Originally posted by Christine Tham Retail pricing in Australia:
Canon G12: $799
Olympus E-PL3 with kit lens: $800 (that's what Ted's quoted me last weekend)
Pentax Q: $799
Seems to me that the Q is priced rather competitively against it's main rivals (I think the Panasonic GF3 is also similarly priced), and according to the review that zxaar provided the link to, it's image quality is better than these cameras in terms of dynamic range and high ISO.
Size: Q is distinctly smaller. For some of us, that's important.
Q and GF3 are the only ones with a prime as a kit lens. Q is the only one offering a standard prime as a kit lens.
Of course this is just my opinion, I'm a minority of one blah blah blah ...
I was talking about the going rate on popular online stores that are safe and usually offer decent prices. So I'm currently assuming the Q will stay around $800 for a few months at least in my previous comment.
Seeing as we are from opposite sides of the planet, there can be different factors involved to say whether a camera is a good deal or not.
Search results for: 'canon g12' - Ted's Cameras
Shows $599.95 for the G12, which seems like a bad deal, but better than a crazy retail price of $799. Back many years ago I bought a G9 for $500 and it was a pretty decent camera, but back then there were not many...or any... cameras like it. Even $500 for a G12 now seems like a bad purchase given alternatives.
In the USA, the G12 is $469 (Adorama) and $479 (B&H). Looking at B&H I see the E-PL3 for $799 and a E-PM1 with lens for $499 (preorder). The E-PM1 seems like more of a rival to the Q as they are both small and have positives/negatives between them.
So after a bit more research, in the USA I see the Q with the G12 and E-PM1, both of which will be around $500. Just my opinion though.