Panasonic Is Panasonic giving up on the LX7?

With the recent price reduction down to $299, is Panasonic giving up on the LX7? That's a huge price drop so soon after the introduction. Reviewers were just publishing their reviews about it this month. I can think of a couple of reasons why they have reduced the price so quickly. One, they have ceded the high end premium compact market to the Sony RX100. At $499 it was just not price competitive. Thus now they are shooting to fight it out in the $300 range market occupied by the small sensor compacts. Two, they have decided they can't compete and are ending this model and cutting their losses. An instant 40% drop has the feel of a fire sale. Especially so soon after launch. Either way, the LX7 must be selling horribly or they wouldn't have had to do this. One can fault the bad economy for hurting sales, but the RX100 at twice the cost still seems to be selling like hotcakes.
 
The LX7 is still £384 at the moment here in the UK. I know the RX100 is still selling very well but I think $299 is barking mad and possibly an error???
 
The LX7 is still £384 at the moment here in the UK. I know the RX100 is still selling very well but I think $299 is barking mad and possibly an error???

When it was in a local paper for $299 I thought it was a crazy doorbuster deal. It's that crazy US Black Friday thing. Then I saw that it's $299 on the Panasonic website. In the last few hours the price has spread to other vendors. One vendor is even selling it for $289. So it seems to be coming from Panasonic and thus not a mistake.

I'm now trying to figure out whether I should buy it before going to bed. In the end, it'll cost me about $259 after the various cashbacks. Not a bad price.
 
When it was in a local paper for $299 I thought it was a crazy doorbuster deal. It's that crazy US Black Friday thing. Then I saw that it's $299 on the Panasonic website. In the last few hours the price has spread to other vendors. One vendor is even selling it for $289. So it seems to be coming from Panasonic and thus not a mistake.

I'm now trying to figure out whether I should buy it before going to bed. In the end, it'll cost me about $259 after the various cashbacks. Not a bad price.

OK so it's not an error....eeeek! What are they doing????? Perhaps it's just not selling? Amazing price and it will be interesting to see if the price drops here in the UK.
 
Just as I decide to give the LX7 a go and start checking out. Another camera pops up. Amazon has the S100 for $229 in the gold box right now.

The landscape has changed since the RX100 came out. The LX7, S100 and XZ-1 have all gone from the $400-$500 range down to the $200-$300 range here in the US. Personally, I think it's a permanent thing. The $500 and up range will be dominated by large sensor compacts like the RX100. The $200-$300 range will be where the former premium compacts will sell in. The small sensor cameras that used to sell for $200-$300 will be pushed down to the $100-$200 range. I've already seen that too. The Canon 300HS which was formerly at $200 is selling for $85 now.
 
I like my LX-7

P1000621.jpg


I would be amazed if the LX-7 is to be discontinued. After all most on-line sellers seem to still have stocks of the LX-5. This photo was one of my recent trip to Spain and the Mediteranean. The 24mm equivalent wide-angle end of the zoom makes it a very versatile camera. I also love the f stop ring on the lens. The f1.4 maximum aperture is great too. I think this discounting is just a "door traffic" leader line used by some dealers to promote their businesses.
Cheers
DUD
 
I think this discounting is just a "door traffic" leader line used by some dealers to promote their businesses.
Cheers
DUD

I thought that too when it first started popping up. That doesn't seem to be the case. It's selling for $299 directly from Panasonic. The price is coming down from Panasonic and is working it's way through the distribution network to all it's vendors. One by one they are changing there prices to $299. The latest to show that price is B&H. So it seems that the LX7 will be $299 everywhere until at least Cyber Monday here in the US. It's not even being advertise as a doorbuster by any of these sites.
 
In Holland the introduction price was about € 500, and it's now available for around € 420. That seems like a fair price to me; given the introduction of the RX100, I thought € 500 was a bit much.

The Olympus XZ-2 was and is still going for € 550, which I think is a bit on the high side too (in the light of the RX100 selling for € 650).
 
From what I understand (just from reading on the forums), Panasonic had a hit with the LX3 (because what else was there in the premium compact world smaller than the Canon G series?) but was then bummed at the sales of the LX5. But there was a LOT of enthusiasm about the LX5 here and on DPR's Pany forum. The LX7 has barely gotten a mention anywhere despite some very real improvements over the LX5. My guess is its just not selling at all compared to the competition. Whether this is a change in pricing strategy or just a temporary attempt at jump starting the model I have no idea. I tried the camera and loved it, but ultimately settled on the X10 as the best compact for me of today's choices. I'm curious how the XZ2 will do in today's landscape. Looks like a well thought out camera, but with the X10 and now the RX100, I think the smaller sensor compacts are fighting over the scraps of a market that's not that huge to begin with. Until they all come out with RX100 competitors sometime in the next year or so, I think these models may just be placeholders.

-Ray
 
I don't think that it is just the RX100 that may be causing this, but also the pressure from smaller ILCs moving downmarket in terms of price. It's not just their initial release prices either, but also short model cycles and aggressive discounting to clear superseded stock (even when the design is less than 1 year old) mean that you can spend well under $1000 and get yourself a very, very good ILC. This also forces down the prices in the second-hand market for cameras that are hardly very old or well used at all.
 
From what I understand (just from reading on the forums), Panasonic had a hit with the LX3 (because what else was there in the premium compact world smaller than the Canon G series?) but was then bummed at the sales of the LX5. But there was a LOT of enthusiasm about the LX5 here and on DPR's Pany forum. The LX7 has barely gotten a mention anywhere despite some very real improvements over the LX5. My guess is its just not selling at all compared to the competition. Whether this is a change in pricing strategy or just a temporary attempt at jump starting the model I have no idea. I tried the camera and loved it, but ultimately settled on the X10 as the best compact for me of today's choices. I'm curious how the XZ2 will do in today's landscape. Looks like a well thought out camera, but with the X10 and now the RX100, I think the smaller sensor compacts are fighting over the scraps of a market that's not that huge to begin with. Until they all come out with RX100 competitors sometime in the next year or so, I think these models may just be placeholders.

-Ray

I thnk you have this right. These models - whether their makers like it or not - are now placeholders. The other manufacturers of compact enthusiast camera were caught out by the RX100 and its one-inch sensor. Despite the $600-plus pricetag of the Sony, cameras like the LX7 and XZ-2 simply can't command the prices their predecessors did. Cameras in the 1/1.7 sensor range, with some exceptions, will soon generally occupy the bottom of the dedicated camera market because smartphones will have killed off the traditional 3x zoom 1/2.3 sensor digicam market. Look for the Panasonic and Olympus to rush out cameras with one-inch sensors in 2013.
 
For me, the ace in the hole for the LX3/5/7 is the 24mm wide end, most of the competition doesn't have that. And, of course, the LX3/5 has a wide-angle adapter to go to 18mm, if the LX7 had that I might upgrade.
 
^ yeah, that's definitely the one feature that sets the Panasonic LX-series and the Samsung EX-series apart from the rest. And at the moment they have the two fastest lenses at wide angle...
 
It's an incredibly competitive segment right now, with the Canon G series now getting faster than before at tele (G15), Samsung, Olympus and Fuji re-entering this segment with (EX, XZ, X10), and pressure from nearby format 1" (RX100), and 4/3" (E-PM2) cameras. I don't think the Oly XZ2 will sell well at its current price either. Surprised to see the LX7 drop so soon though. $499 seemed like a very reasonable price for this camera.
 
It will be interesting to see if the price here in the UK drops to the equivalent of that in the USA.

Maybe Panasonic can't make up their mind about what to do next since the RX100 appeared on the market and has has an impact on advanced compact cameras generally.

The lower price seems to be more realistic to me, having just bought a LX5 with EVF and wide angle converter lens and adapter at £300.
 
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