New Release, Sigma SD1, 46mp, DSLR, June 2011.

[swifty]

Body's listed at $6900 now.
Who discounts their flagship by almost 30% b4 it's even hit the stores.
Epic fail to the marketing department IMO. They either stick to their guns and the claimed exceptional IQ by releasing it at the original price, or not announce it at such a high price in the first place.
I suppose in marketing any news is good news but if the IQ doesn't live up to the hype then the SD1 would be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
Fingers crossed that the Fovean sensor delivers the goods. Pushing the tech boundaries is always good.

[I @ M]

Body's listed at $6900 now.
Who discounts their flagship by almost 30% b4 it's even hit the stores.
Epic fail to the marketing department IMO. They either stick to their guns and the claimed exceptional IQ by releasing it at the original price, or not announce it at such a high price in the first place.
I suppose in marketing any news is good news but if the IQ doesn't live up to the hype then the SD1 would be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
Fingers crossed that the Fovean sensor delivers the goods. Pushing the tech boundaries is always good.

Nope, the body is still listed as $9,700.00 MSRP on Sigma's site, it is listed at B&H at under 7K so it is a retailer discounting it, not Sigma, just the same way as most retailers in Australia end up selling bodies at under the manufacturers recommended retail price.

[swifty]

Nope, the body is still listed as $9,700.00 MSRP on Sigma's site, it is listed at B&H at under 7K so it is a retailer discounting it, not Sigma, just the same way as most retailers in Australia end up selling bodies at under the manufacturers recommended retail price.

Having your retailer's MAP almost 30% lower at launch's not much better.
Bhphoto arn't gonna sell at a lost and the profit margins arn't that high meaning Sigma's selling to retailers at prices much lower than their MSRP. Meaning they never expected to sell anywhere near their MSRP.
On their own website, SD1 kits + 85mm f1.4 sells for $7819 for example.
I dunno what mesg they're trying to send but the one I got is either they don't have any confidence in their product or someone completely fumbled their launch.

Note: i'm only talking about the marketing and not the actual product, which I'm sure will be great in it's own right. It just doesn't need this debacle.

[I @ M]

It just doesn't need this debacle.

Totally agree.

The 9.7k price on the Sigma site came and went and came back again over a few days and the kit prices that reflected such lower individual item prices have caused a few raised eyebrows.
In the past I have seen reports that camera retailers in the good old USA have an agreement with Canon, Nikon, Pentax etc not to show prices on their sites under the makers retail prices but get around it by having a "click here to see price" or an "add to basket to see price" page on their websites. It all smacks of collusion, smoke and mirrors and cartels but that is "free enterprise" over there and maybe Sigma really don't care about that side of things.
If you look at any of their lenses on the Sigma web site and then compare the prices with what the big retailers are selling them you will see a very different street price.

Seeing as this product launch has generated a fair bit of interest around the globe, the continued discussion and chatter on forums like this one is either ---

#1 An advertising masterpiece

or

#2 As you said, an absolutely fumbled launch.

[colinbm]

Sigma has been sued by Nikon
http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/0...7GP11H20110525
see my new thread
Col

[swifty]

Seeing as this product launch has generated a fair bit of interest around the globe, the continued discussion and chatter on forums like this one is either ---

#1 An advertising masterpiece

or

#2 As you said, an absolutely fumbled launch.

Haha.. yep agree. If IQ excels, then I'll be eating my words.
"we've got $10k standard IQ but we're gonna give it to you for $7k !!"

[foryou]

very nice but not cheap

[I @ M]

It will be very interesting to see this one hit the streets and to be reviewed fairly --------

And an interesting review it is, I reckon that it has been fairly compared to current cameras by Luminous Landscapes.