(FT3) Panasonic 7-28mm wide angle lens coming???
We know around four lenses are expected to be shown by Panasonic at Photokina. One is the tele prime lens, another one is the long awaited 35-100mm X zoom. A source sent us some info about another wide angle zoom. The rumor hasn’t been confirmed by trusted sources but I hope they are reading this post and can confirm the validity of it 
This rumor comes via one of my trusted sources. He knows for sure (so he says) that Panasonic has a 7-28mm prototype lens. But he doesn’t know yet if this is the wide angle zoom lens that is coming in one month from now right before the Photokina show. In Full Frame terms this is a 14-56mm lens. A quite weird range but perfect for wide angle shooter.
Now we have to find out the info about the fourth lens…
Rumors classification explained (FT= FourThirds):
FT1=1-20% chance the rumor is correct
FT2=21-40% chance the rumor is correct
FT3=41-60% chance the rumor is correct
FT4=61-80% chance the rumor is correct
FT5=81-99% chance the rumor is correct
B2
10 months ago |Isn’t it 14-56mm Admin instead of 14-36mm?
admin
10 months ago |Corrected!
David
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At Buydig.com ; posted 3 hours ago
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http://www.dealigg.com/out.php?id=1082252
Duarte Bruno
10 months ago |There are Contact and Share Rumor buttons on the right panel in this site.
That’s what most people use.
Aeys
10 months ago |for 7-28mm, it will be 14-56mm (35equiv) which if it is true, it will be one of the range that photographer will love to have. (depends on a lot more factors: F-stop, lens size/weight, price, sharpness, etc.)
I think the range is too good to be true
Peppone
10 months ago |yes! too good to be true!!
Stevey
10 months ago |Typo ? 7-18 seems more likely….
Coco
10 months ago |Agreed, Panasonic are not world leaders in optical design.
TheEye
10 months ago |Hmm, that’s quite the range. Even a 7-14 mm 2x zoom would work for me. I hope it won’t be another fair weather lens with f/5.6 max at the long end…
MJr
10 months ago |Well good news, a 7-14mm F4 is here already !
TheEye
10 months ago |It’s high time for a new version!
E-1
10 months ago |Why? Mine works excellent.
TheEye
10 months ago |I was being cynical!
Jordan S. (Admiring Light)
10 months ago |It’s only been out for 3.5 years, and it’s one of the best lenses available for m4/3. There is essentially nothing that needs to be changed on the 7-14.
Vastloper
10 months ago |Well, I would never mind if it was faster or if quality and price is about the same but you get this extended range. As long as it still is compact.
It really depends on the details, zoom range alone doesn’t let me decide if I want it or not.
theDA
10 months ago |filter threads
twoomy
10 months ago |I love the existing 7-14mm, but it could be just a wee bit sharper. And of course with filter threads, but at that ultra-wide angle, I understand why it’s like this (similar to the Nikon 14-24mm).
I’d much rather see an updated Oly 9-18mm — not as wide, takes filters, but the Oly lens could use improved sharpness, especially in the corners.
ey20
10 months ago |Actually, it really needs to be released in some random shade of “silver”. No one here likes black lenses, so … uh, oh, wait a minute…
Or maybe it just needs better strap lugs. Yeah, that’s it.
TheEye
10 months ago |I mostly agree (See my reply above where I stated that I was being cynical). I am however not a fan of the spherical front element, which prohibits the use of a protective filter. Considering that I shoot a lot around sand and seawater spray, an unprotected front element is not to my liking.
Also, for me, a 9 or 10 mm to 14 mm zoom would do just fine. Such a lens could be fast and relatively small. A 10-50 would be an ideal all-arounder for me.
Chez Wimpy
10 months ago |There are no 14mm equivalent lenses with filter threads regardless of mount. If you need a “protective” filter, and can work with 9mm, you already have the solution from Olympus.
Esa Tuunanen
10 months ago |These guys without grasp from reality would clearly demand filter thread also in this:
http://www.petapixel.com/2012/05/08/160000-nikkor-6mm-fisheye-in-action-on-a-nikon-d800/
Sqweezy
10 months ago |Here’s what the next version could be:
7-14mm range (or perhaps 6-12mm), with constant f/2.8, power O.I.S, and weather sealed! It would be the next iteration of the X line and complement the 12-35mm and 35-100mm perfectly!
From there, all that’s missing is the next version of 100-300mm with f/2.8!
Guest
10 months ago |Wow that is fucking crazy. There is no way that they can make that lens and still have good F-stop and sharpness.
7mm is too hard to make.
If they _DO_ make this lens.. it will be at least $3000
A more realistic lens would be 12-35mm f2.8
Oh wait, they’ve already made that!
TheEye
10 months ago |I’m hoping for a 10-50 f/2.0-2.8. Not gonna happen!
twoomy
10 months ago |I agree… that range (ultra wide angle to 28mm) is fucking nuts. Sounds like a fantasy or it sounds really really big or like it’s compromised image quality.
physica
10 months ago |If it’s equiv. to FF’s 16-35 , then the lens should be 7-18 is it? 7-28 is equiv. to 14-56mm….. =口=….
christiangrevstad
10 months ago |7-28 f/4-5.6 would be interesting. Big question is price..
Christian
http://www.flickr.com/photos/purecinema
m9-18 it fights with
10 months ago |So we should expect $699 (according to B&H) and 2-3 pixels CA on Olympus bodies.
@Admin any news on 35-100X price and delievery?
Me v
10 months ago |Yeah, right… Also to be announced is a 3,5mm-90mm f0.8!
sneye
10 months ago |Weird? It’s much more than that. A lens like this would be either huge or very low quality with need of massive software corrections. It may be enough for amateur video though. Perhaps what your source has seen is an early prototype using a whole new technology (liquid lenses?).
Farrukh
10 months ago |Now THIS is a lens I would buy!
Vastloper
10 months ago |Even if it’s f12, manual focus, costs $8000, is 8 feet long and 2 feet diameter and the focal range starts at 5 miles?
Dummy00001
10 months ago |+1
Peter
10 months ago |If it sounds to good to be true……..
Isn’t this a lens for a small sensor camera?
Duarte Bruno
10 months ago |@admin : You keep forgetting that there is a 40-150mm coming from Panasonic!
CuriousBenjamin
10 months ago |Interesting. I think it would cannibalise 7-14 sales. 7-28 has a much more useful FL so most will prefer that. If its going to be cheaper than 7-14, then it will for sure eat up the sales of 7-14. If its more expensive, it becomes a more of a specialist lens for advanced users. Considering they just made 12-35 (which itself is quite expensive), I doubt if this lens will ever see the light of the day. I think for high quality lens, each company (Pana and Oly) will not overlap the FL as far as possible.
Henrik
10 months ago |7-28 is way too extreme. It will be too bulky, too expensive, too dark, too bad, too unstabilized, too un-befilterable, whatever.
As usual, Pana’s on the wrong track, very reliably so. Pana, please try to spell:
p. r. i. m. e.
And now:
9. m. m. p. r. i. m. e.
Once you got it, we learn “9 mm prime stabilized”. But there’s way to go.
spam
10 months ago |7-28 would be an extremely versatile lens covering wide angle to normal/shortish portrait. IMO Pansonic need more good quality zooms now that entry level is pretty well covered. Primes are nice, but they are starting to get a pretty good selection and primes are a niche market.
I’d like to see the 20mm F1.7 upgraded with faster focus, but except for that I hope they continue to launch good quality zoomlenses. 12-35 and 35-100 is a start, but they also need a wider range normal zoom and a good quality telezoom. The 7-14 is one of the better mFT-lenses and takes care of the wide angle segment.
jules
10 months ago |its ft3, before anyone can even accuse Panasonic of working on the wrong track.
pfeddeh
10 months ago |+1 for the 9mm prime. But please do not make it stabilized but rather as small as possible.
twoomy
10 months ago |Forget about this crazy rumor lens for a second. Pany’s on the wrong track by starting to release high-end zooms? Non-sense! Between Pany and Oly, we have high-end primes coming out our arse for m43! We need more high-end zooms! (Not low-grade kit zooms — I think we have all we need there.)
A high-end normal zoom (12-35), a high-end tele (35-100), and a high-end ultra-wide (7-14 replacement?) and you have the “trinity” to compete with Nikon.
leonedolci
10 months ago |if 7-28mm was real, I would jump back to M43 right away.
I am in searching for a UW to mid-range zoom for my trekking trip. with that 7-28, I finally settle on one lens.
ulli
10 months ago |maybe with ceramic lenses?
will
10 months ago |…another joke: do you speak of transparent Ceramic Lenses;-)))???
ulli
10 months ago |not a joke,i was just commenting on the expected big size,ceramic lenses,becasue of higher refractive index, could decrease size around 20 %
Miroslav
10 months ago |Strange. I think 28mm has to be a typo. Although, Panasonic has surprised in the past ( the only sub F2 pancake, pancake 3x zoom,… ), so why not again?
Miroslav
10 months ago |Or maybe it’s a lens for Pentax Q
?
Camaman
10 months ago |18 or 21mm sound more rasonable on the long end.
This one sounds to goot to be true and remain bright and sharp as we would like a landscape lens to be.
Gw
10 months ago |Could it just be a revised 7-14 and the rumor accidentally merged the actual and equivalent focal lengths 7-14 eq 14-28 somehow became 7-28?!
twoomy
10 months ago |That’s a pretty good theory!
Fred
10 months ago |I thought exactly the same. I think thats what is going to be released is a cheaper, variable aperture, of the 7-14mm.
Chez Wimpy
10 months ago |You are exactly right. A “28mm” ending point makes no sense starting from 7mm (people would be happy with 25mm since that gets you “14-50,” where every extra mm is a quality war with these specifications). The 28 is a misread of the 14mm equivalence. I am still seriously considering the original 7-14 for the EM5, but it would take better IQ, or at least a lower price, to get me excited for its replacement.
Cristián
10 months ago |::::::::: 7-28mm :::::::::::
YES!!! PLEAEAEAEASE and with a filter thread (for grads, etc.)!!!!
Soeren Engelbrecht
10 months ago |I could probably do most of my travel photography with a 12-24/3.5 pancake.
YeahYeah
10 months ago |Come on! It’s obviously a typo and source meant 7-18, eq. 14-36, which seems much more reasonable. A nice upgrade to the current 7-14. Will it be OIS and will they keep the F/4 aperture all across the range? That’s the question.
jeffharris
10 months ago |I LOVE my 7-14mm and a 7-28mm would ONLY be a good upgrade from the 7-14mm if it were optically superior. It’s doubtful.
The 7-14mm was one of the main reasons I bought into the M4/3 system! The other two reasons? The GH2 and Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f0.95.
rds
10 months ago |A new wide zoom wouldn’t surprise me but it’s not going to be 7-28mm, even a layman can see that’s unrealistic.
jamez
10 months ago |If a 7-28 were to be released and be optically good enough it would be amazing!
It will be THE reason to buy a m43 camera for me and many other dslr users.
I’ll just have to be sharp enough, fast enough and compact enough!
A 4x zoom isnt that unusual!
Just look at the Sony RX100 with 10.4-37.1mm lens (3.5x). And its sensor isnt that much smaller than m43. Still, camera WITH lens is only 213grams.
Jorginho
10 months ago |So nice we know it is not going to happen.
Kylberg
10 months ago |Very interesting street photo range! But, as many above points out, questions about speed, bulk, weight, IQ and price remains to be answered.
Looking at new types of competition (Sony RX100) I would like a m43 compact zoom with high IQ,. Pana did the X kit zoom, but that has lower IQ than other m43 kit zooms. So much for the X factor….
I will by a RX100 and am not sure about my future in mirrorless. The rumored NEX-6 looks a very strong alternative – as would a similar Oly/Pana. To that a neat HQ zoom. The 12-35 is a bit big and expensive, but great.
Jordan S. (Admiring Light)
10 months ago |Not quite sure why there’s this emphasis on releasing lenses similar to what is already out there. Sure, having an ultra-wide to normal lens would be nice, but we already have a 7mm zoom. And the 45-150 before that…um, we’ve got the slow telephoto zoom covered. What we don’t have is any fast long glass. At all. How about a 150 f/2.5 or a 200mm f/2.8? These would be great to add to the system natively, and right now, I have to rely on adapted manual focus lenses for these lengths when I need some speed.
johnny Pink
10 months ago |Perfectly aggree with jordan S. , so many wide angle zoom already available and not a single fast lens ( 200 2.8/4.0 ) , the m43 should be the king of tele because of its 2x crop factor.
avds
10 months ago |A good 7-28 would probably be huge and immensely expensive. I’m sure it’s a typo and maybe a 7-18 was meant. But range is pretty much nothing without more specs any way, such as brightness, size and price. Oh, and color, of course, since Olympus habit of releasing silver-only lenses caused so much stir lately
LEPIDI
10 months ago |What a strange range…
David
10 months ago |If they built that lens, and the build quality and image quality were good, I would switch to m4/3. I’d also be happy with 7-18mm .
I don’t think it’s that strange a range. It’s atypical, but not strange. I like to shoot wide angle, and normal. This lens would give me both. Every other zoom doesn’t start wide enough, or goes so long that size/IQ are compromised. If they could make this lens about the size of the current 12-35mm, which admittedly seems unlikely, I would be totally sold.
Eric
10 months ago |How hard can it be to make a 9 or 10mm prime? I just want a good, sharp f3.5 or f4 prime lens. I don’t want to pay $700+ for a wide angle zoom when all I want is a prime!
pfeddeh
10 months ago |+1
BOBAK
10 months ago |+2
CedricL
10 months ago |+1 again
But f2.8
Tom Ø.
10 months ago |When I saw the title I said: oohhh … lensgasm … But it is of course an impossible lens
Jon Villa Photo
10 months ago |They should just do a 12-24 f4 or 16-35 f2.8 equivalent instead of such a weird focal length. I’m actually guessing the long end is 28 equivalent and they made a typo maybe? So it’s actually a 7-14? That would seem to make more sense.
Jedd
10 months ago |Existing 7-14mm is an excellent lens.
I’d only change it for an ultra wide prime – 7mm or 8mm.
Anonymous
10 months ago |I don’t believe a second this focl range…
awaler
10 months ago |7-28 sounds like utter nonsense.
How can this be FT3, dear admin?
admin
10 months ago |Ask my source not me
admin
10 months ago |I remember when I posted the rumor about the E-P2 coming 6 months after the E-P1 release. So many told me I was an Idiot
And than it came for real…sometimes non sense rumor do become true.
awaler
10 months ago |Of course you can find lots of examples for strangely timed product releases, so strange that it is hard to believe they were done.
But please give us an example of a fourfold zoom in the wideangle range going as wide as 14mm (full frame equiv fov). Even the Lumix LX5 lens (24-90 mm equiv) is miles away.
Frank
10 months ago |Count me in for that lens. Would buy it immediately. But i would be in for any UWL.
Mungo
10 months ago |I would totally get that if f-stop was ok, that means at least f/4 for the whole range. But it is not going to happen. I agree with others that there might be a typo, 7-18 seems much more plausible. Even that sounds almost too good…