Image courtesy: ePhotozine
Along the GM5 and LX100 Panasonic will also finally announce the 35-100mm specs and price. There will be also a minor update on one of the Panasonic prime lenses.
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108 Responses
… and an updated prime? Same kind of update as the 20mm for the 14mm?
i guess 25mm f1.4 with mega OIS
You may be right. A new, more modern look for the 14, along with their Nano coating, makes a lot of sense for that lens.
I think the 14mm may be out of production now. They have the 15mm and the Pancake Zoom.
I would be nice to see the 25mm get the updated look of the new 20mm & 15mm & 42mm lenses.
I would think the 25mm too. Panasonic have been running a promotion giving them away with certain bodies in the UK for the last several months, presumably clearing the channel for a replacement. The offer has just finished. Hopefully it is more than just the cosmetic update that the 20mm got, the addition of an aperture ring would be nice as long as the price doesn’t get silly.
Maybe the 45mm Macro – with an improved AF range behaviour / switch.
Or the rattle snake 25mm.
It only does that on Olympus cameras. It’s not Panasonic’s problem.
It’s the MFT system consumers’ problem.
I think they should do more complete system testing, because the answers I get from pana / oly show they don’t have much of a clue how their products work combined with the other one’s. How flawlessly interchangeable can you expect them to be?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/photo/7161083011/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_p_1_4_last
Funny how it doesn’t stop the 25mm from outselling every M43 lens. The other day it was at #1.
Haters ‘Gon Hate…. hahaha!
Pot/kettle mr oldcrap
Looks like a piece of plastic, I hope no more than 300 USD?
What is one of the prime lens update ?
The 150mm F2.8 ?
How do you update something that hasn’t existed yet?
Minor update for a prime? We need a major update for the 100-300!
This stuff shall be ‘Lumix G Vario 35-100mm 1:4-5.6 ASPH. Mega OIS.’
Sure it will be f/4-5.6? That would be one of the slowest 100mm lenses ever, and definitely the slowest ever for (M)FT. Which would explain the cowardice of not printing any aperture numbers on the prototype lens, too.
Hopefully, the 25mm f/1.4? It has known issues but was Panasonic’s sharpest lens until the 42.5mm came along.
imo the 25 was fine as it was..which issues?
F1.4 to F1.0 make sense to run a production . Build quality as the Nocticron as I always not happy with the build quality of the 25mm lens .
If not , redo again the Nocticron like what Fuji did , this time is 45mm / 50mm F1.0 / 1.2 , this is much better .
What was that?
I have a feeling that increasing the aperture is not as easy as you make it want to come true, since everyone wants it to be perfect. If one could live with the defects just by making the aperture bigger(which can be more interesting for certain styles) lots of productions for a reasonable price would exist. But no, everyone now must have it close to the sharpest possible. Fuji did well pricewise as did nikon with the portraitlens for their 1 series. lets hope that the next extreme fast lens from Olympus or Panasonic will be below the 1000 barrier too. The FL being another issue to discuss about ofcourse.
If Pana can come up the F1.2 Nocticron , there is no reason they can’t make it for a 25mm lens . It’s matter of cost ( A 25mm lens can’t be cost much ) .
Yes , in summilux era , 25mm F1.4 hits to it’s peak but now is Nocticron era . A 25mm F1.0 is possible , It’s matter of commitment .
Yun,i dont think you realise what you are saying here 🙂
How would such a lens help you? What would you do with that that you cannot do now?
Of all the m43 lenses, I still love the rendering of the 25mm Summilux best, but remaking it as an f1.2 with updated cosmetics and AF would make sense. Maybe they should update the Macro Elmarit into a Macro Summicron with similarly updated cosmetics, too. That would fill out the PanaLeica range nicely:
15/1.7, 25/1.2, 42.5/1.2, 45/2.0 Macro (or 1.7, even)
Then we’d just need a 10/2.0 ultrawide and a 65/1.7 portrait tele. Well, one can dream.
Agree but the 65mm should in F1.4 at least otherwise the Oly 75mm F1.8 still remain the favorite in portrait tele lens .
Honestly Olympus raised the bar high with the 75mm. should a PL of comparable FoV push the IQ envelope even further, I’ll be very happy.
It has been known to rattlesnake on certain bodies. That, and the design language of its sister lenses, the 15mm and 42.5mm, have metal builds in addition to aperture rings. It seems like they would surely update it in time.
Both the 15mm and the 42.5mm also got very convenient AF/MF switch. I’d like that too, please.
smaller barrel or larger opening could be cool.
Better dump my 25mm before the 15th. Price is through the roof on that one.
Olympus are you watching this ? THIS is the size that fits m4/3 body, not that ridiculously huge 40-150mm lens. Yeah I know, it’s f2.8, but 17 cm long, that’s hilarious.
There is already much smaller olympus 40-150 and 40-150 f2.8 fits well on m43 body.
I guess you never had a beautiful Zuiko 50-200mm (for “big” 4/3) which is almost an inch SMALLER (!!) than announced MICRO (!!) Zuiko 40-150mm.
So that is really hilarious and a big mistake.
Oh, you mean the variable aperture one. I’m no engineer but I am guessing (it is only a guess, mind) that it is that small only because they did not try and make it constant aperture.
Hmmm…
But the 40-150/2.8 doesn’t extend when you zoom out. The 50-200 does.
Interesten btw that no one has complained about the color of this Panasonic 35-100.
It’s not constant aperture either, your choice, f2.8 whole range or more reach. Lets see how it performs, if it performs at least as good as 12-40 it will be amazing lens and size is fine, I don’t see any problem. There is already existing small and cheap 40-150mm, fast and still small pan 35-100 and now oly with even more choice. Or you expect all lenses to be tailored to your preferences?
No, I expect from Olympus to survive, but they`re making the same mistake all over again. First they designed smaller than aps-c 43 sensor and soon their dslr-s become bigger than any apsc dslr (E-3/5).. Then regular 43 died.
Now this 40-150mm monster, designed for 1% of m43 users, which are already 1% of ilcs users..
I would swap today`s “choice” (by your standards), for future of the Olympus camera division, and with that self destructing or suicidal policy their future is not bright, and the history will repeat.
Biggest problem with 43 was really weak sensor and focus on getting same dof as other systems (f2 zooms were overkill), now it’s not a problem. Also there are already plenty of lenses and it’s really good that there is also choice of high quality and bright lenses too. I don’t understand which point you missing here, olympus already has small, cheap and still quite good 40-150mm, now panasonic releases 35-100 even smaller but shorter range. You have choice of both.
Also, where from you get “1%” users? It’s always puzzling how easy people pull out numbers out of their head. And don’t forget, profit from those expensive lenses is also much higher. System needs all sides, cheap and small, decent middle lenses and also top quality with as little compromise as possible.
so this size is not compromise in your opinion ? also in your opinion f2 zooms were overkill but this micro zoom is BIGGER than 150/f2 and in fact just an inch shorter than 35-100/f2 and is still fine ? Twice as bigger than micro 35-100/2.8 (which is a killer lens) and still fine ? yes it should be bigger than Panny 35-100, but twice as big ?! wtf is wrong with you people ? They put a PRO sticker on it and everybody just goes crazy ? IT’S ABNORMALLY BIG FOR THIS SYSTEM FFS
Heh, thought it’s easy enough to understand, as little as possible IQ compromises while still keeping price and size acceptable. Now fine?
About f2 zooms i meant how big the total system compared to similar on aps-c/ff, there was not much gain. Especially considering sensor tech was still rather limited. It’s quite different story with m43, especially with different type of focusing.
Yes, size is still fine as long, as it performs well wide open and through whole range. Have you thought, that for some people extra reach is more important than the smaller size of 35-100? Oly doesn’t need to duplicate everything panasonic does, it’s much better they create lenses different from each other, so we, the customers, will have much greater choice.
For me 40-150 looks a lot more attractive than 35-100.
p.s.
Have you thought about that the only person who strongly complains about size is you and not other people, so it’s not “wtf is wrong with you people” but what is wrong with you?
Different target audiences. Olympus already has a small 40-150mm (though not as small as this one), the 40-150mm is just fine for PROs that require constant 2.8 aperture.
Olympus made the PRO lenses to go with the EM1 for the original 4/3 crowd, as the DSLR replacement model for the E5. That would be my guess. Lenses for the m43 crowd are the smaller ones, like the 1.8 series.
Totally agree. Received the beautifully compact Panasonic 45 – 150mm today. Could have afforded the Olympus but I have no use for a 17cm lens on m43.
When using FF I am happy with the Tamron 70 – 200mm 2.8 – that’s a different story.
Well, the lens is not for you, amateur gear geeks, who can’t afford or justify it.
I’ll happilly buy it if the quality is as the 12-40mm.
Fine. And the rest of us amateurs will stll enjoy our Panny 35-100/2.8 which is half the size of your PRO 40-150.. and if you have something with so much reach, at least 150mm on 43, try to compare 200 vs 300 mm fl.. the diference is not that big.
Is your PRO brain aware that this 40-150mm is bigger than my ex zuiko 150mm f2 little tuna and twice as bigger than Panny 35-100 2.8 ? If you still dont get it why its oversized for this system you are just stupid.
It has internal zoom and has 3.75x zoom and highly probable sharper than this.
Sure that Panasonic is a smaller but the Olympus 40-150mm isn’t big either. And when you get grip from longer you get more stable shot too.
Only thing where Olympus model loses is in camera bag size.
And if you take m43 camera in hands, it is smaller than it looks without context.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a new metal body PL25 to match the new PL15, and PL42.5.
I would guess the same.
Would be nice to get an updated 14mm pancake in a kit with the GM5.
Yes, a slightly faster version, say f/2.2 would be great
Panasonic 20mm with better AF motor!
That would be the best upgrade.
Agreed, but according to sources a stronger AF-motor would increase the size.
While true… it would likely not be anything significant. Oly’s 17mm f1.8 is already extremely small, made of metal and has the fastest AF out there. Sure it isn’t AS small as the 20mm pancake but, if we could get a 20mm f1.7 with panny’s rendering and Oly’s AF speed, I think most agree the size increase would be worth it.
Well I’d also accept a slight increase in size 🙂 But Panasonic seem to like the “pancake” name.
It’s about the size. A 2,5cm protruding lens is lot easier to fit in your jacket pocket on a gm or gx, than a 4-5cm protrusion… It may not seem like a big difference, but it is truly significant..
You’d think they’d made some progress with the motors in 5 years.
Updated macro-elmarit?
Yes , there is a possibility too .
But considering the sales volume , I feel the 25mm lens likely to undergo an update then the Elmarit .
The 25mm is a Number One seller at Amazon, it’s the most sold M43 lens. Well, it flip flops with the 20mm. Making a MkII would still have the rattlesnake issue with certain bodies, but I have no problem with it.
Making it metal and adding a aperture ring would get a purchase from me.
It’s funny how some complain about the rattlesnake noise, yet that doesn’t stop it from selling like hot cakes. The Olympus 25mm is nowhere close in sales. I think it was a waste making it. It’s not selling.
In fact, Panasonic lenses Dominate the mirrorless lens list for M43.
I love my 25mm Leica, but the Oly is still a better fit for use with small bodies like the GM1/5. Performance is very close to the Panasonic. If the price drops to $299, Olympus will sell a lot more of them.
I love the Panasonice 25, i never tried the Olympus so cant judge about it. Panasonic has no comparable 45mm yet for a budget price yet; there the Olympus rules.
Robin Wong has an excellent review comparing the two lenses here –
http://robinwong.blogspot.com/2014/02/olympus-mzuiko-25mm-f18-lens-review.html
LOL I wonder what an Olympus employee will come up with
I would have bought also the 25mm from Olympus, if it had a metal body as the 17mm and the 12mm lenses.
If Pana is going to release a metal version of its 25mm I’ll sell the old one and buy it. Probably.
The two 25mm have a slight different rendering, from the pics seen around I prefer the PLeica one.
Also the angle of view looks slightly different… Strange.
Wish the price would drop…. there is nothing quite as cheap as the 50mm f/1.8 from Canikon in the m4/3 world.
One day you’ll have something positive to say about Olympus and/or negative about Panasonic, and we’ll all die of shock. This post is purely about Panasonic and you still manage to drag Olympus into it to slag them off. Very impressive.
Another nonsense from you. First, the knowing people are aware that the O 1.8/25mm is better in many respects: size, weight, IQ, and AF. I have both lenses, and today, based on my experience, I would not choose the P 1.4/25mm again.
As to sales figures, you have no clue, how representative Amazon sales numbers are for the whole market. This depends on countries and what Amazon actually has in stock, and if people tend to by their stuff more at local dealers than online.
As to the quality of the lens portfolio, Olympus and Panasonic are about on par. While there are lenses from Olympus, which are better than their Panasonic counterparts, such as the O 2.8/12-40mm, O 75-300mm II, and the O 2.8/60mm Macro, and there are pairs, where it is the opposite, such as the P 7-14mm, P 1.2/42.5mm.
+1
I ask, what could be better than the Oly 25mm, did not find out yet. This lens comparing does not make sense to me from a certain level and the Oly certainly is above this level by a margin. A waste of making sounds like brand-hate.
Please, don’t make it sound as if the only upside to the PL25 is marginal speed. There is more to it. Obviously the size, weight and price is directly observable, but it is also honest to say that the IQ and AF speed doesn’t have a clear cut winner right away. The obvious upsides of the O25 would make it my first choice today too, I must admit. That being said, to claim that the O25 beats PL25 in IQ, you have to cherry pick what you like to see. And as for AF, PL25 is not the 1.7/20 on a G1. You can’t tell me with a straight face that it cost you some shots.
It is debatable whether the Oly 12-40 is better than the Panny 12-35/F2.8 which tests as one of the best lenses ever made of any format.
The Oly 75-300 is a fair bit slower than the Panny 100-300, DxO tests place the 100-300 IQ ahead of the 75-300.
Most of the Panasonic lenses have OIS so whereas Olympus cameras can happily take either flavour, Panasonic cameras work best with Panasonic lenses, which will bias sales of Panasonic lenses.
I have never seen such a negative person as you.
I think MAC is right about the Panny 20/25mm lenses being the kings of M43 sales. There’s no mystery why, they can both deliver superb results.
That being said I’m sure the Oly 75mm is nowhere near the top in sales but is a fantastic portrait lens with no direct Panasonic peer.
If we cared about sales figures none of us would be here. We’d be in lockstep with the Canikon troll(s) we see on here that are far more negative than MAC.
25mm Oly is simply sublime. I love it- have most of the oly primes- even better than the 45mm 1.8 wide open. Just wish it was metal.
Slightly strange, you won’t hear astronomers asking for metal telescopes because plastics offer better thermal stability. . A plastic bodied lens has a number of advantages over a metal lens so that is focusses and stays focussed better, and they’re lighter which means less camera shake. They’re probably tougher too.
This very small 35-100 lens should make a very good 2 lens combo for either the GM1 or
GM5 cameras especially with their good high ISO performance making the need for faster lens less necessary. Add a small front mounted telextendar to the front of the lens and you could extend its effective reach from 200mm to 300mm or is that not possible with m4/3 or only with smaller format fixed lens compacts?
Size matters (to me). I have the Panasonic 12-32mm; it’s one of my favorite lenses as a excellent compromise on size vs. quality. The 35-100mm will be a fine complement to my MFT kit, especially for situations where it is awkward to carry a large bag of lenses and camera bodies.
Agreed.
I hope the price of the 35-100mm is decent. m43 system also need affordable lenses not only premium ones, to be able to attract new customers.
Olympus 40-150mm f/4-5.6 R costs only 99€ as new in best deals, so it is nothing.
Of course it is “one stop too slow” but otherwise great deal. If it would get third edition that is f/3.2-4.5, it would be crazy.
But now it is awesome for the price and size.
Yes a wonderful price, this Pana needs to be under 200 euros new to make an impact.
This is the holy grail of mirror less cameras -the small lens if they can get this right it will combat all the “not much smaller than a DSLR” arguments. Sony are making some light lenses these days but they are still quite big in comparison, this looks Nikon 1 size.
This lens is definitely small, but I doubt it will be any better IQ wise than what is already on offer by panny’s 45-150mm or Oly’s 40-150mm. Neither of those lenses are really that big or heavy to begin with. If they found a way to make a lens this small but with an aperture of 2.8-4, then we’d be on to something.
This lens looks like it was made with the GM1 in mind. The small size means your GM1 won’t look so weird with a larger lens attached. Hopefully the price will be nice so that people can cover most of the range of 24-200 (minus the 3mm missing gap of the 12-32mm). The GM1 with the 12-32mm and 35-100mm would be a nice light travel kit. Maybe throw in the Olympus 45mm and Panasonic 20mm for low light.
Panasonic, heck, the M43 system needs a fast 7mm lens. I know this won’t be it, but I had to say it.
A reasonably compact and optically sound f4.0 that takes filters will do for me.
that 35-100 zoom would look nice on a silver e-p3/e-p5
I must be missing something; aside from the colour, what’s so new about this 35-100mm?
It’s tiny. The diameter should be smaller so that it will fit well on the GM1 (and 5, presumably). Plus when retracted, should only be about as big as the non-pancake 14-42 kit lenses.
Ah, so 2nd gen “smaller” lens; thanks for replying.
Not a 2nd gen of the 35-100mm f/2.8. This is not an f/2.8 lens, but a companion to the 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 compact kit lens sold with the GM1.
It’s slow?
Thanks; didn’t see the specs on the lens.
why not 100-300mm refreshed? smaller for gm1/gm5.
ooouups!! he said prime lens. Not zooms 😀
Que? Who said anthing about a prime lens?
Can’t get the 100-300 smaller without losing its speed, it’s the iris size 300/5.6=55mm and it’s filter thread is already only 67mm diameter. If you want fast on 100-300 then it has to be bigger and its long end f/5.6 is too slow now
That 35-100mm continues to puzzle me. It doesn’t look dramatically smaller than the 45-150 that has a much greater range, and is pretty decent optically and well-priced as well.
If it could be a 35-100mm f/4, that would at least have some value, possibly being slightly faster than the 150mm zooms at that FL. Just a slightly smaller 35-100 3.5-5.6, which is the most likely bet, seems like Panasonic is just throwing out more consumer zooms for the sake of it, the same problem that Nikon has for it’s woefully underfilled DX line…
45-150 is bigger, and start at f/4
How much bigger though? The 45-150 has a max diameter of 62mm, while the GM1 lenses (12-32 and 15/1.7) are 55.5-57.5mm. So I’m guess this is at most 5mm narrower than the 45-150, and perhaps 1 or 2 cm shorter based on the proportions. Are people so desperate to save size that they’re giving up 50% of the reach on a telephoto?
Seems like the answer to a question no-one asked.
I’m curious about this lens but I suspect it will be too slow for my needs. I like the size.
How fast do your needs be?
Do you want to photograph our black cat in the coal bunker at night during a power cut without flash?
Its like 14-42mm mk1. Si its very small for the zoom lenght.
That would be the H-FS014042? Which is actually the second lens of 14-42 length. There was a minor upgrade but no part renumbering.
Trivial but it actually makes the new mk.ii the mk.iii if you see what I mean.
The lightweight 14-42 kit lens H-FS014042 aka H-FS014042A has 52mm filter thread and 12 elements and is on paper/tests slightly better glass than the new slimmed down one with only 9 elements and smaller filter thread.
Of all the long zoom lenses, the 45-150 is the smallest and lightest, it actually works rather well on my GM1
How does this work for wedding photographers? Don’t they usually shoot at equivalent 2.8 on full frame most of the time?
I talked to several photographers that did weddings. The more I meet some, the less I am inclined to simplify the whole concept of wedding photography.
“They” aren’t the same from one an other.
Are Panasonic targeting wedding photographers with this lens?