New Leica D Summilux 25mm/F1,4 Asph.

[lucien1]

http://panasonic.co.jp/pavc/global/lumix/leica_d_lens/fixed_focal_length_lens.html

 

For the Digilux 3 and other 4/3.<div></div>

[lucien1]

http://panasonic.co.jp/pavc/global/lumix/leica_d_lens/fixed_focal_length_lens.html

[kevin m.]

4/3 sensor means you double the focal length, right? So this is, in effect, a 50/1.4?

 

Leica is doing no better than Canon or Nikon in making wide-angle prime lenses for the

small sensor cameras, evidently.

[simon_dai]

Kevin, this lens is made by Panasonic ... and I actually read from a Japanese magazine it's designed by Panasonic too. You would believe that if Panasonic could do it, Canon and Nikon could only do it better. What a shame ... Leica.

[fast_primes]

Look at the extraordinary complexity of that lens--10 elements in 9 groups (1 Aspherical lenses, 3 ED lenses and 1 Super ED lens)!

 

And size--62mm filter thread, 525g / 18.5oz in weight! The Sigma 30F1.4 is also large with a 62mm filter thread!

[raymond_tai]

I wouldn't discount it just because it is a rebadged Panasonic lens. Sigma lenses are crappy

because of cheap materials and bad QC. One of my old Sigma zooms had the front element

held together with double sided tape. If Panasonic has mucho money to spend on

developing and making a lens just because it has Leica on it then it could be a good lens.

[raymond_tai]

On the other hand I recall Panasonic making radios. When did they start making lenses?

Could this be a Leica rebadged Panasonic further rebadged Cosina?

[simon_dai]

Ray, all these Leicasonic lenses are to be built at Panasonic's Kyushu factory ... there was a couple of interviews in Asahi Kamera, Nippon Kamera and perhaps some other Japanese magazines in which the Panasonic engineers elaborated how they designed, built the lens ... one of the very few things about Leica was that they're very specific with the cosmetic designs such as fonts they chose to paint on the lens barrel. It's quite obvious (to me) from these readings that the Japanese engineers are very proud of what they've achieved.

[vinay_patel]

"You would believe that if Panasonic could do it, Canon and Nikon could only do it better."

 

Canon owners want a top-quality 25mm for FULL FRAME coverage, or an EQUIVALENT to a 25mm for their 1.6x (and Nikon 1.5x). Like Kevin said, this lens is only going to show a 50mm FOV from its image circle.

[simon_dai]

Why 25mm? ... Canon already has a 24/1.4L even Leica can't do (or at least hasn't done yet). Plus their 10-22 EF-S lens to cover the 1.6x FOV (a 35mm equiv. of 16-35mm) is none slouch either ... give it a shot if you haven't done so already.

[kevin m.]

"Canon already has a 24/1.4L even Leica can't do (or at least hasn't done yet). "

 

I bought that lens for the 20D I briefly owned, and even as a '38mm' lens, it's not up to

Leica performance standards. It's certainly no replacement for a 35 Aspherical Summilux,

which is what I wanted it to be. I've heard other people make glowing reports, so perhaps

I just had a bad sample.

 

What no DSLR maker has yet to do is make a reasonably fast (f2.0 at least) wide angle

prime lens for their cropped sensor cameras. I understand "the market has spoken" and

most consumers want zoom lenses, but the best are f2.8, which tosses out the big

advantage digital capture has at high iso's, and those are all just too damned big to carry

around casually, anyway. And none that I'm aware of, with the possible exception of

Nikon's 17-35, can deliver performance equal to a decent prime lens, nevermind an

exceptional one. How hard would Nikon or Canon have to sweat to make a couple of f2.0

primes in the 17-22mm range for a 1.5 or 1.6 crop?

[simon_dai]

The reason why people aren't making APS-C FOV primers? because they all know it's just an interim solution and the future is still with 35mm full frame or even larger formats.

 

To make a long story short, all Canon and Sony currently need is a stepper which can expose a larger area of the CCD/CMOS sensor so the number of exposures to cover the 35mm full size area can be reduced ... even from 3 times to 2 time would make a significant difference ... so the failure rate due to misalignment among multiple exposures can be dramatically less.

 

Imagine at some time when Canon and Sony both have a stepper that can do single exposure to cover a 35mm FF area ... the price of these sensors will be "dirt cheap".

 

In the long run, Oly, Panasonic and the whole 4/3 idea are surely going to fail ...

[christian hilmersen www.]

Hurray!!!

As a very happy user of an Olympus E-1 (and a M6), I really appreciate this news. The only thing....I wish it had been a smaller sumicron. AND for those looking for wide angles: olympus makes some very good wide angles for the 4/3 standard.

I am going to buy one? Not quite sure. Maybe if it is splash proof.

[john_shriver]

I don't think the stepper is the issue for making 24x36mm sensors. Kodak does that, as does Canon. (The features are far larger than the current 0.65 micron processes.) The problem is making them at a good enough yield to make them cost effective. Too many defective dies going in the trash.

 

Intel gets maybe one "perfect wafer" a year on their 12" wafer lines. That means that all the Pentium chips on the wafer (around 150?) test perfect. Consider how many chips they make, and you'll see why yield is such a serious issue. The largest of the Pentium 4 dies was far smaller than 24x36mm. (Maybe some Itanium dies get close, but they're $4000 chips.)

 

Now, CCD and CMOS sensors don't have as many layers as a Pentium, so that improves their yield. On the other hand, they're analog, so the pixels have to be reasonably matched in sensitivity. That cuts yield. If you look at Kodak's data sheets, you'll see that there are different grades of chips, based on how well the pixels are matched. That's how "binning" of sensors is done. (For CPU's, it's by clock speed.)

[arthuryeo]

>Ray, all these Leicasonic lenses are to be built at Panasonic's Kyushu factory ... there was a couple of interviews in Asahi Kamera, Nippon Kamera and perhaps some other Japanese magazines in which the Panasonic engineers elaborated how they designed, built the lens ... one of the very few things about Leica was that they're very specific with the cosmetic designs such as fonts they chose to paint on the lens barrel. It's quite obvious (to me) from these readings that the Japanese engineers are very proud of what they've achieved.

 

Yup, I think so ... these 4/3 lenses are just like the ones used in their FZ* camera --- designed and built by Panasonic but pontified upon by Leica.