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(FT5) First picture of the new 14-42mm lens
Click on picture to enlarge
Panasonic will launch a new Kit-zoom the 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6! I don’t know why they have choosen to replace the actual Panasonic 14-45mm Lens!
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> I don’t know why they have choosen to replace the actual
> Panasonic 14-45mm Lens!
The answer should be pretty simple: because they need full support of video. Like the 14-140 already has.
I think the answer is even more simple- they wanted a cheaper lens, which this will be.
Didn’t the 14-45 support continuous AF ?
I’m disappointed they did not enlarge the opening, still 3.5 :/
do you know if the size is smaller? that could be a good reason too if that was true
The 14-45 already supports continuous AF with 720p recording.
Front element seems smaller, so all lens elements are likely will be a bit smaller.
It will make lens more chaep for sure, other cost shaving measures are very likely.
No physical switches – everything via camera UI – is very likely too.
Plastic bayonet maybe.
However big chances that optical design would be nearly same, just these 3 mm shaved off.
If you compare the 14-42 with the 14-45, you can see a switch for OIS on the 14-45 while there isn’t one on the 14-42. Removing image stabilization in the lens will certainly lower the cost for ultra low budget users.
Utopium:
I read elsewhere the lens will have OIS, just won’t have the switch. Which (if true) seems sensible to me; it’s not that much trouble to switch it off via software if you put the camera on a tripod, and omitting the switch helps keep costs down.
I see 2 reasons already pointed out by other users:
- Cheaper lens
- Video friendly features
But… they do look cheaper :/
The picture at the top of the page show MEGA O.I.S printed on the lens, you just have to tilt your head slightly to the left to read it…
The 14-42mm should be 30g lighter than the 14-45mm.
Whoops, missed the MEGA OIS label on the front. Still looks like they removed the physical switch so they are doing what they can to keep cost to a minimum.
So this means no in-body O.I.S. on the G2. Too bad, as I was hoping to combine O.I.S. on a G camera with the 20mm pancake.
I hope it is a kit lens option on other models, make the GF1 a bit cheaper. I’m sure most can do without the OIS switch.
Nonsense, IMHO. They risk to confuse customers.
I don’t think 30 grams or a bunch of dollars less can really make the difference. M 4/3 is too young to afford such subtleties. And there are too many lenses missing in the system yet.
Moreover, the plastic bayonet is cheap solution that I wouldn’t see in a system that could reasonebly become, as I already stated in this pages, the Third Millennium Leica M.