Getting In On The Basement

That's even better than getting in on the ground floor - as long as the basement isn't flooded or over-run with rats. How did this thought arise? I spoke to a staff member yesterday at Stirling street when I asked what was now or good - and while he could find three novelties, the interesting part for the frugal was when he mentioned that a very famous name brand camera was going at some remarkably low prices. I'm cynical about that but I've just looked at the CE on-line listings and compared it to what I saw in the shop that morning. He is right. There is always a difficult time for a manufacture when some great upheaval happens - a new technology ousts an old one, a worldwide financial stricture grips the system, a pandemic stops all the ships and trains. Some firms don't recover their confidence - some run out of money. Some are bought up by rivals and some just close down. Business... But what of the goods that are still on the shelves after a major upheaval? They are generally just what they were when they were manufactured and put into the wholesale and retail system. And what they were and are can be very good indeed - their value quite divorced from the financial waltz that goes on overseas. However, the local retailer may feel anxious if the brand is in danger of being forgotten - they might be stuck with stock. Recently the Olympus company decided to sell off its camera division. A consortium of Japanese investors bought it, rearranged the deckchairs, and rebranded the cameras as the OM System. New cameras have emerged very similar to the ones bearing the Olympus brand name. Everything is essentially the same and it all interchanges - it's the Micro 4/3 system after all. And there is still a stock of cameras bearing the older name that are unsold...however deserving of use they may be, That's names - go figure. Well, it appears that you can use a lower figure right now for some of those cameras and lenses. Older high-end professional bodies are being sold at a noticeably lower price, and the enthusiast bodies are a real bargain. Go look at the on-line store now and see for yourself. I am not jumping systems - no need in my studio and no money to do it. However, if I were looking for a first-rate entry into mirror-less photography and wanted my first body I would have no hesitation in picking up one of the Olympus sets right now. The price point has dipped far below the actual photographic value point on the graph and even the most parsimonious old skinflint ( stop looking at me, darn it ) would approve of a purchase right now. Don't go looking at the stuff that is marked "back order " because I don't think anyone can accurately predict when it will be coming onto a shelf near you. Optimism doesn't deliver cameras, nor does promises. But the goods that are there - on the shelf - right now are darned good value as well as being technologically brilliant. The canny photographer's time is now, Maitland.