New 'X' Panasonic lenses

[Godfrey]

... (Although I can't speak for him, I will point out that Godfrey owns/ed one of these cameras, too.) ...

Yes, I owned two: they were the basis of my work for a couple of years. Still a very fine camera, but Panasonic dropped the ball with that, their first SLR, and moved in a different direction.

My best friend bought one of my L1s. He's using it today for HIS jobs. It still performs brilliantly. I moved from it to Olympus pro-grade SLR bodies ... which do an even better job on responsiveness. I still have the Panasonic/Leica Summilux-D 25mm f/1.4 ASPH on the E-5: a stunning camera and lens combination.

Panasonic is moving forward on its arc, I'm moving forward on mine. I had many good experiences and made quite a bit of money with Panasonic cameras ... the L1, G1, FZ10 and LX1 all produced many salable photos, photos which won awards, and paid for themselves and then some by a healthy margin. I have nothing but praise for Panasonic's cameras in general, but they're no longer making what I'm looking for.

No big deal. I've juggled equipment for four plus decades.

"Equipment is transitory, Photographs endure."

 

[Amin]

I don't have the slightest personal interest in buying the new 14-45, but I think it's exactly what they needed to sell a ton of GF3-like cameras and fund the future success of Micro 4/3. The disclosure of plans to bring out fast 12-35 and 35-100mm zooms in 2012 was also great to see - and great for the Micro 4/3 system - though I have no personal interest in buying those either .

If someone would ship my Oly 45/1.8, my three-lens kit would be complete, and I'd be fully content to enjoy all the other lovely lenses via appreciation of the great photos made by others.

 

[Terry]

This will sound off the wall but what I really needed on this trip ia s fast 200 or 300mm (400 or 600mm plus) lens and a tele-converter. I would love to see the make a 300 f2.8 and a 1.4x converter.Oh and it should have a tripod foot. Even if the lens isnt small it would be much much more compact than a Nikon 600 mm and would make for a great brider/wildlife system. Vey compact to be in the field with.

They won't sell that many of these but it is what I would have brought to Kenya. Between ISO and lens speed I really could use about 2 more stops than what I have with me.

 

[nugat]

This will sound off the wall but what I really needed on this trip ia s fast 200 or 300mm (400 or 600mm plus) lens and a tele-converter. I would love to see the make a 300 f2.8 and a 1.4x converter.Oh and it should have a tripod foot. Even if the lens isnt small it would be much much more compact than a Nikon 600 mm and would make for a great brider/wildlife system. Vey compact to be in the field with.

They won't sell that many of these but it is what I would have brought to Kenya. Between ISO and lens speed I really could use about 2 more stops than what I have with me.

4/3 Olympus 150/f2 , 300/f2.8 or 90-250/f2.8 plus 1.4 and 2x teleconverters (1 and 2 stop losses respectively on the converters) might do the job. Arguably the best telephoto glass in the world.

 

[Terry]

But AF is a problem. I tried the 150 with and without 2x on the GH2 no dice for what I needed. Needs to have AF optimized for CDAF.

 

[pellicle]

This will sound off the wall but what I really needed on this trip ia s fast 200 or 300mm (400 or 600mm plus) l.

not really ... its something I've wished for too

But if I have to hump around that creature then I may as well get any APS or 4/3 body to pack with it and take advantage of the better AF too

 

[djonesii]

I have a G1, EP-1, and G3
9-18, 14-42, 14-45, 14-140, 20, 45-200, 100-300

The 14 seems no advantage, the 17 is too close to the 20, Never had an Oly kit zoom.

Most likely, I'll get the 45, the 12 is just to specialist for me to shell out 800.

I'll get the tiny zoom, some of the redundant lenses will leave the kit, and I'll have a really nice 6 lens kit covering an effective 16-600, with at least two fast primes and it will fit in my Domke messenger bag. The IQ will be more than adequate for all web work, and most 8X10's.

This is a system that has it's place. My D300 + raft of lenses is getting squeezed out of the middle. The G3 has SUFFICIENT ergonomics, IQ and portability to meet my "daily driver" needs, the P03+/AFD-II meets my high end. If the thing didn't have a 1.3 crop factor, I'd be done, but still lusting after the 28mm anyway.

CaNikon really need to start looking over their shoulders, with a couple of 2.8 zooms that are fully in camera corrected, a whole generation of advanced amateur shooters could skip them all together. Cheap gateway cameras, then hook you on the high end glass, sounds a good model to me!

Dave

 

[Amin]

This will sound off the wall but what I really needed on this trip ia s fast 200 or 300mm (400 or 600mm plus) lens and a tele-converter. I would love to see the make a 300 f2.8 and a 1.4x converter.Oh and it should have a tripod foot. Even if the lens isnt small it would be much much more compact than a Nikon 600 mm and would make for a great brider/wildlife system. Vey compact to be in the field with.

The latest roadmaps don't leave a lot of gaps in the MFT lineup. I don't think it will be very long before we start to see more specialized lenses such as super telephoto primes.

 

[jsnack]

The new lens is perfect for a small travel kit. Throw in the new Oly 12 & 45 and you're good to go. It's what I've been wanting for a long time.

 

[Terry]

The new lens is perfect for a small travel kit. Throw in the new Oly 12 & 45 and you're good to go. It's what I've been wanting for a long time.

Exactly. Maybe different choices on the primes even just the zoom and the 20mm makes a cool little walk around kit. Also makes the GF3 interesting to me.

 

[wjlapier]

I'm buying this new 14-42 pancake lens. I really like my GF-1 and would love to have that range on it rather than the "big" 14-45.

 

[Millsart]

14-42 isn't of much interest to me as I more prefer faster primes in the focal length (lets hope the 25m mf1.4 can finally get to market before these X lens, I'm waiting Panasonic! lol)

The 45-175 actually is one I think I might get though. I really like internal zooms and think they handle a bit better on a camera like the EP3 as well as it keeps the dimensions smaller.

40-150 and 45-200 are good lenses for the money, but for $449 for a 90-350mm slow tele just for generic long tele landscape shots etc I think it should be a winner.

Plan to mostly carry the 12/25/45 kit but never hurts to have some reach just for the heck of it, compressed distant landscape etc

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

There are so many lens options available for m4/3 now that it starts to resemble a "real" system. With the 12-35 and 35-100, I assume that a more "pro" body (better build quality, vertical grip option etc.) can't be too far away. That body and those lenses for work etc., G3 and 12/25/45 for travel, the total probably weighing less than one "pro" Nikon camera with one f/2.8 zoom... it's sounds so perfect I can hardly wait

 

[Tim]

While I am a GF1/20mm user, one of my concerns with any Panasonic lens is if they design the lens around what I will call "barrel distortion correction in software" method - I understand the 14mm is designed this way but the 20mm is not.

Anyone know if this is the case with these new X lenses?

 

[Terry]

As far as I know the 20mm has a fair bit of distortion correction. The only one I thought that didn't was the Panny/Leica 45mm macro.

 

[pellicle]

While I am a GF1/20mm user, one of my concerns with any Panasonic lens is if they design the lens around what I will call "barrel distortion correction in software" method

as I understand it you make a number of compromises in lens design (or any design really). Access to software correction in camera liberates the designer to make choices which perhaps can't be corrected for in favour of ones that can be corrected and achieve a better result.

Personally I was impressed with what could be done with making the Vaskar lens on my Voightlander Bessar 6x9 camera using PTLens.

 

[jsnack]

Exactly. Maybe different choices on the primes even just the zoom and the 20mm makes a cool little walk around kit. Also makes the GF3 interesting to me.

I'm leaning towards the Olympus EPL-3, because it has the tilt screen. I found that to be really handy on the NEX 5.

 

[Terry]

I'm leaning towards the Olympus EPL-3, because it has the tilt screen. I found that to be really handy on the NEX 5.

Check it out first. The actual screen size is smaller than it looks as the dimensions are a different aspect ratio.

 

[jsnack]

Very true. It appears to be a 3:2 ratio. I might just go with the EP-3. While it is a larger body, I'm more concerned with lens size.

I really wish the NEX line had some small lenses.

I also hear Pentax is about to announce a mirrorless body with smaller lenses.

It's just too much to think about

 

[deejjjaaaa]

one of my concerns with any Panasonic lens is if they design the lens around what I will call "barrel distortion correction in software" method

as it was mentioned before

PL45/2.8 has no distortions,

photozone measured it as 0.07% pincushion using raw converter that is not following Panasonic tags for software corrections.

it looks like Leica does not allow Panasonic to label the lens accordingly w/o designing it properly