Twofer Trove: Buy a ridiculously expensive camera, get a free Vespa

There’s little reason to dart around a city on a Vespa if you can’t secure high-quality photographic evidence of your ride. With this reality in mind, Olympus has devised a novel way to market and presumably sell its new E-P5 model. In the Olympus PEN Art Edition, you get two cameras (one standard, one painted on by street artist Suzko) a full lens kit, an outing with fashion photographer Jay McLaughlin, and a brand new Vespa scooter. Ladies and gentleman, this is what we like to call a "twofer" — though the tie-in between the products here is less clear than usual... But even without these lovely add-ons, the Olympus PEN E-P5is a pretty serious camera. The model has been heralded as Olympus’s biggest triumph as of late, running off of the success of last year’s OMD E-M5, while taking its design cues from the legendary PEN SLR camera from the '60s. And while it may look like your grandpa’s Olympus point-and-shoot, it comes packed to the gills with some bleeding-edge tech: built-in WiFi, 1080p video-recording capabilities, insane image stabilization and up to 9-frames-per-second continuous shooting. Oh, and for this kit they’ve tossed in every lens available: a reportage lens, sports zoom, snapshot lens, portrait lens and premium portrait lens. Mmmm premium.

And then there’s that nifty little two-wheeler that comes with it. Not to be out-styled by the camera, the Vespa LX-50 is hand-painted as well, with a matching helmet to boot. But before you start shopping for scarves that match the LX-50’s paint job, there’s a thing or two to consider. The whole thing costs 16,000 British pounds, which comes to almost 25,000 American big ones. And you can purchase only at Harrods Technology, a new department on the third floor of its Knightsbridge (in London) store. So might want to include travel costs into the bill-at-large.

Lastly, one bit of advice Olympus forgot to include: go easy on the driving-and-snapping. No one really wants to see blurry selfies taken on a Vespa, mid-ride. Plus, there’s a good chance you’ll drop the thing — or even lose control and drop yourself, especially on the crazy left-handed roads over in England — all the while watching a thousand-dollar device shatter on the street. Maybe that’s why they included two cameras and a helmet.