j.... congrats, buddy! You'll have the lens sooner than you expect!

I didn't have an extra charge on my CC and have yet to receive a 'customs' bill from FedEx... but it's only been a week or so - one may yet arrive.

All in all, I had a very smooth, professional transaction with DigitalRev. If I needed to, I'd buy another lens from them again without hesitation. Being a lens, I'm not so concerned about a warranty... in decades of buying cameras and lenses of all types, I've never had an issue covered by warranty anyway.

As for bodies... I'd more strongly prefer to go with B&H for USA warranty (even though I've NEVER needed to use one in decades of shooting) and for ease of return if necessary.

That said, I'm planning to wait for the 75/1.7 when I can get it from B&H as I'm just not yearning for it so dearly as I was the 12-35.

__________________
Don

Thanks Don, I'm really excited about this one! Yesterday's thread showing Chris Sorensen's photos from Sri Lanka with the 12-35 was the straw that broke the camel's back, and I lost all semblance of patience I'd been carefully cultivating.

That Olympus 75/1.7 is going to make me eat my words. I saw it as a specialty lens I wouldn't have a use for and said as much in an earlier thread. After seeing the first real world images from it though, I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up making that my next lens purchase. Now I just have to figure out what to sell off to pay for it!

__________________
500px | flickr

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” -- Dorothea Lange

A couple of folks who ordered from Panasonic direct just got their shipping notices, so it looks like the lens has started to trickle in stateside.

DH

__________________
E-M5 | E-PM2 | mZD 12-50 | ZD 12-60 | P 14-42 X | mZD 40-150 R | PL 25 | mZD 45

jloden, DHart, meyerweb, Thanks for the insight on Digital Rev!

As noted by dhazeghi, it looks like they are starting to trickle in to the US through Panasonic direct so I may check that out first. However, from the input here, I will not hesitate to order from DigitalRev.

Thanks all...

I agree with all of the above about DigitalRev, and I haven't seen the customs charges yet either.

My only "complaint" is the rapid decrease in price and no price protection, but if you waited a week or so for it to stabilize instead of "gotta have it now", you would be better off (that said, this is a "gotta have it now" lens!)

__________________
Comments and criticism welcome! It's how we get better!

White G3:P20/1.7:P45-200:PL45/2.8:P8FE:P12-35/2.8

Pictures here: http://troyandmollyalloverthemap.shutterfly.com/

http://500px.com/TroyGorrell

Agreed, patience would probably be better in this case - unfortunately patience when it comes to purchases is usually not my strong suit

My guess was that the price won't come down much from here. Panasonic has already started shipping stateside at $1299 and that's the price I was quoted from my local shop as well. I'm sure there will be some fluctuation in the market but it doesn't look like it's going to drop a whole lot when it's release. I'm sure if you wait several months or a year it may drop like the 7-14 did, but for the short term it looks like they're sticking to the $1299 sticker price.

Of course, I could be guessing totally wrong and it'll be on sale for $999 in a few weeks or months

__________________
500px | flickr

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” -- Dorothea Lange

None of the higher-priced m4/3 lenses have really seen major price decreases. The 7-14 was about as big as they came, and that was only a $110 drop.

DH

__________________
E-M5 | E-PM2 | mZD 12-50 | ZD 12-60 | P 14-42 X | mZD 40-150 R | PL 25 | mZD 45