Stopped by Hunt's Photo & Video in Portland, Maine, this afternoon,
to start negotiations for new camera system. They're a small New
England chain, and if sufficient purchasing power is directed at
them, they can get close to the New York houses in price. At least I
like to tell myself that, because I hate to go into brick & mortar
stores, fondle the equipment, and then order it online. Makes me feel
a little greasy.
So I told the clerk what I was about, and he went "Whoa, Hoss!" He
then asked me if I'd seen the P-1, which I call Vaporware-1, and I
said yes, I'd seen a carved block of wood. He shook his head and
allowed as how his Olympus rep, who'd been in the shop not many days
before, promised the E-1 successor _soon_. Yeah, that's what he said,
_soon_. Actually, at first he said maybe as short as a couple of
weeks. I managed to back him off that, but he swears this guy has
been right in the past about this kind of stuff, and the P-1 will be
out _soon_, even before the 410 and the 510.
He also says that the hold up has been the collapse of the Olympus-
Kodak agreement to provide sensors, and that the reason the E-400 was
sold in Europe only is because of limited numbers of sensors.
According to the clerk, the new Oly sensors are made by Panasonic.
Now, I don't know from any of this. I can neither attack nor defend.
I pass it along just to stir the pot a little. The only ray of hope I
see here is that this guy is in the business of actually selling
cameras, and Olympus is one of the lines they sell, and he claims to
love the E-1. He gave me his name and told me to call back in a week
and a half. That's when the rep is due back, at which time said rep
will be grilled on exactly what _soon_ means.
Your faithful reporter,
--Bob
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