jvc gy ls300 for 2500 dollar

[Noa Put]

Not sure if I see this right but B&H is selling the ls300 for 3K including a 35mm rokinon lens making the camerabody cost only 2,5K? http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1096581-REG/jvc_gy_ls300_4kcam_handheld_s35mm.html, whats next, you buy a rokinon lens and you get a ls300 body included in the price? They seem really desperate to sell the camera. Have not seen deals like this in the EU.

[Frank Grygier]

I would not disparage JVC or a retailer for offering this camera at bargain prices. JVC is not a "mainstream" prosumer or enthusiast brand. This is a very niche product and I applaud their efforts to leverage the M43 mount. I think the main reason for the price reduction is to clear out stock for a new version of the camera at NAB. I am seriously looking at this camera. I am heavily invested in M43. I have a GH4 and BMCPP and I think this will be a great addition or should I just wait for NAB. Decisions...Decisions.

[Noa Put]

Clearing out stock?? This camera has barely hit the streets, JVC is not exactly Sony.

[William Hohauser]

This is B&H attempting to put other pro retailers out of business by selling a few dollars above retail. The regular JVC deal here in the US is either $3995 with an included 24mm lens or $2995 after an instant $1000 rebate. This deal is B&H eating the cost of the 35mm lens so we can assume the current wholesale cost of the camera is around $2500. They did this with one of my clients by selling them a Roland HDMI switcher for $40 above wholesale for $840 instead of retail $995, good for my client, not good for my preferred equipment supplier who gave me a working demo of the switcher which B & H wouldn't do. They also apparently made a deal with Manfrotto tripods so other retailers have to order absurd amounts of Manfrotto products or no longer sell Manfrotto. They are a hard company to compete with so take advantage of it as long as JVC allows them to do this.

[Noa Put]

I am not complaining, we don't have that kind of aggressive pricing over here and if I could have bought at that price I would jump on it. The price on the ls300 is a bit all over the place with also larger pricedifferences in the EU, it's clear they want to get it into the attention but I imagine it would be kinda annoying if you just payed top price to find out just a few months later it's gone down so much in price.

[Dave Rochelle]

I notice Adorama has the same deal listed - so it may be that the promotion including the Rokinon lens originated from JVC.

And Frank, I'm feeling in the same boat here. The price of this camera now has me close to pulling the trigger - even though I don't absolutely need an upgrade yet. However, NAB is just around the corner and I wonder if they might be offering up an "LS350" or something. Even though they have clearly been addressing issues and adding functionality via firmware upgrades, if there were any hardware improvements to the LS300 (like a better viewfinder) I'd probably prefer to wait. All hypothetical for now, of course.

[Steve Mullen]

The two obvious "not likely to be only firmware"options are 422 10-bits and/or 4K at 60p since the sensor will do it. The former could be simply for external recording. The latter needs an HDMI 2.0 port. Plus a 2X speed increase.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Dave Rochelle

However, NAB is just around the corner and I wonder if they might be offering up an "LS350" or something.

Jvc is not replacing the ls300, they might have more expensive and more complete model on the way but it's not like the are clearing stock to have the ls300 replaced when it just has been released. Ofcourse you can wait until you see they have a new 5000dollar model available at NAB and by then the massive discounts they give on the ls300 will be gone. :) 3K for the ls300 including a lens is a bargain.

[Duncan Craig]

Who fancies a showcase thread?
I've got a few public videos shot on the LS300 that I can share.
BTS pictures too...

[Noa Put]

Sure, just make a new thread with a appropriate title and I"ll add a few of mine, another one will follow after this weekend as I have a upcoming job shooting a interior of a store.

[Dave Rochelle]

I don't disagree at all that the camera represents a good value at this price. It just seems that they're not moving units as they expected, and thus the price cuts & incentives to clear stock. This often means something new is on the way. In this case, maybe, maybe not - I don't know and am only speculating.

It wouldn't be unprecedented for JVC to announce an updated model next month. They released the HD110 barely a year after the HD100, adding some user-requested features and addressing several shortcomings the original camera had.

I think it's really encouraging that JVC has been listening to users and adding features like the histogram, J-LOG, and (soon) 120fps in HD via firmware upgrades. I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that they might announce an incremental model update with some hardware improvements a year after the original camera hit the street.

[Rob Katz]

Originally Posted by Duncan Craig

Who fancies a showcase thread?
I've got a few public videos shot on the LS300 that I can share.
BTS pictures too...

duncan-

i would welcome a look at some jvc ls300 footage.

thanks in advance.

be well.

rob
smalltalk.productions

[John Nantz]

Some excellent speculation here. The LS300 has been a groundbreaking cam where with just a few improvements would really make it a contender for a much larger market base.

The largest depreciating item in a videographers kit is the cam and the lens is a significant portion of the cam’s expense. Fortunately, the lens doesn’t depreciate nearly as much as the cam’s body so by not having to buy a new lens it really cuts the cost of the new cam.

Thanks to Noa for putting up the original post. Well, in a way, this has got me thinking …..

Surly JVC is coming out with a new model and NAB is an upcoming milestone. They’d love to announce the new model prior to the show but it wouldn’t be a good idea to do it if there is too much inventory sitting in the pipeline. Secondly, this is a horse race of sorts. Technical advances in the industry means one can’t sit still.

If they can whittle down the inventory then Steve Mullen’s 422 10-bits and 60p would be an obvious LS310 or LS350 model (taking a cue from the HM100 and HM150 cams). Improved viewfinder being another, and surely there are other improvement tweaks.

The retail industry has always had a price point range for certain markets. In the case of high-end consumer cams it has been in the $1,600 to $1,800 range for the top of the line cams. In this case, since it was released in the $4 - 5k range I’d expect the new cam to be somewhere in that realm initially. They might also have some other lens choices to up the ante.

For those who have an LS300 now, maybe picking up the new cam and use the current one for B-roll? Since the lenses would be interchangeable that would be good. If one already had two lenses then you’d probably only have to buy a body. Hmmm… this is sounding better all the time.

Finding a prime or manual zoom is not a problem as there are lots of choices. However, what is a good ~ 10X power zoom lens (without a ‘gotcha’) that can be controlled with the zoom rocker?

[Noa Put]

I"m sure it won't be a replacing but rather a supplementing camera if they would bring out a new one. I can't imagine if they already would bring out a model so soon that would replace the ls300.

[John Nantz]

Noa, You could be very well be right. The new model could be akin to the HM170 and the HM200 in their model, specs, and price structure.

The suspense builds...