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Curious news from Pana

R

Ranger 9

Guest
The '1001 Noisy Cameras' website pointed to these two articles (links are translations from Japanese to Googlish):



Quirky things that stood out to me:


-- They are planning to make 5,000 units per month of the camera, but only 1,000 each of the three lenses...?

-- What are the other 2,000 bodies per month going to use for a lens? (Good thing we have been doing all this research on C-mount lenses!)

-- Or do they assume we all will be replacing/supplementing our G1 bodies with GH1s at a rate of 2,000 per month...?

-- List price of the 7-14 is even higher than that of the 14-140. Yikes!

-- What happened to the 45-200?


Any other points of interest for anyone? No info on the 20/1.7 or the macro other than sometime this year, BTW...
 

monza

Active member
Interesting stuff. My guess is the 45-200 isn't on the list because all the other three lenses are new SKUs, the 14-45 newly available as a separate lens. Perhaps the discrepancy of the units/month is extra production of lenses above the GH1/14-140 bundle?
 

peterv

New member
Thanks Diane, sounds expensive to me. Especially since we'll have to wait and see how it performs wide open at f4. This kind of wide angle would of course be very useful in confined spaces in which there is generally not a lot of light.
 

Diane B

New member
Thanks Diane, sounds expensive to me. Especially since we'll have to wait and see how it performs wide open at f4. This kind of wide angle would of course be very useful in confined spaces in which there is generally not a lot of light.
I'm actually considering the Oly 9-18. With the adaptor and the lens, it will still be several hundred dollars less though it is not f/4 but f/4-5.6. They are basically the same size--actually the 9-18 is 1 oz+ less. I've thought about the difference in FL--I have a 12-24 for my 5D and searched in LR metadata to see how I had been shooting with it. 9mm (FOV of FF of 18mm) would be fine for me I think. Guess I'll just see how good it is---an UWA is still not a lens I will use a great deal of the time--and have several options for my Canons.

Diane
 

jonoslack

Active member
I'm actually considering the Oly 9-18. With the adaptor and the lens, it will still be several hundred dollars less though it is not f/4 but f/4-5.6. They are basically the same size--actually the 9-18 is 1 oz+ less. I've thought about the difference in FL--I have a 12-24 for my 5D and searched in LR metadata to see how I had been shooting with it. 9mm (FOV of FF of 18mm) would be fine for me I think. Guess I'll just see how good it is---an UWA is still not a lens I will use a great deal of the time--and have several options for my Canons.

Diane
Quite right too. I no longer have the G1, but I do have the 9-18, and it's an excellent little lens - sharp, quick to focus and nice to use. Obviously it'd be nice to have the consistent aperture, but not vital, and going up to 36 equivalent is useful too.
 

woodmancy

Subscriber Member
I'm actually considering the Oly 9-18. With the adaptor and the lens, it will still be several hundred dollars less though it is not f/4 but f/4-5.6. They are basically the same size--actually the 9-18 is 1 oz+ less. I've thought about the difference in FL--I have a 12-24 for my 5D and searched in LR metadata to see how I had been shooting with it. 9mm (FOV of FF of 18mm) would be fine for me I think. Guess I'll just see how good it is---an UWA is still not a lens I will use a great deal of the time--and have several options for my Canons.

Diane
Diane, you've got me convinced. I'm getting one. This mini review is useful

http://torontowide.blogspot.com/2008/11/user-review-of-olympus-zuiko-9-18mm.html

Keith
 

monza

Active member
The 7-14 is listed as ¥124,950, has anyone seen an official list price for the US market in USD?

The 9-18 is a sharp lens from what I've seen, and definitely less expensive. It does need the 4/3 adapter which makes it bigger and adds to the cost, and it overlaps the kit lens from 14-18 and is slower than the kit lens in that range, too.
 

Jonas

Active member
I recently ordered the ZD9-18 and got it the other day. It is not bad at all. Just as most of my (owned earlier) ZD lenses it works with no quirks.

It is at its best at f/4-5.6 so I leave it set to "wide" open and use the front wheel for exposure compensation only. The contrast focusing AF is a bit slower on the G1 than on the Olympus E series cameras but it is not a problem. The AF assisting function enlarging the viewfinder engages when the focusing ring is turned. It is all very easy to live with (initial impressions of course). I guess I'll make use of the aperture blades in some tricky situations only, like extreme landscape compositions. I mean, focusing at 2m gives a DOF from 0.8 meters to infinity (f/4, 9mm), for example.

The hood is a big bulky plastic piece barely making it into my bag and I will replace it with a short metal screw in hood as soon as possible.

Thinking of some places I use the camera, including vacations, I don't mind the lens to cost a bit less and being easy to replace. It is probably also no drawback that it works on the 4/3 cameras.

I don't really need 9mm that often but 10-11 will come to use. For me it is more interesting that it reaches 18mm. I guess I would find some use for 7mm if I had such a lens but I'm usually not that extreme.

Overlapping the kit lens? Good. I have now placed the kit lens in a drawer and will probably forget about it.

I see the G7-14 as an important lens for the µ4/3 system, looking carefully at the published MTF charts tells me it will be performing pretty close to the ZD7-14 which is one of the best UWA zooms I know of. I'm not surprised over the price. That's Panasonic. Anyone wanting the smallest and widest possible will probably be happy with the lens but for my needs the ZD9-18 will do it.

my cents, whatever a cent is worth today...
 

Diane B

New member
Ah, glad I brought the 9-18 up because it brought a nice conversation about it. I just shoot with an UWA so seldom, but do like to have the option, that I'm not willing to pay the 'big bucks' for the 7-14 I don't think. The other thing that has occurred to me is that if I should ever choose to add the 4/3rds system, it would be nice to have that lens. Might never happen but since the 9-18 doesn't add any weight to the m4/3rds except for the adaptor, it seems like a good choice for me. Now--I have to find a 4/3rds to m4/3rds adaptor. I only know of one place that has them--the Ebay site from Hong Kong I believe. Surely Panasonic must have them in the pipeline somewhere, due to pop up again.

My understanding all along has been that the 20 f/1.7 won't be out until Fall. I do have the nice FD 24 f/2.8 but I'd really love a faster lens in that range and I'd really like it before Fall.

Diane
 

woodmancy

Subscriber Member
The 7-14 is listed as ¥124,950, has anyone seen an official list price for the US market in USD?

The 9-18 is a sharp lens from what I've seen, and definitely less expensive. It does need the 4/3 adapter which makes it bigger and adds to the cost, and it overlaps the kit lens from 14-18 and is slower than the kit lens in that range, too.
But that 9mm makes a big difference, and from the results I've seen it controls distortion very well. Going out to 36mm equivalent gives it a nice range for street shooting.
I need to get the adapter anyway :)
 

jonoslack

Active member
The other thing that has occurred to me is that if I should ever choose to add the 4/3rds system, it would be nice to have that lens. Might never happen but since the 9-18 doesn't add any weight to the m4/3rds except for the adaptor, it seems like a good choice for me.
Exactly - and wouldn't a weatherproofed E620 be an attractive proposition!
 

Diane B

New member
Exactly - and wouldn't a weatherproofed E620 be an attractive proposition!
Ah, Jono, what can I say LOL!?! I do remember back to that wonderful Oly color and how much I liked my old E10. I'll never say never--though I do like shooting FF and its output, but I'm more open to another system these days. Gosh, I'm even planning to sell a few EF lenses LOL.

Diane
 
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