The giant M43 lens battle: Nokton 25mm versus Leica 25mm!

Share

Image courtesy: Jean-Baptiste Lefournier via Hybdricams.fr.

Which is better, the Nokton or the Leica. That is the question! While other mirrorless system still struggle to offer some decent lenses we are sitting on the conftable position where we can choose between an ultra-fast manual standard lens and a Leica af lens. The french website Hybridcams (Click here) compared the image quality of the two lenses. Look at the photos and than come back and let us know which lens you like more.

The Lecia 25mm is in Stock via asian resellers on [shoplink 23110 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink], at Amazon UK (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here). US readers can preorder the lens at Adorama (Click here).
The Nokton 25mm is in Stock at Amazon US (Click here), on [shoplink 15659 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and the cheapest price in Europe can be found at Amazon France (Click here).

Share

Panasonic Q&A videos online. There will be no 25p with the next fw upgrade :(

Share

Panasonic gives you the chance to participate to the Q&A session at the IFA event in Berlin. You can submit your questions here: http://ifa.panasonic.eu/en?questionid=q_1315231134248
And there is a video for every single answer! The video on top for example contains the answer about the next firmware upgrade. It sounds like there will be no immediate 25p support for the [shoplink 16254]Panasonic GH2[/shoplink].
Below you can see a selected list of questions that do link to the Panasonic video answers (Click on them to open a new tab):
When will the new X Series start shipping to the US?
Why is the GF3 more user friendly?
Are images stabilized in the lens or in the camera?
What Lumix between G3 and GF3 is more silent?
Which are the most important differences between the new optical Leica Summilux 25mm f/1.4 D.G. and the above?
Will the new compact X-series lenses be bundled with the GH2 camera?
Is Panasonic planning to make zoom lens within the X-series with mroe versatile focal lengths?
Does the focus and/or zoom rings rotate on the powered X lenses when you use the levers like on large bulky DSLR lenses?
Are there plans for the successor of the LX5?
Why doesn’t Panasonic ome up with a camera that let’s me upload pictures to social networks?

Share

Officially announced: New Samyang 7.5mm fisheye lens for 300 Euro.

Share

Samyang just announced the full specs, price and availability of the new Samyang 7.5mm manual fisheye lens for Micro Four Thirds.It will cost 300 Euro, that’s less than a half of the [shoplink 14820 ebay]Panasonic 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye[/shoplink]. It’s a manual lens only but I like it more than the Panasonic lens because the Samyang is really compact! It will be available in silver and black from mid September.

Here is the press release:

Delta company, the exclusive representative and distributor of Samyang Optics in Europe, is proud to report that the lens announced in March, Samyang 7.5mm 1:3.5 UMC Fish-eye MFT will be available from the middle of September this year. The lens will be available in two colour versions: silver and black. Estimated retail price is EUR 299.
Panoramic photography with Samyang fish-eye lens
Samyang 7.5mm 1:3.5 UMC Fish-eye MFT offers an exceptionally wide angle of view, up to 180 degrees diagonally, which makes it a very useful tool for making panoramic photographs. You can enjoy the example panoramic photos in the form of a virtual tour around Krakow on our specially created website: www.samyang.pl/75mft All these panoramic photographs were taken with Samyang 7.5mm 1:3.5 Fish-eye UMC MFT and PEN Olympus E-P1.
Samyang 7.5mm 1:3.5 UMC Fish-eye MFT is an ultra-wide-angle manual lens with 7.5 millimetre focal length and 1:3.5 aperture ratio, providing 180 degree angle of view. Despite its small size, the new Samyang successfully combines the best features of the popular model with 8 mm focal length offering highest quality optics closed in a compact and visually attractive casing. Samyang 7.5mm 1:3.5 UMC Fish-eye MFT is the first model from the new family of lenses developed specifically for Micro Four Thirds system.

Official news: http://www.samyang.pl/article,8,news
Image smaples: http://www.samyang.pl/75mft/panoramy.html

P.S.: All Samyang lenses for Olympus can be found on eBay only and under seven different brand names (Click on it to see all Four Thirds lenses from the specific brand!):
[shoplink 20647 ebay]Samyang [/shoplink] [shoplink 20684 ebay]Walimex [/shoplink] [shoplink 20649 ebay]Rokinon [/shoplink] [shoplink 20650 ebay]Opteka [/shoplink] [shoplink 20651 ebay]Falcon [/shoplink] [shoplink 20653 ebay]Vivitar [/shoplink] [shoplink 20652 ebay]Bower [/shoplink]

Share

(FT4) No new Olympus announcement in September. But third party announcements soon?

Share


Image on top: The Olympus lens raodmap.

We just got confirmation from our sources that there will be no new Olympus m43 product announcement this month.We know Olympus plans to announce two new m43 lenses this year but I am not sure yet when this will happen (could be in November). One of the new lenses is the 50mm f/2.0 (or f/1.8 ?) macro lens ([shoplink 18415 ebay]Click here to see the current Four Thirds macro[/shoplink]). I am not sure yet about the specs of the second lens. Olympus had a fisheye lens on the roadmap but I guess they dropped that lens as there is already a Panasonic and (soon) a Samyang fisheye lens.

One more thing: Does it mean that we will not have any new m43 product soon? No, I just heard someone else could announce new m43 products. More about that this week! A third party lens maker could unveil new lenses soon. I am asking my sources to send me more info about that! Thanks!

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

Share

First image samples with the Panasonic X lens.

Share

Arkadiusz Olech from Lenstip (Click here) posted the very first full size image samples taken with the two new Panasonic X lenses, the Panasonic 14-42mmm X and 45-175mm X. The test images do look good or not?

The same website (Click here) also posted some Olympus 45mm f/1.8 image samples. Olympus Japan confirmed that the lens will ship to every corner of this planet from Spetember 9. You can preorder the lens by clicking those direct search links at [shopcountry 23577].

Share

Need for speed: Noktor 50mm f/0.95 now in Stock on eBay.

Share
[shoplink 25246 ebay][/shoplink] If you are in absolute need of speed than Micro Four Thirds is the right system for you :) You not only have the [shoplink 15659 ebay]Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95 (Click here to see it on eBay)[/shoplink] option but now also the Noktor 50mm f/0.95 is in Stock on eBay:
Sold by a [shoplink 25246 ebay]Hong Kong eBay reseller (Click here)[/shoplink].
Sold by a [shoplink 25247 ebay]US eBay reseller (Click here)[/shoplink].

I have both lenses and I use them mainly for video. For that purpose both lenses are very good. For stills the [shoplink 15659 ebay]Nokton 25mm[/shoplink] has a much better and “different” kind of image quality. It’s perfect to take shot pictures from my brothers baby!

Share

Panasonic Leica 25mm f/1.4 review at Optyczne.

Share
[shoplink 23110][/shoplink]

The polish website Optyczne (Click here to read the translation) intensively tested the new Panasonic Leica 25mm f/1.4 lens. In short they say the image quality is “sensational” in the center of the frame (even at f/1.4!). The border quality is not exceptional at the widest aperture. You have to stop down to get top results on the edges of the frame. There is only a small amount of Chromatic Aberration and Astigmatism. You can also take pictures of light sources like Sun or Lights as there is no problem with flare. The only “negatives” is the little bit too high vignetting at f/1.4 aperture and marked coma.

The Panasonic Leica lens is in Stock at Amazon US (overpriced), Amazon UK (Click here), Amazon Japan (Click here) and of course plenty of them are sold via asian resellers on [shoplink 23110 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

More preorder search at [shopcountry 23110].

Share