Kowa just announced three new Micro Four Thirds lenses. Full details here:
P.S.: Kowa is know for making such Cine lenses and you can find plenty of them on [shoplink 44740 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Kowa just announced three new Micro Four Thirds lenses. Full details here:
P.S.: Kowa is know for making such Cine lenses and you can find plenty of them on [shoplink 44740 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
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85 Responses
Any word on the pricing? The 12mm could be a great alternative to the Olympus 12mm if it’s well priced.
Samyang 12mm already is.
Oh yes. I’d forgotten. This is a teensy bit faster, though.
Yes, although if it’s only sharp from F2.8 on (as is often the case) it doesn’t matter that much 🙂 Samyang’s sharpness is pretty decent, I’d say even excellent – certainly recommended for anyone trying to find an alternative.
Oh okay. I should check the reviews. I have the Panasonic 14/2.5 already but I want something sharper and wider.
I briefly tested the Samyang against Oly’s own 12/2.
Samyang’s sharper wide open by quite a bit, but you need to manually fix chromatic aberration in post. Even the E-M10 does not do it (although I think it could), probably because there are no electronic contacts. Of course, the samyang’s also larger, twice as heavy, manual focus, but only about 50 to 70% the price of the oly.
Actually, I don’t like either of them. The Oly mainly because it’s not sharp enough on the edge.
Yes, higher CA is one of the compromises of this design. But CA is trivial to fix in post so I think the decision to trade sharpness for a bit more CA was a good one. Did you have a chance to try Oly 12mm for night-sky photos? What I value about Samyang’s lens is its tack-sharp rendering of point light sources (stars) without comas/halos.
Night sky is the main reason I wanted a fast wide lens. I have shot a few with the oly. Not so great. Much more acceptable when you do a panorama of three or more shots because of the down sampling.
Also, my copy has this strange issue whereby in true manual focus infinity is actually at hard-stop infinity. Maybe. This shouldn’t be the case with a lens with ED elements. So I might just not be able to focus just quite right. I bought the lens used.
I was also wondering about converting a samyang 8 mm f/2.8 II fisheye from one of the APS-C mounts to m43. Looked at one, seems doable. This would yield a very sharp UWA with large amounts of distortion, but for some compositions rectification might not even be needed.
The 8/2.8 II is really quite nice.
Thanks for the information. That’s pretty heartening. The chromatic aberration isn’t a big deal. Even the 14mm often exhibits moderate purple fringing that has to be manually corrected. It’s a cinch in LR, fortunately.
And as for manual focussing and size, I think I can manage. I’ll be using it chiefly for landscapes and long exposures, and often on a tripod.
It’s surprising that the Oly isn’t as sharp as the Samyang. That would make it one of the worst of their 1.8 primes.
So is the SLR Magic Hyperprime CINE 12mm T1.6.
Very nice lens. Fairly compact, nice analogue character and fun to use.
Yumm!!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/cmountm43/681655835259536
Interesting. 🙂
8.5mm looks mos appealing, price pending of course, since there are almost no wide primes.
It is not another fisheye, right?
Kowa 6mm 1.8 works great on M4/3
That’s not a fisheye right? looks cool! Maybe the 8.5 will be a little cheaper 🙂
No its not fisheye.
Perfect, thanks! I’ll wait for some tests 😀
I’m interested in the 8.5mm as well (as long as it’s not a fisheye, since I already have the samyang 7.5). let’s hope so!
All new lenses are manual focusing ?
So hard for them to come up auto focusing ?
Is not I can’t accept manual focusing but my models will not standing still & let me do the manual focusing work .
All these lenses are more on artists works I guess , thanks but not for me .
the third word in each description is “manual”
Spelling easy to type wrong in handphone keyboard pressing .
Can’t you detect it ?
get a life feckwit
Honestly, with 8.5mm and 12mm you don’t need much focusing, if any. I’m not surprised manufacturers decide to drop AF with such lenses as a cost-cutting measure. 25mm that’s another matter but Oly’s 25mm has similar specs and is relatively affordable so there are AF options.
You’re right, I just wish I had a higher-res LCD or focus peaking though.
Nothing wrong with manual focus in 7-12mm scale, but oh please add a couple dollar microchip with pins in it so it would tell camera focal length and objective info so it is easy to search from database…
Or use the free LensTagger plug-in for Lightroom.
You can create profiles for each manual lens you use. It adds lens info, including aperture… if you can remember or anal enough to write it down 😉 … to images’ EXIF data. It can do it in batches, too.
http://www.essl.de/wp/software/lenstagger-lightroom-plugin/
Even with my 7.5 mm samyang fisheye I already had blurred pictures because of bad focusing…Yes you need to focus properly wide angle lenses otherwise you get less than sharp pictures…
Samyang 7.5mm require smaller aperture to get better image.
Try f8.0 and take a photo.
Only stupid LAZY shooters want everything automatic…..learn the ART of manual focusing chump!
Why so rude?
Why so stupid??
Why such a coward?
Lets meet up then big man?
Turns out you can learn manners or how to manual focus. But not both.
Do you have manners?
What a stupid question! I learned to manual focus, dumbass!
(P.S. you forgot to log out before upvoting your own post)
Is it illegal to upvote Dr??
Flagged as abusive. Your rude comments are uncalled for and not wanted here.
Flagged as stupid trolling……
Then leave then idiot. Everyone is entitles to DIFFERENT opinions chump….
They look like old film lenses retrofitted with a MFT mount. Pretty sure they are all manual focus lenses, just like the Samyang ones. Still, it is great to see more lenses for MFT, especially ultra wide primes, since there are none for MFT.
Great news, especially the 8.5mm – can’t wait to see the reviews, and price.
They will be available in black, silver and…green (!)
The green is kind of cool!
Silly question – how can the 8.5mm cover 104° while the Olympus 9mm f8 cap can cover 140°?
Because the Olympus 9mm is a fisheye, this one is rectillenier.
OK, thanks.
Let’s wait for the price. I need a super wide angle for cheap!
You mean cheaper than 1000? Let’s hope so…
Cheaper than cheap, I mean 🙂
Without being in the Leica-Zeiss price range, Kowa isn’t notoriously cheap, I am afraid.
Then I’ll buy the Olympus 9mm 🙁
Doesn’t make sense, they are not even the same type of lens, one’s a fisheye. Wouldn’t you pick your lens based upon your desired composition, not the other way around?
Photography is also a matter of fun & opportunity.
I don’t like carrying too many lenses, too.
It’s like for a musician who can play guitar & violin, but who can bring on holidays only one of the two…
So true, if your not having fun, why bother? (Unless your hired on a gig)
Yep, exactly!
For poor man’s ultrawides that suited my needs (for reference pics, as a painter). a decent 25mm and Hugin did the job for well over a year. When you are good at it, multi layers panorama can be actually quite good, but there is no dancing around, its far more post process work and far more hit and miss if you want good photos.
& it’s less fun & spontaneous!
That is actually debatable. The instant replay is extraordinarily convenient, but kills the “I can’t wait to see how it will look” feeling you had with film.
I am not sure having an UW would be more fun for me, not at all. But I want one.
I like your thinking!
But framing at night for a pano can be hard and often the results disappoint.
Hugin makes processing easy, but still nothing fixes the shooting problems that is the main reason to get a ultra-wide objective. Hateful thing when weather, cars, people etc limits the possibility when using narrower and combining photos.
Of course, I have seen full well the limits.
As I said, for reference pics for my paintings, it suited my needs full well. But many of those pics, I would never dare to post as photos.
Oh my! The 8.5mm is especially intriguing if it is rectilinear and not a fisheye. This will certainly draw some interest if the price is right.
im pretty sure will be overpriced just like all mft wide lenses
Too bad the 8.5 is a large lens that was designed for video. I have been looking for something wider than 12mm and a small, light prime would be nice. But for my intended use (mostly landscapes with an occasional shot inside a building) I would probably be better off with the 9-18.
There were some size specs when these lenses first were presented half a year ago, and the 8.5 was not exactly small. It also looks like it’s made from one solid piece of aluminum, which is great of you use it 24/7 under tough conditions, but less great for the majority of us more casual shooters.
Nothing against Kowa lenses, but… wasn’t the LX100 supposed to be announced early this week 🙂
New lenses are always welcome, but I can’t help but think that if these are not competitively priced, they won’t be very popular. Filling out the wide end is welcome, but is there much of a market for a 25mm f/1.8, especially since it is “upcoming” and probably won’t be released until next year.
The 8.5/2.8 would be really really welcome if the resolution is there wide-open. I’m a bit skeptical with something built for video.
This is great!
I was waiting and hoping for a 10mm f2.8, but I think 8.5mm will be better. I’ve gotten so spoiled by the 7-14mm, except for the f4 aperture, that a bit wider will be much nicer. An excellent addition to the M4/3 stable of lenses.
Now we need to know the PRICE!!!
The pricerange was published by some websites (e.g. ephotozine) back in march 2014 already, I’m wondering why it isn’t widely known: “The lenses will be priced between £500 and £800 when they are released on the market in Summer 2014, with the 8.5mm f/2.8 being priced at £800.”
At that price estimation for 8.5mm, I will buy the Olympus 7-14mm. Gives extra 1.5mm that matters and then zoom with constant aperture.
If that would cost £500, then it would look very good.
That price was still not the actual price, more of a guesstimate.
Would it hurt if Kowa mentioned list prices in their recent press release? Yen, Dollars and Euros would suffice.
Only stupid LAZY shooters want everything automatic…..learn the ART of manual focusing chump!
Yeah! Only stupid LAZY photographers use digital cameras, learn the ART of developing in a dark room chump!
Only stupid LAZY people use cameras, learn the art of painting, chump!
Only stupid LAZY people use the internet and computers to voice their opinions, learn the art of writing a letter and sending it to everyone through the mail, chump!
Only stupid LAZY people use the postal service, learn the art of walking from house to house, knocking on the door and telling everyone what you think, CHUMP!
And a few steps down the line you’re a drooling caveman. Happy?
ah, seems the original poster got so pwned they deleted their comments.
…and your point is??
The original post said “only stupid LAZY people want auto-focus, learn the art of manual focussing, chump” and I exaggerated the point, that there is nothing wrong with enjoying the benefits of technology. I use both manual and auto, and I certainly like how AF helps me concentrate on other aspects of photography, also allowing me to make quicker decisions by not always having to check my focus.
Wow aren’t we full of OURSELVES ‘chump’
Calm down, this is only little dumb expensive m43. What do you expect?
Such mature comments are posed on this website!
M43 just keeps getting better and better. I look forward to the 8.5 and 25mm reviews.