X100 lens was also a fast f/2.0 lens was definitely an ace in favor of the X100. While cleaning the sensor of my [shoplink 21428]D700 [/shoplink], I realized another reason why the non-interchangeable lens nature of the X100 was a non-issue. With a non-removable lens, the X100 will likely not need any sensor cleaning at all, I happily realized. Yes!

Viewed sideways, the X100 was considerably smaller and thinner than the D3100 with the 35mm f/1.8GDX lens and still substantially thinner than the GH2 with the 20mm f/1.7 lens. The X100 wins against the two others on this point.

The GH2 ranks lower than the X100 and D3100 in image quality and with the X100 being thinner and having both OVF and EVF and with my preferred focal length lens, the X100 is now my first choice for a small and light compact camera.”

P.S.: The first non asian Fuji X100 is sold by the French dealer Selecttoy on [shoplink 21430 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. Hope this is a good sign that the X100 will be soon in Stock in eruopean and american stores too.

US deals roundup (E-PL1, GH1 and Olympus 35-100mm and red GF1 body for $435)

While the new Panasonic GH2 is now in Stock at J&R (CLick here) and Adorama (CLick here) you might want to take a look at the GH1 body alone which is in Stock for $399 at Amazon (Click here).

UPDATE_2: Sorry I had the wrong link!!!!!! It’s fixed now:
If you still prefer the GF1 instead of the GF2 than you should take a look on that auction. Gadgetclick is selling more than 10 RED GF1 body only cameras for $435 on [shoplink 21387 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

There is a $100 Instant Rebate on the Olympus E-PL1 with 14-150mm Lens for $799.95 at BHphoto (CLick here).

Refurbished Olympus 35-100mm f/2.0 Lens for $1,795.00 at Adorama (Click here).

Lensbaby Composer Pro announced (GH2 in Stock and Fuji X100 coming soon)

For all Lensbaby lovers there is a new toy for you! Lensbaby announced the Composer Pro. The new lens refines and enhances the classic Lensbaby Composer by upgrading the swivel ball and focus mechanism to provide professional performance. It now delivers an ultra-smooth focus and tilt control and you have a fluid and accurate dampened focus ring comparable to the focus mechanisms of the highest quality professional manual focus lenses. The lens is available for Four Thirds only. We don’t know yet if they will make a Micro Four Thirds version too.

The lens is already in Stock at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

Reminder: The long awaited Panasonic GH2 with 14-140mm lens kit is in Stock at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).

UPDATE: J&R just changed the status and now says that the Fuji X100 will be coming soon (Click here to preorder on J&R). And Digitalrev says “Usually ships in 1-2 weeks” (Click here to order on Digitalrev). There are a few X100 on auction on [shoplink 19929 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] but they are all very expensive.

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