I've had my my eye on the Z7 and was getting ready to buy.
But now the price at B&H has gone from $4879 to $4999 to currently $5079.

What gives?

I remember someone mentioning that prices would go up, but I didn't believe it.
I've never seen this before.
Usually prices only go down the longer a camera has been out.

-Bill

Could it be that the crazy rush to buy yen by investors spooked at the global crisis has anything to do with that?

I mean, we know the dollar has benefitted from the rush to quality (safe haven status), but so has the yen to an even greater degree, because Japanese interest rates had already bottomed out.

Forecasts are that the yen will now have to weaken: US real interest rates are now effectively zero, too, and there's no way Japan can keep exporting when the high yen kneecaps sales.

Expect the Z7 to be back down under $4,900 in May or June, I reckon. If I still have a job and a credit card, I may consider one myself....

The Z7 was around $7500 AUS mid last year. By the time I got one in November it had gone up to $8300 AUS. Mostly because the Australian exchange rate took a dive against the US. Now I think it's even higher.

The Z7 has crept up in price, but the Z5 has not....why not? Does anyone know?

I wonder if many are buying the MRC and the z5 together at the same price as the z7 which comes with the MRC1. Maybe they wanted to separate the two a little more?

Sony finally figured out how terrific the Z7 really is.

Greg's got something there. The Z7 was pretty much the same price as the Z5 + CF recorder and it just made clients dither - eenie meenie miny mo. Now they can see from the price which is the better camera.

Actually, when I purchased the Z5 a month ago, it was basically the same price as the Z7 after adding the MRC-1. I was wondering why the Z7 was going down in price.

Greg's got something there. The Z7 was pretty much the same price as the Z5 + CF recorder and it just made clients dither - eenie meenie miny mo. Now they can see from the price which is the better camera.
I think it comes down to interchangeable lenses vs 20x lens.

keithdbf

It's also nice having the built in mic. I wouldn't use it during the service or party but when you're shooting some B roll that you just need a little nat sound or dialog, it makes things a little quicker and easier. That and the lens is what sold me on the Z5. Their both great cameras.

I agree Rob - and I find the in-built mics on my Z1 a boon. I filmed a lot of people in a very confined space last week and there really wouldn't have been room for my K6/ME66 atop my Z1. The inbuilt mics were perfect - and did the job admirably. Shame they saw fit to delete them on the Z7.

I still have the TRV-900 and have been waiting for the right camera for me. I have researched the HVR-Z7U to death and find it is exactly what I want. I was going to wait until May or June to purchase it. However, I just checked B&H and the price is now about $5,400. Also, the price of the Z5U has dropped. This is discouraging because I don't want the Z5U. Any encouragement would be appreciated. (surely it won't go up higher will it?)

Since the Z5 has now dropped to $3,999 and the Z7 has increased to $5,399, I believe Sony is trying to make people buy the Z5 instead of the Z7. Is this possible? and if so, how long do you think this will go on, i.e., when do you think the Z7 will go back to $5,000?

Allen, if you want encouragement, I can tell you that I sure have been very happy with the Z7. When it arrived, I also had a loaner FX1000 at the same time. That gave me a good chance to compare both, side by side. And while I liked the 20x lens of the FX1000/Z5, I really preferred the Z7, overall.

Thanks for the encouragement. Thankfully, I have some time before I buy it. I almost always buy at B&H but they now have the same price it was when it first came out.

The Z7U jumped back up from $5099 at B&H to $5399 today. Sonofa...

I have compared the Z5 thoroughly to the Z7 and for the money, the Z5 is amazing. Besides the detachable lens and the CF-recording unit (which can be bought separately for the Z5) there are no major differences. On the contrary: the Z5 has some distinct advantages over the Z7. Peaking adjustment in three different colours (much easier than in white only!), 20x zoom, less heavy - even with the CF attached. The biggest disadvantage of the Z5 are the rings for focus, zoom and iris: these have no fysical stop like a real videolens should have. And one grey density filter less...

I have compared the Z5 thoroughly to the Z7 and there are no major differences..

The big big difference is the speed of the lens Luc, and most people plonk for the Z7 because it's lens loses a half stop as you zoom as against the two stops the (admittedly longer) Z5 zoom loses.

And a lot of people are very surprised by how little different the 20x looks after the Z7's 12x. If you fit a 1.7x telephoto converter to the Z7 you've got more tele teach than the Z5 - and an amazing byproduct is that your lens is a stop and a half faster.

Let's put that 1½ stops into perspective. If your Z7 needs two 100 watt lamps to give you correct exposure in the room, the Z5 will need six 100 watt lamps turned on to get the same exposure.

tom.

one thing the zooming speed of the z5 and z7 seems quite different. I would think z5 is more suitable for run and gun applications.

The big big difference is the speed of the lens Luc, and most people plonk for the Z7 because it's lens loses a half stop as you zoom as against the two stops the (admittedly longer) Z5 zoom loses.

And a lot of people are very surprised by how little different the 20x looks after the Z7's 12x. If you fit a 1.7x telephoto converter to the Z7 you've got more tele teach than the Z5 - and an amazing byproduct is that your lens is a stop and a half faster.

Let's put that 1½ stops into perspective. If your Z7 needs two 100 watt lamps to give you correct exposure in the room, the Z5 will need six 100 watt lamps turned on to get the same exposure.

tom.

The maximum aperture at full tele is less important to me, as I shoot concerts mainly, where I use the full tele reach very seldomly. As I do everything manually, the 'full-stop-'rings are very important, though. Too bad we don't have the coloured peaking indication of the Z5 on the Z7. Still hoping Sony will offer that as a firmware upgrade!

In considering price increases you must factor in government monitization of the debt. The 2009 spending is at a level where there literally is not enough money in the world to fund it. In past years we have depended on the Chinese to buy the T-bills to fund government spending. Even the Chinese do not have the dollars to buy T-bills sufficient to fund the 2009 spending. Therefore, the Federal Reserve Bank for the first time ever bought $300 billion in T-bills last January with announcements to buy another trillion later in the year. This is radical because in theory it should be illegal as it dilutes the purchasing power of existing dollars if there is not an increased GNP to back it up. We will see inflation across the board this year and it must include the Z7U and Z5U. Can't say, though, if recent increases were inflation based.

The Z7U jumped back up from $5099 at B&H to $5399 today. Sonofa...

Z7U down to $5349. Yipiee.

Found the Z7U at Newegg.com for $5099 today. I ordered it from them.