Leica and micro 4/3rds

[doubledan]

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Panasonic says Leica plans to produce lenses for the new micro 4/3rds system. Good! Now, Is there any technical reason that current M-mount lenses could not also be fitted to Panasonic's G1, and the eventual Olympus version, with a simple adapter? One assumes there'd be no autofocus, but so what? As someone who happily uses both a film rangefinder outfit and an Olympus dslr, I would love to have this option for traveling light.

[Bo_Lorentzen]

Well, the 4:3 system did get a rather good selection of adaptors, because it was just enough shorter than Nikon/Canon/Pentax so a thin metal adaptor could be made.. and WAS made by several companies.. Im positive that if at all possible you will see similar metal adaptors fitting all your favorite lenses, M series etc. At least for me that would be a huge justification for this camera.. but I don't know the required space for a M lens... guess we will know once the G1 hits. Im sure the G1 will have the option to release with no lens just like other Panasonic cameras have.

 

If there is a reasonable fit - I for one will definitely be investigating a brass milled option.

 

Actually, if one squints a bit, it would not be terrible hard to envision the G1 with a red dot... wonder if Leica was part of setting the standard.

 

 

Bo

 

Bo Lorentzen Professional Photographer in Southern California

[mjh]

Actually, if one squints a bit, it would not be terrible hard to envision the G1 with a red dot...

Not so sure about the G1, but the mock-up of the Olympus Micro FourThirds camera was designed with both a Leica M and an Olympus Pen F in mind (they freely admitted as much).

 

 

wonder if Leica was part of setting the standard.

They were not. As a matter of fact, Leica couldn’t care less about Micro FourThirds. Panasonic might still persuade Leica to do a few lens designs for them to manufacture – if it’s a lucrative deal, then why not? –, but in that case I wouldn’t expect those lenses to even show up on Leica’s website.

[doubledan]

Perhaps I should have been more specific in my original post re: M-mount lenses adapted to micro 4/3rds bodies. Isn't it just a simple question of whether the space between the the lens and sensor in the G1 is enough shorter than the distance between the lens and film plane in the M camera to allow a shallow adapter on the front of the G1?

 

If so, it seems logical that such a rig would work, just as it works to use adapters with many other makers' lenses on the full 4/3rds system.

 

As for the Olympus m43 mockup's relationship to the M and PEN cameras, my impression has been that it is purely stylistic, as in retro design cues. The Panasonic G1

and the Olympus whatever-it-is must be virtually the same camera as far as lens mount and essential functions are concerned, regardless of outward appearances.

[mjh]

Perhaps I should have been more specific in my original post re: M-mount lenses adapted to micro 4/3rds bodies. Isn't it just a simple question of whether the space between the the lens and sensor in the G1 is enough shorter than the distance between the lens and film plane in the M camera to allow a shallow adapter on the front of the G1?

 

If so, it seems logical that such a rig would work, just as it works to use adapters with many other makers' lenses on the full 4/3rds system.

Quite probably it would. It will be a third party opportunity as Leica doesn’t intend to offer such an adapter.

 

The Panasonic G1 and the Olympus whatever-it-is must be virtually the same camera as far as lens mount and essential functions are concerned, regardless of outward appearances.

Both are Micro FourThirds cameras, but that’s where the similarity ends. While Panasonic’s (and Leica’s) FourThirds cameras were built around Olympus components, the overlap in camera designs will be much smaller in the Micro FourThirds system. Which is a good thing, since we don’t really need two or three vendors all offering variations on basically the same camera (E-330, DMC-L1, Digilux 3).

[mym6is12]

I would be happy to forgive the lack of OVF if they made 4/3 14mm and 20mm ( 28mm and 40mm - 35mm EVOF) mechanical ( traditional helicoid ) scale focused lenses, that could be set to a distance as per leica M lenses - a job for voigtlander ?

[veraikon]

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a job for voigtlander ?

They have still done it:

There are 12mm lenses (24mm Eq) from Voigtländer-Cosina; 15mm from VC and Carl Zeiss (30mm Eq) and a 18mm (36mm Eq) lens from Zeiss

[luigi bertolotti]

They have still done it:

There are 12mm lenses (24mm Eq) from Voigtländer-Cosina; 15mm from VC and Carl Zeiss (30mm Eq) and a 18mm (36mm Eq) lens from Zeiss

 

Yes, and for the time the Olympus reaches the market, I'd not been surprised if CV itself announces a M adapter for micro4/3... or maybe a LTM one... I should be delighted to use a nice toy like seems to be the new Olympus with, say, a venerable Hektor 135 LTM (fine supertele for 4/3... )... or a classic Elmar 50 (what a portrait lens for 4/3...) ... or Summaron 28 f 5,6 as supercompact normal... wow, should be superfunny for we collectors of old LTM lenses!!!

[mym6is12]

They have still done it:

There are 12mm lenses (24mm Eq) from Voigtländer-Cosina; 15mm from VC and Carl Zeiss (30mm Eq) and a 18mm (36mm Eq) lens from Zeiss

 

But that's not quite the same as more compact lenses designed for the job - with resolution optimized for the smaller image circle.

 

However I was thinking that failing something that, yes the compact VC 15mm and also the 21/25mm lenses would do to begin with.

[rosuna]

Interesting analysis of what was going on at the Photokina:

 

Photokina 2008 Commentary by Thom Hogan

 

R.

[Riley]

Hogan got somewhat of a roasting for his initial comments on mFT, eventually he visited the Oly forum at dp in a bid for mutual 're-education'. After a few man sized bomb craters everyone got along a lot better, his latest 'views' reflect that communion.

[luigi bertolotti]

Does anyone know which is the expected availabilty of the depicted OLY-Micro 4/3 ? And, most of all ... shall it have an EVF ? (otherwise, my excitement about using it with Leica lenses is probably to be repressed... )