Leica D VARIO-ELMARIT 14-50mm on an E-1 ?

Leica introduced today their first OIS lens, and first lens for the Four Thirds system. The D VARIO-ELMARIT 14-50mm/F2.8-3.5 ASPH is very close to the Olympus Digital Zuiko 14-54mm/2.8-3.5 in specs, but has built-in OIS elements.

I'm looking forward to read reviews of this lense in combination with an Olympus E-1.

Also look forward to read reviews of the Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC in combination with an Olympus E-1.

I would have a very hard time buying a lens that nearly matched one I already own. My purchases are always meant to fill gaps in my workflow from camera to printer. I liked the Sony HD photo slide show device for my HD TV. Now that is something I could use when showing my slides to family and friends rahter than squashing everyone in front of my monitor. A lens that will be very similar in performance as my 14-54 with added IS probably not.
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DaveJC

I understand what you mean.
For me there is a big BUT, I don't have the 14-54 !

I have a 14-45 which performs well in good (read bright) light otherwise not ...

you will have to wait some months...

Has price and availability been announced for this lens yet?

In that case I would be slobbering.
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DaveJC

Panasonic has not released availability date or price. In fact their depiction of the DMC-L1 on their own website leaves out some details, i.e. no pictures of the menu structure on the LCD screen. No picture of the pop up flash which I suspect will be the same or improved version of what's on the DMC LC1/Digilux 2. No specs on writing speeds, shutter lag, number of AF focus points, number of areas in the matrix metering etc.

They are still working on AF in Mode B Live View and will take a few more months. There is no reason why the Leica lens is not ready other than the marketing folks wanting to release it at the same time as the DMC L1/Digilux D3. Possibly, Leica wants to put a hold on the release date till they have the two other lenses ready to launch. So far no mention of what the focal lengths are. I suspect another zoom in the wide angle range 9-18 mm and another in the telephoto range 50-150 mm with IS perhaps and a 1.4x teleconverter to go with it. Hopefully these items will be available by the Summer and before Photokina.

Trevor

I have to admit that I might well have been wrong in predicting that Leica, Zeiss and Schneider-Kreuznach would not actually get involved in designing lenses for 4/3, Sony/K.-M. and Pentax DSLRs.

I suppose that what I missed was that since Panasonic was going to add OIS (despite Joe Wisniewski saying that OIS 4/3 lenses are impossible), it wants to use a brand name that distinguishes their OIS lenses from Olympus lenses; and it is continuing the practice of using the brand "Leica" rather than "Panasonic".

Then again, could the 14-50 design be mostly a merger of Panasonic OIS and Venus III chip with a modified Olympus 14-54 f/2.8-3.5 design, with Leica contributing just that nice traditional aperture ring?

Also, was there a statement about two other "Leica/Panasonic" 4/3 lenses coming soon? Common practice would be to offer at least a cosmetically matched OIS telephoto zoom, and then maybe an all-in-one zoom like a "14-150 OIS".

shutter2533 said:

Panasonic has not released availability date or price. In fact
their depiction of the DMC-L1 on their own website leaves out some
details, i.e. no pictures of the menu structure on the LCD screen.
No picture of the pop up flash which I suspect will be the same or
improved version of what's on the DMC LC1/Digilux 2.

Click to expand...

...

On this site you can see quite a few menus and a (bad) picture of the internal flash :
http://pma2006.phanfare.com/album/39112

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Rémi

RémiG said:

shutter2533 said:

Panasonic has not released availability date or price. In fact
their depiction of the DMC-L1 on their own website leaves out some
details, i.e. no pictures of the menu structure on the LCD screen.
No picture of the pop up flash which I suspect will be the same or
improved version of what's on the DMC LC1/Digilux 2.

Click to expand...

...
On this site you can see quite a few menus and a (bad) picture of
the internal flash :
http://pma2006.phanfare.com/album/39112

Click to expand...

A better (although small) picture of the flash can be seen there :
http://www.quesabesde.com/noticias/Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-L1,1_2334

In the middle of the page we can see a photo on the LCD screen (or maybe the L1 working in live view mode ?).

To me it looks like they have a working prototype. I'm optimist, let's say we will be able to buy this beauty in 2 or 3 months ! ;-)

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Rémi

Thanks Remi for the links.

Trevor

BJL said:

I suppose that what I missed was that since Panasonic was going to
add OIS (despite Joe Wisniewski saying that OIS 4/3 lenses are
impossible), it wants to use a brand name that distinguishes their
OIS lenses from Olympus lenses; and it is continuing the practice
of using the brand "Leica" rather than "Panasonic".

Then again, could the 14-50 design be mostly a merger of Panasonic
OIS and Venus III chip with a modified Olympus 14-54 f/2.8-3.5
design, with Leica contributing just that nice traditional aperture
ring?

Click to expand...

Contrary to popular belief that Leica is long dead and gone, Leica Camera in Solms, Germany still exits and actively designs and manufactures cameras. As far as digital goes, they are involved in the design only and Panasonic takes it into production. The Elmarit 14-50mm and Zuiko digital 14-54mm though similar in size are quite different in optical formula. Look at the Olympus site:

http://www.olympusamerica.com/e1/sys_lens_14mm.asp

and the Panasonic site:

http://panasonic.co.jp/pavc/global/lumix/popup/l1_pda/index.html

Integrating OIS into a lens is not easy. It calls for a new design most of the time. All Canon IS lenses bear no optical resemblance to their non-IS counterparts.

Panasonic is not simply putting a Leica brand name on their products. There is a collaboration between the two companies in designing these cameras. Panasonic contributes the electronic technology and Leica provides the optical designs. The components of the final product is made by more than one manufacturer in Japan. In fact, the DMC-L1 shares many components with the E-330, I would not be surprised if some parts come from Olympus' plant in China.

In a global economy, products no longer come from one country or company. They are made up of technologies from different countries, companies and contract manufacturers.

Many people believe Leica does not exist because they can't buy a Leica product at Best Buy or the online stores. That's because most of them are not Leica Dealers. Try to Google "Leica" and the dealers will show up.

Believe me, Leica is alive, though financially not well. I hope the new Lumix DMC-L1 and Elmarit lens will help restore their financial health.

Trevor

On the E1 the limiting factor is the low MP count. The new Leica lenses sound interesting but without the extra MP's they are redundant.As things are at 'this' moment I doubt the Leica will be much of an upgrade to the Olympus 14-54.With double digit MP's it will be quite different.

2EF said:

On the E1 the limiting factor is the low MP count. The new Leica
lenses sound interesting but without the extra MP's they are
redundant.As things are at 'this' moment I doubt the Leica will be
much of an upgrade to the Olympus 14-54.With double digit MP's it
will be quite different.

Click to expand...

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BruceWB

Saw this interesting synopsis on Olympus and Leica glass by Erwin Puts (Compendium of Leica Leneses):

"Olympus E-1 system... lenses for the E-system are indeed outstandingly good. The published MTF graphs show a contrast transfer of more than 70% for 60 lp/mm. This is much better than what (as example) current Leica lenses in the same class of focal lengths can deliver." (He speaks of 35mm film lenses.)

http://www.imx.nl/photosite/comments/c007.html

He was pointing out that Olympus had to optimize glass for the smaller 4/3 sensor where Leica was designed for 35mm film. How the Leica D 14-50 adds up is beyond me but I've been very impressed by the Olympus 14-54. I sense there will be a lot of overlap between the two.

Any news ?

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My Dutch is a lot better ...