Ian from Scotland

[Ian Fozzard]

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I bought a Digilux 3 earlier this year for a very good price in UK, and have been really pleased with every aspect of the camera. However I now want to add some lenses - ideally lenses which have all the functionality of the standard zoom (eg autofocus and possibly OIS if available). I'm finding it impossible to identify any lenses - Leica don't seem to make any. Can anyone give me some recommendations? Do the Panasonic four thirds lenses fit and have all the functionality, and what about the Sigma four thirds lenses?

 

Any advice gratefully received,

 

Ian

[miami91]

I bought a Digilux 3 earlier this year for a very good price in UK, and have been really pleased with every aspect of the camera. However I now want to add some lenses - ideally lenses which have all the functionality of the standard zoom (eg autofocus and possibly OIS if available). I'm finding it impossible to identify any lenses - Leica don't seem to make any. Can anyone give me some recommendations? Do the Panasonic four thirds lenses fit and have all the functionality, and what about the Sigma four thirds lenses?

 

Any advice gratefully received,

 

Ian

 

Olympus makes excellent four-thirds lenses, although I don't believe any of them have on-board IS. Olympus is building IS into their dSLR camera bodies these days.

 

I own the Olympus Zuiko 50-200mm zoom, and until recently owned the 7-14mm Zuiko. Both are excellent performers, though both are also quite large in size.

 

Jeff.

[ASpes]

I bought a Digilux 3 earlier this year for a very good price in UK, and have been really pleased with every aspect of the camera. However I now want to add some lenses - ideally lenses which have all the functionality of the standard zoom (eg autofocus and possibly OIS if available). I'm finding it impossible to identify any lenses - Leica don't seem to make any. Can anyone give me some recommendations? Do the Panasonic four thirds lenses fit and have all the functionality, and what about the Sigma four thirds lenses?

 

Any advice gratefully received,

 

Ian

 

Oly gives you excellent choices for any use (and pocket), and the optical quality is top notch especially if you choose in the high and super high grade range. Apart from the built-in stabilisation, no Oly lens has it, from the functional point of view the only thing you give up is the aperture ring, you have to use the rotary dial at the back instead.

 

Your other choice are the two Pana/Leica lenses, a 14-150 zoom and a 25/1.4 prime. They have the aperture ring so they work exactly as your current lens, but only the zoom is stabilised. Not on the cheap side maybe but their quality is outstanding, especially with the prime.

I bought the zoom recently and its results are really pleasing me. The compromise is somewhat on lens brightness but in return this gives a pretty compact lens (about the size of your 14-50) which makes for an outstanding walk-around lens. It can show just a bit of purple fringing at high contrast boundaries, but nothing serious, and anyway it's probably the best 10x zoom around in any make.

 

As for Sigma, the most common complaint is more about QC than the lens itself when you get a good sample, so personally I prefer to go with Oly where even the standard grade range is pretty good.

 

Just my 2 (euro)cent of course.

[Ruhayat]

I would like to unreservedly recommend you to at least consider Leica R lenses, if you like primes and don't mind manual focusing. They're probably the best bargains for the 4/3 segment: high quality, gorgeous colours, and extremely sharp (well, the sensor only uses 30% of the lens). My mint 50mm Summicron-R beats or equals the Zuiko 50mm Macro (a brilliant lens) in terms of image quality for a third of the cost. In fact, I'm so pleased with the combo, my 28mm Elmarit-R is arriving in the next couple of days.

 

The only downside is wide angles; because of the 2x crop factor even the 21mm becomes a 40.

[samwells]

I'd second Ruhayat's comment re R lenses (tho you'll have to get an R to 4/3 adapter to use them) - whilst the wide-angle end becomes not-so-wide-angle, the tele end is amazing - the 70-210mm Vario-Elmar becomes a whopping 420mm; the Macro-Elmarit also delivers an extraordinarily magnifying experience - all for (relatively) peanuts.

Sam

[Ruhayat]

Yes, the 2x crop makes tele lenses simply jaw-dropping. Get the 180mm Elmarit-R and you'll get a 360mm lens with f2.8. Or 100mm+ Summicron for 200mm+ at F2!! For relatively peanuts! Too bad I don't use long lenses for my photography.

[Ian Fozzard]

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Thanks Guys, this info is greatly appreciated. I think I will have to check out the prices and availability of the R series lenses, but I have to say I'm tempted by the word from ASpes and the 14-150 zoom with OIS and autofocus. I do miss quite a lot of shots by being too slow on the set up.

thanks again

Ian