Panasonic has launched a pair of new non-Leica-designed lenses for its Micro Four Thirds range of cameras. The emphasis is on making these new lenses small and light, and to this end Panasonic has removed somewhat essential features.
Speaking to the British Journal of Photography, Panasonic's UK Lumix boss Barney Sykes said that "Leica has very strict standards when making lenses. This would not have conformed to Leica's standard."
The two lenses are power-zoom models (you zoom in and out by pressing two buttons instead of twisting a dial), like you'd find on compact cameras. Also replaced by buttons is the manual focus ring. There's a 14-42mm ƒ3.5-5.6 and a 25-175 ƒ4-5.6 model. The 14-42 in particular is tiny when the zooming center is retracted – barely larger than the tiny 20mm pancake.
The lenses are the firs tin Panasonic's new "X" line, which denotes high-end optics, and are supposedly of better quality than the current lenses.
Sykes says that the lenses use "digital technology to get the same quality" as the lenses designed in collaboration with Leica. This, presumably, means that there's a lot of correction going on in-camera. We'll be able to test this when we get our hands on one by comparing the in-camera JPG files with the RAW files processed in Lightroom. If the camera is making corrections, then the unprocessed RAW file should show the naked image.
The 45-175 will cost $450 and be available in September. The 14-45mm will cost $400 in November.
Panasonic goes it alone for new X lenses [British Journal of Photography]
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