Panasonic says that Leica will make lenses for micro four thirds

[ravduc]

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Panasonic claims that Leica will make lenses for micro four thirds. If this is true, than we can expect Leica to jointly produce cameras with Panasonic and Olympus which will use these new lenses and this new mount.

 

The interview can be read on the following website.

 

Q&A with Panasonic over the G1

[ravduc]

Interview on this web site:fourthirdsphoto.com

[geoff]

Panasonic claims that Leica will make lenses for micro four thirds....

 

 

Good, now there maybe hope of a “true” successor to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC1/Leica Digilux 2. Something that put the Digilux line back on its proper and rightful evolutionary path—uniquely separate from that of a point and shoot, rangefinder or DSLR.

 

One that builds upon the former strengths and improves upon it’s weaknesses and can come in a smaller form factor, with interchangeable lenses, and four times the sensor size.

 

Something very similar to the industrial design study, originally featured at dpnet.com.cn, but with a traditional shutter speed dial and aperture ring.

 

 

Geoff

myspace.com/geoffotos

[imnotaniceboy]

Good, now there maybe hope of a “true” successor to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC1/Leica Digilux 2. Something that put the Digilux line back on its proper and rightful evolutionary path.

 

One that builds upon the former strengths and improves upon it’s weaknesses and can come in smaller form factor, with interchangeable lenses, and four times the sensor size.

 

Something very similar to the industrial design study, originally featured at dpnet.com.cn, but with a traditional shutter speed dial and aperture ring.

 

 

Geoff

myspace.com/geoffotos

 

 

 

right now i dont think leica is that smart. i guess im losing my hope in something really cool at photokina by leica.

[geoff]

right now i dont think leica is that smart. i guess im losing my hope in something really cool at photokina by leica.

 

 

There are a lot of those that feel Panasonic and Leica abandoned the true advantage and uniqueness of the Lumix DMC-LC1 and Digilux 2 with the introduction of the Lumix DMC-L1 and Digilux 3. It was never meant to be detoured and shoehorned into a DSLR.

 

Many have posted about this every since the Lumix DMC-L1 and Digilux 3 were introduced. I think Panasonic and Leica have truly taken note of this, although Photokina maybe to early to express this.

 

 

Geoff

myspace.com/geoffotos

[JoelH]

Panasonic claims that Leica will make lenses for micro four thirds. If this is true, than we can expect Leica to jointly produce cameras with Panasonic and Olympus which will use these new lenses and this new mount....

 

To be a little more precise regarding this often-debated point: Panasonic made clear that u4/3 lenses with the Leica brand mark will be available in the future. This is not to say that Leica will "make" the lenses. As with the existing 4/3 lenses, Panasonic will manufacture them, and in large part Panasonic will design them, with Leica participating in design reviews, approving the design and conducting a degree of inspection/audit activity in the Panasonic factory. I would love to see Leica actually owning some of the design, particularly for some prime lenses which are their traditional specialty, vs. zooms which are not.

 

I also hope that Leica would consider the u4/3 platform for future Leica-designed or truly joint-designed cameras, and not just the cosmetic and minor firmware tweaking we see now. However, Leica was conspicuously absent from the u4/3 "consortium" announcement by Panasonic and Olympus, and Kaufmann's interviews seemed to me to hint at a move away from standard 4/3 quite some months ago. Many hope for M lens adaptability to u4/3, which might be physically doable via adapters but would not have any kind of coupling. Some hope for a u4/3 body with mechanical RF; that is simply a contradiction. Some have called for Leica just to repackage existing M lens designs into u4/3; this is also essentially a non-starter technically from several perspectives. If Leica participates actively - and I hope they do - it only makes sense if they extend the modern u4/3 concept in a specialized direction body-wise, and design new lenses from scratch to optimize all aspects of features and performance, not if they deliberately cripple it or ignore what it's about.

[daveleo]

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i *do* hope Leica produces (or guides the production of) a micro4/3 body that is a logical evolution of the D2..... the G1 body is physically a big letdown of my hopes there.

 

for my personal needs, i'd love the same D2 lens scaled to M4/3, but it's probably true that the marketplace wants interchangeable lenses (but i think that the larger sensor and smaller lens diameter means the lens will not be as fast ? ).

[andybarton]

Interview with Matsushita people here, with reference to Leica lenses

 

Matsushita Discusses Development of Mirrorless Digital SLR

[mooky]

Interview with Matsushita people here, with reference to Leica lenses

 

Matsushita Discusses Development of Mirrorless Digital SLR

 

Wonder if the HD camera for next spring has anything to do with Leica Cinema, eg, making lenses.....