dpreview today links to Panasonic’s press release announcing pricing for the new GH-1. My reader will recall that I suggested this camera might give Nikon and Canon pause for thought — even if that thought is merely “hey, we need to start stealing ideas from Panasonic as well as Olympus”. Unfortunately, the announced price is $1499, bundled with a 14-140mm (effectively 28-280mm in 35mm terms) lens. This isn’t a terrible deal, but unless the street price is a lot lower, it’s not going to deter most punters from the “safe bet” of a Nikon D5000 or Canon T1i for ~$800, which will still be safely under $1499 with a Nikon or Canon 18-200mm lens (yes, Canon has one now in case you didn’t know).
It’s a safe bet that Panasonic has a lot of room to reduce the street price of the GH-1. Their excellent Lumix TZ cameras (of which I own two) tend to come in at the $350-450 mark and drop to the $200-250 range within a year. So, the $1499 may just be Panasonic’s plan for burning rewarding their early adopters.