Patent: Sigma is ready to launch a 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 Micro Four Thrids lens?
Image on top: The Sigma 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 design
It’s only a matter of months that Sigma will release the very first Micro Four Thirds lens(es). But what kind of lens should we expect? The Japanese blog Egami (Click here) found a new Sigma patent which describes the characteristics of the Sigma 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 Micro Four Thirds lens. It has inner focusing and should have a fast AF design. I am not particularly excited about that lens. We already have an Olympus 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 and a Panasonic 100-300mm f/4-5.6 O.I.S lens. So please Sigma, release some nice fast (possibly pancake) lens first!
P.S.: Links to the current tele-zoom lenses:
Olympus 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
Panasonic 100-300mm f/4-5.6 O.I.S at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
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Comment from Rob. S.: Yawn. If they finally make me switch fro...
Comment from dj: yes--id love that!--small 200mm f3.5 wit...- Comment from dj: wasn't sigma working on a 30mm f2.8 panc...
Comment from zebarnabe: A small telephoto - 200mm or more - prim...
Anonymous
8 months ago |Probably the Oly 75-300 is made by Sigma.
Martin
8 months ago |First of all it is apparently DESIGNED by Sigma, as the patent shows.
reverse stream swimmer
8 months ago |Exactly, this zoom seems to be identical with the launched Olympus tele-zoom. Like the 70-300mm lens for classical Four Thirds that also was made by Sigma. If this is a Sigma design, it makes sense they own the patent.
However, I do like the idea of seeing more of Olympus outsorcing lens design and production, but based on their own specifications of course. The more lenses, the better… given what the customer wants of course.
It also means Olympus could have access to O.I.S. image stabilization technology by Sigma, more suitable for video shooting than the present E.I.S. in the PEN (Electronic Image Satbilization).
So Sigma might be producing products for Micro Four Thirds already, but not under their own brand name.
Similarly, Panasonic outsources development to Leica, and we’ve already seen two launched such products for MFT.
Jim
8 months ago |I have been thinking about the oly video EIS….
I actualy think it might be waaaayyy better than i first thought… and possibly as good as any other solution!!!
Ok well, at first glance I dismissed it and though well I can add EIS using after FX… so its usless…
But after having a think it might be more akin to using after FX stabalization on a HD + 10% image…
As in I bet oly takes in HD+10% then stabalizes and then just records HD…
In effect you will not be resizing the image (enlarging it) to allow for the shake framing… So although you migth well lose a few mm wide angle you do get very effective and perfict quality IS and on any lens! – The Oly EIS works very well, its just you lose some wide, and untill i thought about it, I thought it would lose some IQ… but I bet not!
I will when I can be assed check this on my EP1 by doing some IQ tests with and without IS… (making framing identical)…
anyone confirm this for me so I dont have to bother doing test
mpgxsvcd
8 months ago |At these apertures this lens will be useless. I am sure it will be a well made lens. However, we need fast glass to actually take pictures with.
jake
8 months ago |you are wrong , Pana Leica is not Leica designed lenses , it is just brand name license that Panny buys from Leica ,just like the Sony Fake Zeiss that I have and that does not mean these fake LEICA or Zeiss are bad optically, infact they are quite good optically.
But they are not real Zeiss or Leica design lenses in any way.
It is clearly mentioned in Panny’s corporate site.
Probably those foreigners outside of Japan think Leica , Zeiss or whatever Western optical Legends so so great and they worship for just the names like that , so Panny and Sony use these but that does not do anything with Leica design or Zeiss design.
And dont underestimate Optical engineering of these electronics companies , remember all Panny , Samsung , Sony,etc make DVD ,BDand CD players that require very very high precision optics inside.
Jim
8 months ago |Agree – but more to the point, with modern computer aided lens design I bet panasonic/sony etc can make better glass than the old school precition polishers…. whats in a name?
and b4 i get shot down, I wonder how good a sony £12,000 lens would be, not a consumer lens? I have a feeling it would make old leica glass seem like a blurry CA mess!
YouDidntDidYou
8 months ago |@ Admin
have you seen this http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ceatec-keynote it’s for next week
admin
8 months ago |Thanks! But I don’t think this will be about photography
tom
8 months ago |I’d love to see a compelling telephoto lens in the lineup, but another xx-300 zoom that isn’t bright is pretty uninspired unless they plan on selling them really cheap.
Martin
8 months ago |It looks like it’s not ‘another xx-300′ zoom but the Olympus one in fact.
Anyway, I hope that Panasonic will consider designing a 50(70)-200mm f/2.8-4 ‘X’ lens , comparable to the FT Zuiko 50-200mm in performance, but significantly smaller.
Esa Tuunanen
8 months ago |4/3 tele lenses were never made more complex by heavily retrofocus design for countering very long flange back distance (like wide angles) so there’s very little size reduction you can do except with worser optical quality and lower max aperture, or maybe some very exotic and very expensive optical design.
And for angle/field of view they were already smaller and lighter than those of others DSLRs so what are you complaining?
If you want tiny tele lenses you need tiny sensor just like in compacts or Pentax Q.
Martin
8 months ago |First, I am not complaining, I am just wishing
Second, Oly FT lenses (the SHG lenses in particular) are in fact generally BIGGER than their APSC counterparts (if they exist) in terms of EFFECTIVE brightness – taking the sensor size in account.
Third, I believe (as obviously do Pana & Oly engineers) that lenses can be made a bit smaller when distortion correction is left on software. If you call it worse optical quality, I am fine with that – for me, it is a good enough solution.
So I stand by my opinion that a smaller 50-200 f/2.8-4 can be designed of a reasonable IQ.
Jim
8 months ago |Collapsing lenses will be the way forward (like the 14-42X) but on longer zooms e.g. 70-300 folding down to say only 70mm or so? Judging by the panasonic I don’t think this to be impossible!
Martin
8 months ago |What I mean by ‘smaller’ is ‘lighter’ in fact. In this respect, the lens diameter is more important tan its length. When going out with a camera, I often left the 50-200 Zuiko at home because of its weight (1 kilo).
marsupial2go
8 months ago |Does Sigma realize the M43 system is a 2x crop? For most shooters a 150-600mm lens is niche. Not very useful except for voyeurs.
What M43 lens makers need to develop is the M43 culture. That a 2x crop means smaller lenses, smaller focal lengths, and wider apertures. Hence, a 35-100 (75-200 equivalent) lens can be a lot smaller than a full frame lens.
It was fun using adapters to use lenses made during the Summer of Love, but the graveyard awaits those legacy lenses. M43 needs to develop its own stuff!
Brod1er
8 months ago |I have the Panny 100-300 and whilst it is an extreme FL, it is very useful. It acts as a 200mm f4 equivalent which is great for portraits and tele landscapes/structural shots with bundles of fluffy out of focus/narrow DOF. Throughout the 100-300 range this is a great wildlife lens with the exception that it doesn’t track moving subjects well. Whilst it is big for a mft lens it is still very portable and a good match for the GH/G1/G2 cameras. NB1: don’t use UV filters as they have an especially bad effect on optical performance on this lens. NB2: the lens is affected by shutter vibration and bizarrely this seems to be worse when on a tripod/solid support. I think this is due to the low weight of camera and lens. The good news is you are best going light and leaving the tripod at home which is exactly the ethos of mft. This issue should disappear when the new electronic shutter cameras arrive.
Ageha
8 months ago |It’s a great lens!
Jim
8 months ago |I’de swap my pile of old scool Oly FF for one without a blink!
All my old glass over 135mm is mildly soft and of very low contrast….. sigh… still I can get 1200mm equiv
Bob B.
8 months ago |marsupial….maybe you didn’t see the posts here about the upcoming 2nd generation fast Zoom X lenses from Panasonic. One is a 35-100mm fast aperture zoom (70-200mm equivalent).
Prototypes are already out there….so you may not have to wait very long!
I don’t think we have an f/stop on that lens…but the 12-35mm is an f/2.0 so the 35-100mm should be fast and relatively small for what it is.
http://www.43rumors.com/new-panasonic-12-35mm-and-35-100mm-pictures
Andi
8 months ago |Sure it is not the Olympus lense? Branded by Olympus, build by Sigma!?
Oliver
8 months ago |Hmmmmmm, F4,8-6,7??? Why not F8-11? Or even F16-22? To get sharp images with this lens you will always have to use high ISO.
Michael Meissner
8 months ago |The trouble with an f/8-11 lens is diffraction starts becoming noticeable when you get down to f/8 or so. According to the cambridgeincolour.com calculator (in the digital sensor size tutorial), diffraction begins reducing the sharpness for a 4/3rds or micro 4/3rds camera with a 12MP sensor size at f/8.4 (a 16MP sensor is at f/7.3, and m 5MP E-1 is at f/13.1). Now, this isn’t a hard and fast rule, but more the picture becomes less sharp when you go to smaller apertures or large MP.
Also, I suspect the current auto focus is tuned towards lenses that are f/5.6 or faster, and would struggle to AF with a lens that is at f/11 (AF is always done with the lens wide open, and then the camera steps down the lens to the f/stop you will be shooting at after AF is done).
Oliver
8 months ago |Hi Michael,
I made a joke. I think F4,8-6,7 is difficult enough for getting unwobbled pictures out of a 300mm lens.
The whole world was waiting for an MFT 75-300mm
Thevoiceoverman
8 months ago |Built by Olympus. Branded Sigma? Why would anyone buy the Oly 75-300 when the Pana 100-300 is so much cheaper and better?
This one had better be even cheaper.
Brod1er
8 months ago |Absolutely! Fast prime teles are now the obvious lens gap Sigma should focus on. Unfortunately Sigma have been slow and the lens range from Oly and Panny is filling out nicely with some great new primes from Oly and innovative fast/compact X zooms from Panny. Sigma will have to compete on price grounds which in turn will keep the Panny/Oly prices sensible.
Martin
8 months ago |>Why would anyone buy the Oly 75-300 when the Pana 100-300 is so much cheaper and better?
Two reasons:
1. AFAIK the Panasonic lens is probably optically worse than the Oly, not better (at least 75-300 is sharper).
2. The 75-300 is significantly smaller.
I agree though that the price difference is too big.
Thevoiceoverman
8 months ago |Effectively there’s not much between them optically, though from what I read the Pana edges it. Of course it’s faster than the Oly. And it may be bigger, but it’s not like the Oly fits in a pocket. Unless you need 75mm@f4.8 and you’re desperate to blow an extra £200 I just don’t get it.
Martin
8 months ago |And according to what I SAW, the Olympus is better, especially at the LONG end and in the corners. Of course it is slower, but not that much. I would prefer this lens myself, but definitely not at the current price.
zigi_S
8 months ago |Pana is a very mediocre lens and is no where near the oly lens. Not that the 75-300 particulary good, but the pana is a dog.
Oliver
8 months ago |Why should anyone buy the Oly 75-300 4,8-6,7 when there´s a Sigma 75-300 4,8-6,7? And vice versa.
In a product range full of gaps one should close the gaps – not clone some niche products.
nicwalmsley
8 months ago |Yeah, left wondering what advantage would this lens offer over existing?
Slightly off topic, but what’s the best fast zoom option for m43? An adaptor and four thirds lens?
Brod1er
8 months ago |Wait for the upcoming 12-35 and 35-100 Panasonic X lenses. Probably landing early in new year. Otherwise it’s trad 4/3 lenses only.
Pete
8 months ago |So please Sigma, release some nice……….lens for people, who are not able to spend so much money. I need a lens like the phantastic 1,8/45, but it has to be a 2,8/10 or a 2,8/9 for under 400,-€. And I need a lens like my ft 2,8-3,5/14 to 54. This would be my number one and I would save a few month to pay 500,-€ (sigma) or 650,-€ (olympus) for this.
Anonymous
8 months ago |Sigma , do something special , like 35-100mm F2 or 90mm F1.4 . I sure this will be great lenses to owe ,
EASY
8 months ago |I am interested in such lens, but it all depends on price, AF speed and IQ.
But in the meantime I am covered by Olympus 70-300.
Cheap and cheerful…
Doroga
8 months ago |It is same lens as existing oly 75-300.
Lens diagram is EXACTLY same.
Joel
8 months ago |WOW Sigma, you couldn’t think of anything more inane??
43pr0n
8 months ago |Another lame-o lens. What will they think of next?
Maczon
8 months ago |Well atleast it will be cheaper than Olympus one. Cheapper lenses are always welcome.
3434343434
8 months ago |yeah who cares about quality when he uses m43 anyway…..
Bob B.
8 months ago |Apparently..(after reading the posts above) the Sigma patent is for the existing Olympus SLOW (f/stop) telezoom.
I am not arguing the point..I don’t know…but why would Olympus, a lens designer and manufacturer sub out to Sigma? That might explain the high price. Too many hands in the pot.
Overall I think it is good for 3rd parties to produce lenses for MFT it broadens the system and makes it bigger, with more choices. As mentioned above..the obvious holes in the MFT autofocus lens offerrings are fast, prime telephotos of the longer focal-length variety.
Sigma is an funny company…the reviews on their lenses range considerably and they do suffer with production quality issues. At the same time…Sigma can produce some really decent lenses. I do own a Sigma 50mm f/1.4 for my DSLR. This lens kind of trumps the Canon f/1.4 (that is up for discussion, though) It is a good lens, not inexpensive and has some definite focusing quirks. Also, I had to send the first copy back to B&H because of the black “flecks” inside the glass elements. (may have been paint). Let’s just say, I never had that problem with any of my Canon lenses.
My Sigma lens can produce some wow-factor photos…so I will be curious to see what Sigma comes up with for MFT!
M
8 months ago |“I am not arguing the point..I don’t know…but why would Olympus, a lens designer and manufacturer sub out to Sigma?”
For the same reason the 4/3 70-300 was a Sigma lens in Olympus casing. So was the 18-180. They didn’t have the optical formulas for those and subcontracted them.
What this m4/3 75-300 announcement means is that you’re going to get the exact same lens as the Oly 75-300 for a lower price, and/or with HSM included.
Bob B.
8 months ago |M..yeah …I figured Sigma had an edge on making the lens with less start-up cost. Thanks for the info.
If you are correct about Sigma releasing the same lens for less money..that is good for the MFT system overall.
Brod1er
8 months ago |Went to the Spa grand prix this year with my panny 100-300. A friend had the Sigma 150-500 for apsC. Similar FLs but a world of difference. The Sigma is a back breaking expensive beast with slower max aperture. The Panny was a joy to use. Able to hold it above the spectators heads using my GH1 swivel screen, easy to carry all day (it fitted in a large jacket pocket), and could shoot through gaps in wire mesh fence. The Oly(Sigma) 75-300 is the only equivalent but as stated above is slower, twice as expensive, has no OIS, and is not much lighter. I replaced my Panny 45-200 with the 100-300 and much prefer it although it is not as versatile.
Tom
8 months ago |Awesome, I went to Spa this year, an E-30 with 40-150mm and 70-300mm lenses. To be honest I used the 300mm FL more as a scope, didn’t get much use. Mostly shot around 180mm in the end I think.
What I definitely missed was a 90mm equiv. fast prime, too close to the action sometimes and F4 wasn’t cutting it. Wishing Olympus would add that one lens to the 4/3s lineup…
Bob B.
8 months ago |…and pretty soon we will have the very-portable 45-175mm X lens to add to our MFT lens selections. I sold my 45-200 and pre-ordered the X. Hope it has good IQ!?
spam
8 months ago |An 100-300 and a 150-500 has about the same reach provided you put the 150-500 on a full frame body with slightly more than 12MP. However, if you use it with a 7D or some other 18MP Canon crop body then you have the same reach with the 150-500 at 300mm as the 100-300mm on a GH1 at 300mm, you just have to crop the Canon image a bit to make it look the same. So a 150-500 on a gives a lot more reach, it’s really pixel density and focal length that decide how much reach you get.
Leendert
8 months ago |Sigma: Please make a m43 version of the old Sigma 400mm F5.6 macro!
super zooms are crappy! heavy, big, slow…..
max
8 months ago |i was so disappointed about the sd1 that i dont care about sigma stuff anymore..kazuto boo!
Miroslav
8 months ago |“please Sigma, release some nice fast (possibly pancake) lens first”
Yeah, hopefully they’ll make either some lens missing from the system (fast zoom) or some small or some fast lens. Else, there’s no reason to make any if it’s going to be the same or worse than existing ones.
bilgy_no1
8 months ago |So, it’s obvious that Sigma designed and patented the 75-300mm design for m4/3. Not a big surprise; this also happened with the earlier 70-300mm for FT-mount.
The upshot is that Sigma can apparently design for fast AF-lenses in m4/3. Let’s see what they will come up with under their own brand name…
3434343434
8 months ago |around 25% of all sigma lenses are crap because of their miserable quality management.
Nico Foto
8 months ago |I can’t tell for all their lenses, but i have a 30mm 1.4 for canon mount, and its pretty good with regards to sharpness and contrast. It has a nasty color cast though.
Nico Foto
8 months ago |Well, let’s just hope this is the patent for the old oly lens and they don’t plan on releasing the exact same lens with their brand…that would be the most boooooring announcement of the year.
I would love seeing any of the following:
A fastish 35mm equivalent (the Oly one is a tad slow and not that great).
A fastish 135mm equivalent (we don’t have anything like that).
I’m saying “fastish” and not f/1.4 or whatever, because for an m43 prime to succeed, i believe it must still strike a balance between being fast AND reasonable sized. I would say the panaleica 25mm prime is as big as I would like an m43 wide to short tele prime to be. YMMV.
Also, i’m assuming Panny will release the fast 12-35 and 35-100 lenses in a reasonable time frame, so there’s no need to overlap there…
Neicila
8 months ago |Personnaly, I’m quite boring about this kind of big, poor IQ and small aperture telezoom. I need more pancake and fixed focal length lenses.
A 30 mm (eq 60mm) would be a great one.
BS Artiste
8 months ago |I use long focal length lenses with my E-30 fairly frequently, including the 70 – 300 plus 2X tele adapter. I also have the Sigma 50-500 and 135-400 lenses. Right now the m43 camera lineup really does not work with lomg focal length lenses for various reasons including ergonomics. When I go to a ballgame or travel, I like to carry at least 9-18, 18-180, 70-300, and 2X tele adapter. With an E-30 that gives me a 35mm equivalent focal range of 18 to 1200. Although those lenses are not the sharpest around, they do allow me to get a reasonable shot, even if not a perfect shot. Based on the lenses and camera designs, m43 seems more oriented towards portraiture and street photography.
Unfortunately, my E-30 doesn’t do video and the E-5 does not handle full 1080p video.
My preference is for an all-in one camera that can do many tasks (even if imperfectly) with different lenses. Ultimate portability and reduced size in exchange for giving up ergonomics and long zoom focal ranges is not a trade-off that I am willing to make.
Björn Utpott
8 months ago |Why would Sigma choose this particular zoom? I can’t really be that much cheaper since the Lumix 100-300 isn’t all that expensive to begin with. Unless they make it radically smaller, I can’t imagine what they hope to gain. Surely it isn’t that difficult to come up with a lens that would inspire us to part with our hard earned cash.
Tulio
8 months ago |and who needs that? give me a 12mm f2
mahler
8 months ago |If the Sigma lens has 6.7 at the tele end, then I am not interested. 5.6 is the lowest mark I would tolerate.
@Admin: why are you after new pancakes? We have enough of that,including a standard zoom. I would prefer just normal primes, which you can grab, which have a distance scale and a broad, easy to use, smooth and precice focus ring.
AutoMan
8 months ago |How slow can you go!
F4.7!!!! Will they supply floodlights with that?
zebarnabe
8 months ago |A small telephoto – 200mm or more – prime (maybe with a retractable design?) with a brighter-than-average aperture (f/2.8 would be nice) … no? D:
dj
8 months ago |yes–id love that!–small 200mm f3.5 with removalbe tripod collar–that would be nice!
dj
8 months ago |wasn’t sigma working on a 30mm f2.8 pancake some time ago??–wonder what happened to that ?
Rob. S.
8 months ago |Yawn. If they finally make me switch from Four Thirds, a 70-300 f/4.8-6.7 won’t be quite the incentive I was looking for to switch to Micro Four Thirds of all possibilities.