L² Technology: New strategic partnership between Leica and Panasonic

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Leica and Panasonic today announce a new strategic partnership. Under the title "L² Technology", new technologies and solutions for digital photography are to be developed.

Concrete products or software solutions have not yet been announced, but one can be curious about the direction the project will take. Leica Camera AG and Panasonic have been cooperating for more than 20 years, initially in the field of lenses, later in the development of digital cameras and finally with the joint L-mount.

Leica Camera AG and Panasonic signed strategic comprehensive collaboration agreement, and develop „L² Technology“ as symbol of the collaboration

Wetzlar, May 31, 2022. Panasonic Entertainment & Communication Corporation (Headquarters in Osaka, Japan) and Leica Camera AG (Wetzlar, Germany) today announced that they have reached an agreement for a new comprehensive business alliance. Both companies agreed to increasingly bundle their core competencies and to develop new technologies and solutions resulting from this collaboration under the name of “L² Technology ” (L squared Technology) which symbolically uses the two „L“ of “ Leica ” and “LUMIX ” in their marketing activities going forward.

L² Technology will unify the strengths of two brands, Leica and LUMIX, be a symbol of the collaboration by combining the technologies and know-how of the two companies in the fields of new camera and lens products and next generation software, and create technologies and solutions that deliver new value in the new era. Through this collaboration, both companies will be able to maximize the synergies by Leica's optical and imaging technology and Panasonic’s video and digital technology that have been cultivated over many years in the camera and imaging market, and jointly explore new creativity and expressive power. They will continue to develop innovative L² Technology that will create a new imaging world.

Through this collaboration, the two companies will jointly invest in new technologies that can be incorporated into camera and lens products, and will incorporate jointly developed technologies into each other's Leica and LUMIX products to further enhance their product capabilities. Going forward, Leica and LUMIX will utilize L² Technology, which will open up new possibilities for creative ciamera users, in their marketing activities in order to develop a collaborative system over the long term.

“With the arrival of an era in which photos and videos are shared globally in real time, cameras are required to have capability to create more impressive and breathtaking expression. I have always been impressed by the high picture quality and the picture-making philosophy that Leica has developed over its long history. I am very pleased and excited to continue working with Leica to develop technology that will enable people around the world to share their emotions," said Akira Toyoshima, CEO of Panasonic Entertainment & Communication Co.,Ltd.

"We have been working with Panasonic for many years in a spirit of partnership and trust, and their extensive expertise is undisputed. The combination of our competencies in L² Technology is another milestone in the partnership and proves that the best way to meet today's challenges in the camera market is not to segment and specialize, but to deepen capabilities in order to jointly create solutions for the future," said Matthias Harsch, CEO of Leica Camera AG.

History of collaboration

The cooperation between Leica Camera AG and Panasonic Corporation has existed since August 2000. Initially, the companies had signed a cooperation agreement for lenses of digital, audio-visual equipment, and in 2001 the decision was made to cooperate in the digital camera sector as well. Since then, the companies have steadily expanded their technological cooperation. In 2018, together with Sigma, the "L-Mount Alliance" was founded, an unprecedented type of cooperation that enables Panasonic, Sigma and, since 2021, Ernst Leitz Wetzlar GmbH to use the L-mount standard developed by Leica for their own developments and thus also offer cameras as well as optics with this lens mount.

 

[wda]

It makes a refreshing change to receive a strategic statement on camera and lens production, from Leica HQ. It will be even more reassuring to receive tangible evidence of new products flowing from this initiative. I eàgerly await further information.

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[LocalHero1953]

It will be interesting to see if this means co-operation on technology (e.g. AF, sensors, colour science) or specific products (a new small L-mount body and lenses).

[wda]

Both, is the inference of the release.

[rob_w]

What is the response from Sigma?

[Simone_DF]

6 hours ago, rob_w said:

What is the response from Sigma?

This: 🙈🙉🙊

[fotofool]

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I’m having a hard time deciphering what’s materially different here from the partnership they have long shared.

[beewee]

This sounds like a lot of cross licensing of IP but I don’t think it will materially change a lot for the end user.

Reading between the lines, I see potential for some of the following:

• Panasonic will contribute towards the electronic component design such as ASICs, sensors, ADCs, DACs
• Leica will contribute towards imaging pipeline, colour science, and optical design expertise
• Panasonic may go as far as assisting with the system design/engineering on the electronics side for future M, SL, Q, etc… cameras
• Leica will continue to license their branding on ‘Certified by Leica’ Lumix optics
• Panasonic may offer Leica expertise in manufacturing to streamline their process and reduce cost
• Leica may go as far as co-developing and/or licensing zoom lens designs with Panasonic, kind of like the Sigma / Leica SL 24-70 lens
• Panasonic offer ‘Leica co-branded’ (not just Certified by Leica) lenses similar to their micro 4/3 line-up
• Leica may gain expertise in low-power electronics design to help improve battery life further
• Panasonic may offer Leica more OLED EVF hardware for SL, Q, and M systems
• Leica may gain access to Panasonic’s electronics supply chain to leverage better cost savings and in highe volume purchase of electronic components
• Should Panasonic develop phase detect AF in future generations of cameras, the future SL bodies will get the same benefit

Looking into the future, L2 offers Panasonic an opportunity to offload their camera business, similar to Olympus’ camera division turning into OM Digital. Likewise, L2 may offer some of Leica’s shareholders an opportunity to offload their ownership to L2. At some point, L2 may become publicly traded or a wholly owned company that gains a partial or complete ownership of either the Lumix division and/or Leica Camera AG.

Edited June 1, 2022 by beewee

[BernardC]

10 hours ago, fotofool said:

I’m having a hard time deciphering what’s materially different here from the partnership they have long shared.

We don't know the contents of the previous agreement, so it's impossible to tell what's changed.

To me this signifies a renewed long-term commitment to the L mount, with less duplication of effort. Of course, some people will (always) tell you that it's also a sign of doom; that's to be expected. It's certainly better than having no long-term commitment from the two companies.

Where does it leave Sigma: exactly where they've always been. They will continue to offer high-quality budget lenses, and niche cameras. I don't think it's their intent to start selling mainstream bodies with ultra-tight margins.

[jrp]

Yes, it’s hard for Kremlinologists to decode this. The SL and S camera lines seem to have stalled … where are the final SL Summicrons from the road map? How about the next iteration of the S line from Panasonic? Perhaps there are cameras using the latest ARM chips waiting in the wings, like the Canon / Nikon / Sony flagships, which is what is required, but my impression is that L-mount cameras have some catching up to do if they are not to be lapped.

[BernardC]

16 hours ago, jrp said:

Yes, it’s hard for Kremlinologists to decode this. The SL and S camera lines seem to have stalled … where are the final SL Summicrons from the road map? How about the next iteration of the S line from Panasonic? Perhaps there are cameras using the latest ARM chips waiting in the wings, like the Canon / Nikon / Sony flagships, which is what is required, but my impression is that L-mount cameras have some catching up to do if they are not to be lapped.

People always say that on forums. You'll read the same thing on Canon, Nikon, and Sony forums: punters worried about their brands.

The S1R and SL2 are older products (although they still have the top-rated high-resolution sensor, according to online tests). On the other hand, the SL2-S and S5 are relatively new, as is the Sigma fp-l.

We'll most likely see new L-Mount products in the 60MP range this year from Panasonic and Leica, and the other brands will have been "lapped." Then this forum will switch to worrying about the age of the SL2-S and S5.

Do you remember when Nikon used to release a new F-line professional camera every 10 years? It's a good thing that there were no internet forums back then!

[wda]

The good old times.😉

[beewee]

On 6/4/2022 at 5:48 AM, BernardC said:

We'll most likely see new L-Mount products in the 60MP range this year from Panasonic and Leica, and the other brands will have been "lapped."

Leica has used the Q and Q2 as a development platform for the SL and SL2 development in the past and there’s no reason to suggest they would do anything differently going forward. Stephan Daniels have said on the record that there will not be a Q3 this year. Also Leica has more or less settled on a 4 year refresh cycle for their system cameras so there’s no reason to expect a SL2 successor until at least late 2023 or more likely 2024.

Edited June 7, 2022 by beewee

[BernardC]

7 hours ago, beewee said:

Leica has used the Q and Q2 as a development platform for the SL and SL2 development in the past

I see it the other way. The Q was based on the SL, which itself was based on the S-007 technology (Maestro processor, interface). The Q2 was based on the SL2.

The L2 partnership strongly suggests that future SL iterations will be in  lockstep with Panasonic's evolutions, and the S1R is certainly due for a refresh. The original S1 was replaced by the S5, which came-out around the same time as the SL2-S.

[Simone_DF]

8 hours ago, beewee said:

Stephan Daniels have said on the record that there will not be a Q3 this year.

I don't expect a Q3 before March 2023, but at the same time you can't really take this statement as "fact". Of course he had to say that there won't be a new Q3 this year not to compromise sales of the Q2.

[cboy]

On 6/1/2022 at 2:56 PM, beewee said:

This sounds like a lot of cross licensing of IP but I don’t think it will materially change a lot for the end user.

Hasn't Panasonic already been manufacturing or at least Leica has been procuring tech that goes inside some of Leicas products such as it's compact point and shoots? Rebranding Panasonic cameras for Leica products with an aesthetic/ UI tweak. Or is this partly a branding collab to mark out as 'L2 certified technologies' that will be offloaded and built in other countries in order to reduce cost.

I wonder if Leica and Panasonic will ever make a FF L mount camera together thats similar to the Leica/Minolta collaboration which made the CL. I'm sure that it would create quite a buzz

[beewee]

3 hours ago, BernardC said:

I see it the other way. The Q was based on the SL, which itself was based on the S-007 technology (Maestro processor, interface). The Q2 was based on the SL2.

Leica has said on the record that the Q was originally a development platform for the SL. They had originally intended to sell about 1000-1500pcs but it ended up selling like hot cakes and so they turned it into its own line.

[beewee]

25 minutes ago, cboy said:

Hasn't Panasonic already been manufacturing or at least Leica has been procuring tech that goes inside some of Leicas products such as it's compact point and shoots? Rebranding Panasonic cameras for Leica products with an aesthetic/ UI tweak. Or is this partly a branding collab to mark out as 'L2 certified technologies' that will be offloaded and built in other countries in order to reduce cost.

I wonder if Leica and Panasonic will ever make a FF L mount camera together thats similar to the Leica/Minolta collaboration which made the CL. I'm sure that it would create quite a buzz

Leica has been using Panasonic’s tech and Panasonic has been optical expertise but I think what this signifies is that they may start to expand beyond that and have it flow in both directions in those areas.

I think it makes a lot of sense for Leica and Panasonic to co-develop camera platforms that include things like the custom silicon needed for fast image readout, video encoding, auto-focus, and similar core features. But going beyond this, the silicon can also support tasks like histograms, waveforms, focus peaking, and other computationally expensive  tasks that need to be done quickly and but at low power consumption. Leica has been working with Huawei and now they are working with Xiaomi and I’m sure they’ve developed a fair bit of image processing IP over the years that would also benefit their co-developed image processing silicon.

[frame-it]

https://www.dpreview.com/news/4714519862/panasonic-l2-is-no-threat-to-l-mount-alliance

'L² Technology is not the new alliance but the new value created by Leica Camera AG and Panasonic.

L-Mount is a lens mount standard developed by Leica Camera AG and it is licensed to the Alliance members by Leica Camera AG.

Panasonic is one of the licensed member and we are aiming to have stable product compatibility between the Alliance partners. Therefore, as L-mount alliance member we will keep compatibility also with Sigma products. There is no change on this point.

L² Technology is the symbol that Leica camera AG and Panasonic will invest and develop the new value together.

This new value will be integrated to our new cameras for Panasonic and Leica and by each company we will have our own marketing story.'

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[tom.w.bn]

Rumour says that Panasonic was slightly irritated by the Leica - Xiaomi strategic partnership announcement and that they just made sure that the existing partnership is renewed and in the news too.