(FT5) Leica 25mm f/1.4 costs less than $1000. More compact than the 45mm macro.
Image on top shows the currently only Panasonic-Leica lens for the Micro Four Thirds system, the 45mm f/2.8 macro.
I am still not 100% sure about the final price of the upcoming Panasonic-Leica 25mm f/1.4 but I have two small FT5 info (FT5=almost certainly correct info from trusted sources):
1) The Leica 25mm f/1.4 costs less than $1000. I got this from very good sources. A new source told us the lens will cost somewhere between $800-900 (That’s FT3). I don’t know the price in Europe but I suspect that companies will continue to make the wrong calculation: 1 Dollar = 1 Euro 
A quick price comparison: The Four Thirds Panasonic 25mm f/1.4 price was $1099. ANd the actual price of the Pana-Leica 45mm macro is $800.
2) The Leica 25mm f/1.4 is quite compact although not as compact as the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 (double the length of the 20mm pancake).
If you know the price of the lens in US and in Europe feel free to contact me anonymously by using the contact form on the right sidebar. You can avoid to send me your name and email address. it also doesn’t store your IP address. Thanks for every info you can share! 
Reminder: The Panasonic 25mm f/1.4 Four Thirds lens has been officially discontinued. You can still find some of them on eBay (Click here).
Reminder -> 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
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Comment from juavel: This f1.4 should cost no more than a reg...- Comment from juavel: You are wrong, that rule applies to the ...
Comment from blastingmill: I don't think the crop factor applies to...- Comment from blastingmill: Comparing the prices of the Panasonic Lu...
CRB
12 months ago |Great…now all we need is that the new sensor from OLY has to be great…
frosti7
12 months ago |Double the length of 20mm? Sounds good enough to me!
just as long as it not longer,
what are the chances for it to have OIS? (for video)
NiKo
12 months ago |The more I use my Voigt f/0.95, the more I think f/1.4 is definitely not enough for m43.
CRB
12 months ago |why?
NiKo
12 months ago |Well, it’s first about speed. I shoot a lot in low light conditions, and even the performance of the e-pl2 is quite acceptable at ISO 1600, it’s not at all at 3200, so the larger you can open while shooting fast to avoid motion blur, the less you’ll need to increase ISO to grab photons.
Much more secondarily, as you may know f/0.95 on a 4/3 sensor equals f/1.9 on a FF one, so if your thing is playing with shallow DOF to create moody blurry contexts in your shots, keep in mind that having f/1.4 will “only” bring you the equivalent DOF of what you get at f/2.8 on a FF camera (I’m mostly talking about short/medium focal ranges like the 50mm FF eq. of the lenses mentioned here.)
Well all in all that’s just matter of personal taste and use cases, of course.
frosti7
12 months ago |I’ve read some articles that claim (including DXO) that the smaller the sensor, the less benefit it would gain from larger aperture,
Infact based on those articles you would not see a difference between f1.4 & 0.95, also, dont forget that u will gain AF&Compact size at almost the same price,
I think its a winner, except for the price
Ulli
12 months ago |I don’t know about those articles, but i remember something about lesser gain in those extra stop(s)
I don’t use my Nokton for speed but for the way how it renders oof areas;
at f2.0 its standard smooth while at f1.1 it renders funky bokeh. It doesn’t matter if the sensor is 4/3 you still have the characteristics of the optical construction.
Do
12 months ago |Here is the DXO-article:
http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Our-publications/DxOMark-Insights/F-stop-blues
Ulli
12 months ago |The article only concentrates on one aspect of faster lenses, and concludes there is no real benefit for smaller sensors. This is an opinion based on steril scientific approach. They leftout things like the special effect an extreme fast lens can give at (near)open aperture, wether or not caused by imperfections like abberations or non spherical glass. Not every fast glass user is a speed demon.
Dummy00001
12 months ago |+1
Mr. Reeee
12 months ago |Interesting comment. It’s all about brightness, correct?
Good news that the PL25mm is finally going to arrive. How about some more bright primes!
Anything DXO says, I take with liberal doses of salt.
Still waiting for my Voightländer 25mm.
Stephen at CameraQuest is now saying that he will start shipping the June lens order around July 1st. That’s an estimate.
Thomas
12 months ago |imho the voigtlander is not ideal as an all-day all-purpose lens, because of the high weight and manual focus for snapshots (missed the shot sometimes). not sure if i will hold it, when the leica comes to the shops with less weight, less costs (700-800 EUR i guess) and so called “lightspeed” autofocus on the gh2/g3. high quality open aperture on 1.4 will be sure, after all it wears the leica brand…
but if you need even more light and even more bokeh… there will be no alternative to the sexy nokton
thomas
Björn Utpott
12 months ago |I agree, Thomas. I’ve sold my Voigtlander Nokton for exactly those reasons. Reluctantly, I might add as it produced wonderful images. Like you, I found it too heavy as a general purpose prime and the lack of AF was a pain in some circumstances. If the Pana-Leica 25/1.4 produces decent images wide open, then it will replace the Nokton. I also suspect it will focus more quickly than the 20/1.7 which is currently my most used lens.
KL32
12 months ago |I agree with you NiKo.
Diti
12 months ago |You know, the “one dollar equals one euro” thing has little to do with companies’ choices. When US products are imported, you have to pay transportation (shipping), aaaaand… THIS STUPID 19.6% EUROPEAN VAT. :/
European people should be mad at the European Community, not at the companies.
admin
12 months ago |That alone doesn’t explain the 45% difference!
frosti7
12 months ago |Admin, i belive that they think that a European will buy it if its good, while the US citizen would buy it if its cheap+if his friends got it too.
Besides, therotically the US is a bigger market (although, not true for CSC)
MJr
12 months ago |“buy it if its cheap+if his friends got it too.”
lol that is so USA. Here (NL) they like tests and reviews for everything always, online, on tv, magazines, and listen to it blindly. Not me obviously
henrik
12 months ago |Yes, we pay high taxes, but we get benefits also, including a generally peaceful atmosphere on the street (at least in my neck of the EU) and relatively reasonable health and education institutions. It’s not everywhere like that. I feel that i get something back for my taxes and i don’t advocate cutting them down drastically.
Dummy00001
12 months ago |To me personally, better customer protection alone is worth the price difference. E.g. in Germany, I can return defective ware 2 years after purchase.
Schneider
12 months ago |Yeah. Health care and education “industries” suck here in the US. Too many nutbags and fatcats don’t want to pay their fair share of taxes. So your VAT is not all bad.
JeremyT
12 months ago |Good news on size, bad news on price. $800-$900 is just crazy expensive for a fast normal prime.
I’m in a pickle, because I have the four thirds 25mm and still have a four thirds DSLR. No way can I justify owning both, but the major size advantage of the µ4/3 version is quite compelling. Hmm…
I kinda wish this lens didn’t have the Leica branding, then maybe it would be more affordable. Hopefully Olympus will put out a slightly slower, slightly smaller normal with a more reasonable price; until then, the 20mm pancake is the closest thing to an affordable fast normal we have.
Mr. Reeee
12 months ago |$800 or $900 seems pretty steep. If has IQ that’s as good or (hopefully) better than the 20mm f1.7 it should sell well.
Looking at B&H prices there are only a few cheap 25mm C mount lenses and that’s it. The closest I coul find were a couple of Nikon and Leica 24mm lenses: Nikon for $2000, Leica for $6500. Both are quite large. So, $900 for a small, native M4/3 lens doesn’t look so bad.
Olympus seems to specialize in lower quality M4/3 lenses.
MJr
12 months ago |Obviously ‘price’ is not one of the advantages of m43 these days. For any of the brands. Sadly. :-/
NativeFloridian
12 months ago |I hope that everyone on this forum who has been requesting this high quality “normal” prime puts their money where there mouth is. See lens poll results: http://www.43rumors.com/micro-four-thirds-lens-poll-evaluation/
I hope the new high quality fast 12mm also sells well. Unfortunately, I doubt either will sell well priced above $600. I hope I’m wrong.
BTW, I didn’t vote for either of theses lenses (I’m waiting for the portrait lens)… they are both too close to a duplication of the 20mm f1.7 for me. But, I hope there is support for high quality m43 offerings.
Schneider
12 months ago |Maybe they were voting for the 25mm lens not the Leica markup.
For that price, they better put a nice red dot on the lens barrel (bet they won’t, though.)
Bu
12 months ago |Price it less than $500 and I’ll get one
TempTag
12 months ago |Any word on an aperture ring? (not likely I guess but would be nice…)
frank
12 months ago |For this price, it had better be perfect from f1.4 on, otherwise no-one will switch from the 20/1.7 which is excellent at 1/3rd the price and 1/2 the size. Best thing about the 20/1.7 is that the quality starts wide open at 1.7. My old Canon FD 50/1.2L lens doesn’t even begin to be as good as the 20/1.7 untill about f4. Objectively I think this new 25/1.4 can never be so much better than the 20/1.7 as to make buying it a rational decision.
frosti7
12 months ago |The canon List price of 50mm f1.4 is 640$, while on the streets it sellls for 450$, perhaps the PL25 woudl sell for 650 or so, then itll be worth it
omox
12 months ago |Nikon Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.8 G FX will costs +/- 200€ it is quite good lens as far as I know.
http://www.photozone.de/nikon_ff/631-nikkorafs5018ff
Two points are relevant for me:
1. 50mm full frame lens has the same angle of view on full frame body as 25 mm lens for MFT, the perspective is of course different (in favour of 50mm in my opinion) as with the same diagonal angle of view (the same distance between camera and photographed object) photographer gets better control over DOF with the lens with longer focal length and mentioned above aperture) and for portraiture and most everyday shots 50mm perspective is very very optimal. However I must admit that I love to shoot with my 20 mm f/1,7 from Panasonic, but it is still only 300€ lens…
2. According to DOF and bokeh/background blur f/1,4 on 25 mm MFT lens gives you the same DOF as 50mm f/2,8 on full frame body.
Conclusion :
MFT is definitely not a budget system, deciding to go into it requires quite fat wallet. We’ll paying premium for the new system. Anyways 800€ for prime lens – equivalent of full frame 50 mm f/2,8 is a nonsense. I’ll stick with 20 mm f/1,7.
I’m waiting now for 12-50 (60)mm fast video optimized zoom from panasonic, I can pay high price because, if it is of high quality, it will be so universal that buying anything else from this focal range will be of no sense.
Jules
12 months ago |Speaking of budget system, lets talk FF. How much EU does a D700 costs packed with a couple of basic Fx VR zooms, say to cover 28-400 range…? Yes, the range covered by the basic m43 OIS kit lenses.
Basic zooms. No f2.8 monsters, no f-constant: your typical f4/f5.6 range.
And if you want to compare to the GH-2, than lets upgrade to a D3x!
If you don’t want to pay a lot, get a compact camera and enjoy it. In a world that is not that FF-centric, m43 is not *that* expensive. Photography just ain’t a cheap hobby.
omox
12 months ago |I don’t want to discredit MFT system, and I don’t talk about bodies but lenses, I own several MFT lenses 7-14mm for instance which is not cheap but delivers great and unique quality and I’m willing to pay extra for such features. But it is wise to think what you get for the price you paid. In that case 25mm f/1,4 is too expensive no matter how big the red dot of the branding is on it or what IQ you get. There is nothing special in it, as far as I know, to pay 4 times extra for. Just compare to what others offer. I won’t buy it, maybe you will.
Jules
12 months ago |Fair enough
But I still think it is utterly unfair to compare those lens to FF equivalents. Ultimately, it is about the IQ they deliver, the ease of use and the use they are put to.
omox
12 months ago |You’re right but anyways competition delivers more for less… that is my point in all this writing. I have really high hopes about rumored 12-50 fast video optuimized zoom. And I hope Pansaonic fulfill it.
fta
12 months ago |So if I put $50 aside every week, I can buy myself a nice Christmas gift
crosses fingers… please be a sharp lens.. please be a sharp lens.. please be a sharp lens..
Duarte Bruno
12 months ago |I don’t get it, how many people will buy that lens at that price?
I’ve got a Konica Hexanon 57mm F1.2 that will get 5x thinner DOF (that would only be true if you put framing aside of course) and it cost me 200€. It’s as sharp as a razor from 1.5 onwards and wide open it gives a bokeh that is second to very few lenses ever built.
Why on earth would I get the 25 F1.4?
I know some people are crazy about AF but m43 is the best tool available ATM for MF and there is an old world of wonderful legacy to rediscover…
Stopkidding
12 months ago |I have the same lens! and I concur!
, but I also have the 4/3s PL25, and these two are my absolute favorite lenses for the system 
omox
12 months ago |For the same reasons I have bougth Hexanon 50mm f/1.7 lately (couldn’t wait for native portrait lens for MFT). The pictures are razor sharp, I’m shocked! There is no aberration, no purple fringing, bokeh is extremly smooth… Build quality superb. It is the lens from the 80′s or something… I paid 25€ for it + 22$ for adapter. Yes… there is no AF which I miss but what the price!!!
I’m thinking now of removing the ball in aperture ring to get smooth aperture transition for filming.
Jules
12 months ago |So where is the “its just a 2.8/50, FF has natural low light advantage” comment ?!?
Mr. Reeee
12 months ago |+1
ROFLMMFAO!
James
12 months ago |I have a GH2 with 14-140 and 20/1.7, but find myself lusting after the 25/1.4. Hopefully I’m not being led astray by the Leica branding, but the UK price may put me off. The conversion from $s to £s is too often nearly 1:1.
Mr. Reeee
12 months ago |Fly to New York, go to B&H and buy one, plus a few other goodies. Bring a few “extras” home to sell. What you save will pay for the trip.
Jason
12 months ago |The Leica lens, if anything like the original, should be excellent, even wide open. The Nokton is not even necessary if most cases, plus it is almost unusable wide open. And no automatic focus….that sucks…because the Leica can, focus both manually and automatically.
DonTom
12 months ago |It’s a real bonus to have the Leica branding, because (AFAIK) they won’t allow software corrections for optical issues like CA etc, so it should work just as well on an Olympus.
DonTom
12 months ago |Well…I have about $1000 burning a hole in my pocket, and it’s going to stay there until the middle of September. I’m going to be in a right old bind by then! 25/1.4, 25/0.95, new PEN if it has an EVF, fast portrait lens from Olly…..I think I’ll run with the fast portrait, if it’s F1.4 or better!
Dana Curtis Kincaid
12 months ago |Oh good god! Decent 50mm manual focus lenses for full frame 35mm cameras used to be basically free and start at F2.
Good grief. Get a lightly used Contax G 28mm, stick a manual focus adapter on it, and put it on your P2 or GH2 or whatever. A grand for a 25mm half-frame lens is… Let’s just say, there’s one born every minute.
Mr. Reeee
12 months ago |Sure there are lots of 28mm f2.8 lenses out there. But they’re f2.8, NOT f1.4.
The vast majority of adapted lenses will NOT auto-focus and they tend to be large and heavy.
For the majority of M4/3 users, lured to the system by smaller and lighter gear, that’s a critical difference!
omox
12 months ago |Actually my Hexanon 50 mm f/1.7 with the adapter is of the same size as 45mm f/2,8 Macro Elmarit MFT Leica or even slightly smaller, yes it doesn’t autofocus but it covers FF, has no vigneting and is much brighter, not to mention the price difference. (I compare these two lenses only because of similar focal length so it gives an overview on dimensions of FF vs MFT lenses.)
MFT system is definitely for me but the latest pricing of the lenses is crazy.
Mr. Reeee
12 months ago |Speaking of manual lenses, I have a Pentax 50mm f1.4 SMC Takumar that’s wonderful. Sharp, great colors, and quite small, even factoring in the extra 1″ length that the M42 to M4/3 adaptor adds. It’s probably my favorite lens next to the 7-14mm and Nikon 60mm f2.8D macro.
Still, it’s the equivalent of 100mm on my GH2, which I actually like a lot for street shooting but is simply too long for a lot of other things. The Voightländer 25mm will suit me just fine and I’ll most likely get a Voightländer 35mm f1.4 to fill the gap between the 25mm and 50mm.
The rare times I want auto-focus, I’ll use the 20mm f1.7, 7-14mm or even the 14-140mm.
omox
12 months ago |Voigtlanders are beautiful, I don’t have any of them but I imagine it must be real pleasure to use them.
Greetings
MrL
12 months ago |1000€? well, i rather buy a used 40d and 50mm 1.4, plus extra stuff.
David
12 months ago |I think you miss the point of m4/3. A 40d with a 50mm is positively huge by comparison. If the size difference isn’t worth the money to you, fine, but for me it is.
Ulli
12 months ago |if you see how much a lumix 20 1.7 costs, i am not surprised with the expected price for this upcoming 25 1.4
I just hope its goin to be a very good one.
frank
12 months ago |if you see the performance of the 20/1.7 I am surprised that they are aiming to sell a lens slightly different at 3 times the price
I just hope they do not discontinue the 20/1.7 because it is too good compared to the 25/1.4 at 1/3rd of the price
Jason
12 months ago |I doubt they’ll discontinue the 20 mm anytime soon, especially considering it is one of the few good lens for the MFT system so far…
Dana Curtis Kincaid
12 months ago |Look. Oly. Panasonic. Leica. You manufacturers. An F2 set of 21, 45, 90 equivalent primes with LOW DISTORTION priced in the mid three figures ranges (500-600 dollars) would be nice. The AF does not have to be the fastest. But after the Four Thirds debacle I’ll be damned if I will spend a grand on any lenses by y’all for this sensor format without better sensor performance and some inkling that you won’t just throw the format away next year be ause your marketing sucks and you can’t sell them anywhere but the Internet.
Better sensors! Optical finders (not TV screens)!
Back to Lurk Mode. TTFN
Dummy00001
12 months ago |> But after the Four Thirds debacle …
… a decision slowly forming in my head that my next camera will not bear Oly or Pana brand on it.
> Better sensors!
GH2 and G3 are almost there. Admittedly, IQ of both already suffice to me.
> Optical finders (not TV screens)!
We can dream, yes?
omox
12 months ago |My sentiments exactly!
+1
David
12 months ago |I still find it funny that people come on this site and say things like:
“You can get a APSC and 50mm f/1.4 for less money” or
“You can get a legacy lens for $100″
Yes, those are true statements, but you are comparing apples and oranges, which is pretty pointless.
Peter
12 months ago |It’s always gonna be apples and oranges.
But at the same time, they’re both fruits… 25mm f/1.4 on MFT has roughly the same DOF of 35mm f/2 on APS-C, has roughly the same DOF on 50mm f/2.8 full-frame. Compared to full-frame, APS-C will have 1 stop faster shutter speed and MFT 2 stops (with same DOF). Because of the larger sensors increasing ISO will probably (conjecture) allow each system to end up with the same final image quality at equivalent aperture (DOF) and equal shutterspeeds but different ISO. Which leaves a size/weight advantage to MFT and advantage for even less DOF for the bigger sensors (if so desired).
So yeah, I do think 800 euro is a lot of money for such a lens, regardless whether it’s an apple or an orange.
For me, as the fresh owner of a 2nd hand (mint condition) GH1 + 14-140mm lens, 800 euro would just be too much. It’s way more than what I paid for the GH1 combo… Even though the 20mm f/1.7 does not have the coveted leica logo, for me (and I dare say most MFT owners) it would be a much more sensible buy.
As to the Leica badge, yes it does come at a price. The question is if MFT owners (in large enough numbers) are willing to pay that premium. Performance of the Leica branded 45mm f/2.8 macro (not a really challenging design) was, according to photozone.de, very good but not stellar. You really _do_ pay for the badge…
Jason
12 months ago |The macro is like comparing apples and oranges, the new lens should be more comparable to the superb 25 mm f/1.4
JeremyT
12 months ago |I agree, if you’re talking APSC 50mm f/1.4 that *is* apples to oranges.
Luckily, it’s quite easy to actually compare apples to apples! All you have to do is look for a 35mm f/2 on an APSC body, which is going to behave almost identically to this thing on a µ4/3 body in terms of low light performance, field of view, and depth of field. Canon makes such a lens (full frame, even) for 400 bucks, probably under half the cost of the Panaleica.
I own the Four Thirds version of the 25mm and, although it’s a good lens, I find its pricing asinine. There’s nothing about it that warrants its price, other than the Leica branding and fact that it has absolutely no viable competition; with µ4/3, we do at least have the Panasonic 20mm as a sanity check.
blastingmill
12 months ago |Comparing the prices of the Panasonic Lumix LX3 with the same exact Leica branded camera will reveal that there is indeed a price premium for the leica badge.
Regardless, I am stoked to see more big-aperture lenses added to the collection.
MikeS
12 months ago |Why are people being so negative about the price? This is a Leica-branded lens. The 4/3 version still goes for around $1000, and 50mm f/2 M lenses cost double that (not to mention the ~$6500 24mm f/1.4), so the fact that this is less than or equal to that price should be good news.
marilyn
12 months ago |agreed
michael
12 months ago |I agree with you, but I think the reason people (including me) are a little sad about this price is that there is no cheaper alternative. I’d rather pay $300 for a decent lens (like Nikon’s 50mm 1.4) than $800 for a near-perfect lens.
This is a serious problem with the lens line-up for both 4/3 and m4/3 — if you want auto-focus, you’re going to pay ridiculous prices for it.
omox
12 months ago |Additionally system still lacks most important lenses in the lineup and we now get pricy 20mm f/1.7 clone.
That is frustrating.
x
12 months ago |agreed
ssj_george
12 months ago |My main setback (and probably the reason I will never buy this lens) is the 25mm f/1.4 specs… I currently own the 20mm f/1.7. How much more am I going to get from a 50mm lens instead of the 40mm that I have now and how much more light am I going to let in from the f/1.4 instead of the f/1.7 that I have now?
Reminding that at 40mm the minimum recommended shutterspeed for shake-free images is 1/focal-length that is 1/40sec.. For 50mm this translates to 1/50sec shutterspeed.. that means that the tiny amount of light that you will gain from the f/1.4 will be cancelled out by the use of at least 1/50mm shutterspeed (Yes I have used 1/30 with a few good results but I also have a lot of bad results as well…). My point of course is the modest increase of focal length and maximum aperture. 35mm f/1.4 or even f/1.2 would really make me think the buy.. 25mm f/1.4 it’s a no-brainer for me. No buy (regardless of price)
blastingmill
12 months ago |I don’t think the crop factor applies to the general minimum shutter speed rule. It’s still a 25mm f1.4 lens, not a 50mm. Crop factor does not effect the optical physics, just the final image size.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but this is my impression.
juavel
12 months ago |You are wrong, that rule applies to the field of view, so yes, crop is considered.
If it would be like that, the olympus XZ1 with its 6-24 1:1.8-2.5 optic would let you shoot at 1/24 with a 112m equivalent focal without stablization.
Rocky
12 months ago |Stop complaining about the price. It’s going to take beautiful pictures.
mk
12 months ago |agreed but hubble takes good pictures too but i don’t see anyone outside of NASA shooting with one. for probably 95% of people price is a major limiting factor.
Schneider
12 months ago |>Stop complaining about the price. It’s going to take beautiful pictures.
No it won’t, sitting on the store shelf, with that hefty price tag weighing it down.
Al Jimenez
12 months ago |In my opinion, Panasonic will sell lots of this lens if it is significantly cheaper than the Manual Nokton 25 that so many people have bought, and so many others desire. I will be one buying this lens if it takes great photos at f1.4, and AF’s quietly, and it is around $600.
Scott
12 months ago |With any system if you want good glass you have to pay for it.
KL32
12 months ago |Not always. The Samsung 30mm f2 and the Panasonic 20mm 1.7 are both great lenses and are very reasonable. Honestly, I think Panasonic wanted to justify jacking up the price on this one and they know the easiest way to do that is to stick the Leica name on it. They’d rather sell a few lenses at a very high price than a lot of lenses at a reasonable price.
mahler
12 months ago |Except that the 1.7/20mm is slower and has slow, loud, non state-of-art AF motor.
If the 1.4/25 PL has the same build quality as the 2.8/45mm macro, it is worth the price. The 45mm has a very smooth and good focus ring, better than the rest of the Lumix G lenses.
Olympius
12 months ago |This lens is definitely going on my wish list as soon as it’s listed on Amazon.com, B&H, etc…
The Panny/Leica 25mm f.1.4 for regular 4/3 is a legendary lens. Now that Panasonic has stupidly stopped making them for the 4/3 mount (which tells you something right there about the future of regular 4/3, hint, hint…) those who do have one are going to make a killing selling it on the used market.
This is fast 25mm EXACTLY the kind of lens that Panny and Oly should have been making from Day One. It’s seems that only Panasonic is getting the drift however, and that is most likely do to their association with Leica to begin with, along with the huge demand they would get from AF-100 users.
Now, if Panasonic would just get around to making a TRUE replacement for the GF1, they could rule the photographic world, no kidding. Leica branded lenses on a micro 4/3 version of the M9 would change the course of history. I exaggerate only slightly.
Of course an optical finder on a micro 4/3 rangefinder is impossible, if not entirely useless, but having an option for a “clip on” EFV, like the Pens, would be good enough, for me anyway.
One thing for sure, Panasonic needs to really milk this Leica relationship for all it’s worth. Start bringing out two Leica branded lenses a year would be a good start. And here’s an idea for the next two: a 12-35 zoom, and 35-100 zoom, both with continuous f.2.8 apertures. They’d be big lenses for micro 4/3, but would satisfy a lot of complaints about the slow zooms that are currently marketed.
Keep it comin’ Panasonic.
Olympius
Scott
12 months ago |Leica is not a lable its a process and quality control. They are making these lenses for the AF 100 not the gh and gf series. The AF-100 users are using the Zeiss glass and its well over 2-3000 per lens. Video is a different ball game because you have to control the lens breathing. You dont have to worry about this with stills.
KL32
12 months ago |I seriously wonder if some of the comments left by people who are happy with the lens and price are left by Panasonic employees. I’m sure there are some “money is no object” folks who are pleased with this but I’ve got to think most people are smart enough to see that Panasonic slapped the Leica name on it so they could charge another $400-$500 for it.
DonTom
12 months ago |Leica likes to make money too, but doesn’t like looking stupid. I think that Panny more likely needed the Leica designers to make a smallish fast lens that doesn’t need software correction for optical issues. And Leica first wanted to see that the system had wheels before putting their name to much of it….that extra money will go to Leica remember!
Schneider
12 months ago |That theory might hold water if Leica actually designed the lens.
Too bad they didn’t. Panasonic did.
DonTom
12 months ago |@Schneider, can you back that up? Not flaming, but everything I have seen (from Leica & Panny) is that the Leica engineers and quality control are onboard if the Leica name is to be used.
Schneider
12 months ago |http://www.43rumors.com/ft5-panaosnic-confirms-the-leica-branded-25mm-f1-4/
Read carefully, then tell me if you see the word “designed” in the statement
DonTom
12 months ago |I don’t think the Admin of this site ever intends rumors to be the definitive statement! Perhaps spend some time on this video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCtOwyLyK6o&feature=player_embedded#at=421 ), where the director of product management for Leica goes a bit deeper into the relationship. Relevant piece starts at 5:03.
Agrivar
12 months ago |Yes.. Leica just audits and checks that the QC is good. And helps Panasonic verify the designs.. for that they stick on the Leica name and charge an extra $500. I’ll stick with my 20mm..
KL32
12 months ago |This is what I suspect Agrivar. Not to say that it won’t be a high quality lens. But it would have been a high quality lens without the Leica branding- and accompanying exorbitant price tag. Panasonic would rather sell a few lenses at a high price than a lot of lenses at a reasonable price. Given their problem producing enough GH2s perhaps this makes sense- they just don’t have the production capacity to make a lot of these lenses. So they decided to slap the Leica name on it and double the price- now they only have to sell half as many to make the same amount.
mahler
12 months ago |You are paranoid, aren’t you?
KL32
12 months ago |Realistic.
KL32
12 months ago |You could be right Don. But I remain skeptical.
arguros
12 months ago |Hi,
I think the price tag of 800$ of more is going to be only justified if the lens is going to be SHARP at f/1.4.
If it gets soft as the Nikon 50 f/1.4 does, I do not see any advantage to own it. If it does get sharp, it will be the only m43 lens in the market which such speed, and as we know we need to pay the price for it
frank
12 months ago |+1
especially since the 20/1.7 is super sharp from 1.7 on, and to me has that special image quality that sticks out again and again
Andy
12 months ago |Build quality is a thing…i have the voigt 25mm f/0.95 (which irregardless of naysayers is phenomenal and does make a BIG different in lowlight shooting and very easy to focus with and sharp even @f0.95) and its built like a tank….it looks and feels expensive.
The Panny lenses are too plasticky and although the optics are superb it would be nice if the leica is built beautifully…it helps justify the price. I have my 20mm f1.7 and my voigt i wont be getting the leica.
juavel
12 months ago |This f1.4 should cost no more than a regular 50 f1.4 on a FF canon or nikon.
I would understand that price it would be a f1.2 max aperture, or at least have 0 vignetting, 0 aberration, loads of resolution and good bokeh.
Hard to meet all those requirements considering that a lens is always a compromise.