Panasonic Europe has confirmed to Amateur Photographer that all of its camera and lens ranges will not be subject to any price rises at this point in time.
A company spokesperson told AP, ‘we are pleased to say all cameras across our G-Series Micro Four Thirds and S-Series Full Frame ranges will not be increasing in price.’
When pressed on if that price freeze also applied to lenses the answer was, ‘there are no price rises for lenses either.’
The current Panasonic camera line-up includes the recently launched mirrorless Micro Four Thirds flagship 25.2MP LUMIX GH6 and the 24.2MP full-frame LUMIX S5.
The announcement by Panasonic means the L-mount LUMIX S-series lenses and the LUMIX G-series lenses will stay at the same prices for the time being.
The 24.2MP full-frame LUMIX S5 mirrorless model
OM-1 and Z 9 escape rises
Just last week OM Digital Solutions (formerly Olympus) admitted to Amateur Photographer that it had increased prices on ‘selected lenses’ but not camera bodies, meaning its flagship Olympus-branded OM-1 camera is not subject to any immediate rises in price.
That news from OM Digital Solutions came under two weeks after Nikon revealed it is increasing prices on some imaging products and that this ‘new pricing will apply to all new orders that ship after 1 April 2022.’
Certain Nikon imaging products did escape the prices rises, including the flagship Nikon Z 9 mirrorless camera, sport optics, accessories and other ‘certain new products’.
With regards to equipment price rises Zeiss recently told AP, ‘We always try to keep any price increases to a minimum. It has been challenging lately with extra Brexit costs, increase in commodity costs, and now inflation. Where we can we try to offset the extra costs, but this is not always possible.’
The OM System Olympus OM-1 camera will not be rising in price in the immediate future
Fujifilm film increases
The updates on products prices from Panasonic, OM Digital Solutions, Zeiss and Nikon all came in the same month that Fujifilm confirmed up to 60% price hike on its films, that would come into force from 1 April 2022.
That 60% price hike now seems more likely to be applicable in Asian markets with reports from PetaPixel stating that Fujifilm USA is saying film prices in the US will rise by ‘only’ 25%.
Factors behind rising prices
The major factors that are driving photo equipment costs up include the global shortage of semiconductors, difficulties with procuring key component product parts, the ongoing impact of the Covid pandemic, the impact of Brexit on the UK and hugely inflated shipping costs around the world.
We will bring you any further news of proposed price increases, or freezes, on any photographic equipment as soon as we have it.
Related articles:
OM Digital Solutions: lens prices increase… but not camera bodies
