As you may know Leica announced plenty of camera (full list at Mirrorlessrumors) including two Panasonic camera clones: The Leica D-Lux clone (here at BHphoto) and the V-Lux clone (here at BHphoto). Today Panasonic and Leica announced together that they will expand their partnership!
This si the official press text:
Panasonic Corporation and Leica Camera AG today announced they have extended their partnership agreement and agreed to expand and strengthen their technological cooperation in the digital camera field.
The agreement includes the extension of license agreement for use of Leica’s trademark on Panasonic’s digital camera products as well as expansion and strengthening of technological cooperation between the two companies.
Based on this agreement, Panasonic will be able to commercialize digital camera products with Leica lenses over the next five years, from October 2014 to September 2019 while Leica will be able through the expansion and strengthening of technological cooperation to utilize Panasonic’s digital technology in its own product development. The agreement will allow both companies to boost product competitiveness by combining Leica’s optical technology and Panasonic’s digital technology.
The companies had signed a cooperative agreement for digital audiovisual equipment lenses in August 2000 and agreed to cooperate in the digital camera sector in July 2001.
Since then, the companies have built up a cooperative relationship in optical technology and quality control, and brought high-performance and high-quality digital cameras to the market by fusing Leica’s superior optical technology with Panasonic’s digital technologies such as image processing.
The technological cooperation newly agreed upon in this agreement will reinforce the partnership between the two companies, enabling them to accelerate the development of excellent digital camera products with enhanced appeal to the global camera market.
Yoshiyuki Miyabe, President of AVC Networks Company, an internal company of Panasonic, stated: “It is a great honor to be able to strengthen our bonds with Leica as a strategic partner. Panasonic will continue to incorporate Leica’s century-worth of optical technologies and camera traditions into the DNA of Panasonic’s digital cameras to further expand our business.”
Alfred Schopf, Chief Executive Officer of Leica Camera, said: “The signing of this agreement is significant for Leica as we seek further growth in the digital imaging sector. Strengthening our cooperative relationship with Panasonic is essential to Leica’s continued growth.”
Source Panasonic Japan. Found via Dicahub.
71 Responses
Does this mean we’ll see full frame Leica with m43 technology (4k video, dfd, etc) or a Leica m4/3 camera and additional Leica lenses? Hoping for both? =)
Leica just anounced the Leica S (Type007) medium Format DSLR with 4k video.
http://www.gizmag.com/leica-s-type-007-photokina/33830/
Leica S is not a DSLR…
How would yu define it then? Isn’t it a Single Lens Reflex with a Digital sensor? I don’t think the size of the sensor makes it a different thing altogether, does it?
sure it is!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leica_Camera
I consider this good news. More Leica Panasonic powerhouses like the 42.5 please.
Support !
More breathtaking Leica optics into m4/3.
Great news. This partnership makes perfect sense.
Yes, good fit and perfect sense, but with the caveat that, as I try to suggest in my comment (see below) it does not make the same sense to both partners.
Either way, we, consumers, stand to gain (as long as Panasonic prices do not reach the Leica stratosphere).
Seems like more and more Panasonic stuff “gets it Leica right” lately. They’re on a roll. And the LX100 price was nice. Nicer than Zeiss! 😉
Agree .
Formidable combination I would call it .
I like this!! 😉
Excellent News! Leica and Panasonic are a good fit.
maybe Leica will improve the viewfinder optics too? I read alot of minor complaints about their glas used in some evf units
I read that as well. the evf on my GH4 is good, but any improvement would be great.
If this Leica’s “LX100” has german Leica coating and jpeg processing for $300 more starts to become interesting. But why no grip?!? Probably they’ll launch one for $300 more…. 🙁
It would be great to see the 24-75mm equiv. Summilux from the LX100 evolve into a separate lens for mft.
The sad truth is that Leica, particularly when compared with its once arch-rival, Zeiss, which still has at least one finger in each and every optics related pie, including medicine, metrology, and lithography, is, to all intends and purposes, a mere shadow of its former glory.
Just compare this statement:
http://www.leica-microsystems.com/company/this-is-leica-microsystems/
with this:
http://www.zeiss.com/corporate/en_de/about-zeiss/facts-and-figures.html
For Panasonic, this cooperation is a matter of becoming a top dog before shareholders grow impatient. For Leica, it is a matter of survival.
Well, Leica may be a shadow of its former self, but it’s still an immensely profitable company. They’ve found their niche, and are very good at exploiting it. Gross margin is something they have in spades.
They could probably putter along for decades with no solvency concern based on their current product outlook.
Me, I don’t care about the fanboyism politics. Leica vs Zeiss. Canon vs Nikon. Olympus vs Panasonic. Who cares? Options are a good thing. If I want a certain look, I get Zeiss. If I wanted another look, I could get Leica. etc etc. What’s not to like, right? The only I care about is, all these companies should do whatever it takes for them to survive, so that we consumers can continue to have those options.
Likewise. I have no truck in any fanboy debate (though I can’t resist correct information…which is a dangerous trait on the internet).
Seems that Leica is one of the very few camera companies still making a profit, unlike Panasonic’s camera business…survival? More like expansion of business, I think!
Why are we comparing two unrelated companies, Leica Microsystems has nothing to do with Leica Camera
Because this is the only place in their joint website, where it is stated clearly that the Leica name is shared by three totally unrelated companies; the old Leica had to break up to pieces to survive, and the biggest piece is not Leica AG (the camera maker)
Carefully worded.
Leica only allow Panasonic to use their “trademark”. They never mentioned sharing their lens technology, only their brand. Meanwhile Leica can get Panasonic’s digital technology in their own “product development” that can go more than just rebranding.
SOrry but did you even read the press statement?: ”Based on this agreement, Panasonic will be able to commercialize digital camera products with Leica lenses over the next five years, from October 2014 to September 2019 while Leica will be able through the expansion and strengthening of technological cooperation to utilize Panasonic’s digital technology in its own product development. The agreement will allow both companies to boost product competitiveness by combining Leica’s optical technology and Panasonic’s digital technology.”
“The agreement includes the extension of license agreement for use of Leica’s trademark on Panasonic’s digital camera products as well as expansion and strengthening of technological cooperation between the two companies.”
Sounds like sharing technology to me. I do not think Leica will allow Panasonic “just rebranding” without giving some technology to make the lenses up to Leica standard.Too many risks to just sell the brand.
To what extent such sharing technology? I guess we’ll never know. .
Panaosnic develops their pana leica lens, Leica advices them and check the lens quality.
That’s all.
It seems pretty obvious that Panasonic is absorbing lots of Leica DNA lately: the Nocticron, the 15mm, both with aperture rings and great optics, and of course, the beautiful LX100, which takes lots of style from the Leica designed LC1, and gets what promises to be a stellar Leica lens.
I hope Panasonic continues on this Leica inspired path with lenses and an ILC body that continues the form factor and controls of the LX100, adding weather sealing and a tilting touch screen. Time to update the 25mm with an aperture ring, weather sealing and Noctilux speed. Autofocus F/0.95, anyone?
A full range of Leica-branded Panasonic lenses from 24mm to 135mm, f0.95 to f1.7 max apertures, would be very nice indeed, yes.
Agreed. I’d love to see them even wider: 18mm, 21mm field of view too.
Plus a couple of Vario Summarit zooms, please.
Prices are becoming stellar as is…I still think Panaleicas like the 15mm and the 25mm are the sweet spot for m43. Great quality optics at reasonable prices for the quality. If we keep up with the pace we are going at now we’ll only have sub-500$ and over-100$ options, with no mid-tier stuff!! Mind you, I’m loving the new premium level optics, I’m happy they exist and plan to pick the new Oly 40-150mm as soon as finances permit. On the other hand, an f2.8-4 standard zoom, an f4 tele zoom etc. are sorely needed, and they surely won’t come from this partnership!!
I couldn’t agree more! We need something like the Sigma 17-70 f/2.8-4 very badly!
Panasonic already has a 3-tier lens structure: Leica branded, X branded, and plain vanilla. Maybe they should only do fast, high quality primes under the Leica brand, and focus on zooms under their own brand. Then Olympus could come in with the budget range of 1.8 primes, budget zooms and 2.8 PRO zooms. That should make choice easier for us.
I agree about the perceived 3 tier structure by Panasonic, but really the X branding stands for movie compatible, as far as I understand it: some X lenses are just ok, like the 14-42 pancake zoom, others are stellar, but we are already in pro territory with the constant 2.8 zooms, others are very good mid-tier optics like the 40(45?)-175, but still not fast at all… The X branding is all over the place, it doesn’t identify a particular level of optics/build quality. Having a real mid-tier range of lenses would be great: f4 or f2.8-4 zooms would sell well in the enthusiast and upgrade-from-kit market, I think.
Mind you, I am mostly alking about zooms: the prime lens department is different. Primes are almost only mid-tier and high grade, notwithstanding the absence of weather sealing. We have only one or two consumer primes, namely the Oly 17mm 2.8 and the Panasonic 14mm 2.5 (correct me if I’m forgetting any); the Panasonic 20mm 1.7 appears to me to be on the fence between mid-tier and consumer, given the good optics but rubbish AF motor/mechanism and the price, that is half way there.
It’s true that we have a great choice for lenses in m43, but if you want to upgrade from your kit zooms yu have to shell out the big money or you don’t have any upgrade path at all!!
This is what I’m thinking .
To remake a 25mm with the same speed is not interesting at all , if Pana can come up the Nocticron with 42.5 FL , can’t see why they can’t make it on a short FL such as the 25mm .
cool cool..
Now wasn’t there a 2.8-3.5/14-50 leica signature zoom that came with the L1 that could use a redesign for m43….?
That’s one heck of a sharp lens.
OK, just waiting for the mirrorless MF camera with Leica leaf shutter lenses from Panasonic.
Amazing that no mirrorless has made leaf shutter lens yet. I would bet on Fuji to do it first, but would prefer a Leicasonic
“Leicasonic” 🙂
Pentax uses leaf shutter lenses.
Fuji X100/S/T has leaf shutter.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Panasonic digital rangefinder with AF and hybrid viewfinder, anyone?
Yes! Or a $1800 Panasonic M mount digital FF manual focus rangefinder! It would sell a lot of Leica glass and encourage the rest of us to save for an M. Would be game over for Fuji and Sony A7 but wouldn’t hurt Leica
How about a full MFT Leica Cine lens range of primes from 7mm to 300mm, 1.2 or faster for everything below 85mm equivalent. All, with OIS Hey, one can dream.
No reason at all to make such a lens range. You can put Leica’s cine range on you m43 cameras already. You’re just asking for them to give you the same thing, with OIS, and in native mount for cheaper.
mft panasonic cameras are well regarded in cine, it wouldn’t be that difficult to for Leica to at least adapt it’s mount for mft.
I’d take that 11-34 mm f1.7-2.8 lens as stand alone lens over the PRO 12-35 f2,8 any day.
Coming around on this LX100. It can actually make people who are tied to slow kit lenses better photographers out of the box.
I mentioned the PL 2.8-3.5/14-50
There have been talks of a PL25 face lift with metal barrel, A ring and AF/MF switch
If I ask the question, I can expect massive requests for an UWA prime. OF course..
But here we go : If dreams had to come true, what is the next PL lens you guys want?
9mm f/1.8 or f/2 weather sealed with aperture ring please. And/or 10.5mm.
Super fast is great but this is fast enough if it keeps things small
A bokeh king lens such as a 65mm or 70mm F1.2 would make up my day .
Any super fast prime, f/1.2 or faster, always makes my day. 😉 I do really like the Oly 75mm, f/1.8.
Me too .
Although a bit longer , but with that lovely defocusing effect ( bokeh ) simply make this lens my pick when come to portrait works .
Another fast prime of a longer focal length. Maybe 135 or 150 at f/1.x.
With half decent magnification, that would be a killer!
Well, as long as we are dreaming… we already have the very nice 15mm/1.7 and 42.5mm/1.2. Maybe update the 25mm to f1.2 and 45mm Macro to f1.7 or f2.0. Then introduce a 10mm/1.7, 12-45mm/1.7 zoom and later a 67.5mm/1.4. I would prefer they kept it to 46mm filters as much as possible rather than go faster but bulkier, with maybe 67mm filter on the tele & zoom to match the 42.5mm lens.
Is the new agreement for extension or expansion of the existing agreement?
Doesn’t sound like there is anything new beyond what’s already in place.
Exactly my thoughts … meanwhile, everyone is going crazy with their wishlist for some future PanaLeica products. While actually we will still be getting a Leica branded lens every two years, and Leica rebranded Pana gear every two years.
I think this means that there will be more liberal use of the Leica name in Panasonic cameras, like Sony, you see “Carl Zeiss” on even really cheap Sony camera. And also more “Leica” clone cameras. Shows how smart consumers are, as they buy on certain names without checking the qualify or they just want to show a name, or red dot, without caring about image quality.
Perhaps Leica could finish the, since 2012 promised, 150mm f2.8 ?
the leica model looks so much nicer then the panasonic.
$300 nicer?
what i mean is panasonic could have done better design. It is possible how we can see. And nobody complains that the Panasonic does not even look close to the best design from th LC1. ? Certaily is foulish to pay 300 bucks more for the leica.
How about an AF 17mm f/1.2? There is nothing really good yet for an AF lens with this important focal length for MFT.
There’s just 1 native AF f/1.2 lens in MFT…..keep calm and wait for new lenses…otherwise there is the excellent zuiko 17.5 f/1.8 and somewhat similar leica 15 f/1.7
If the LX100 and associated Leica clones were water / dust resistant they would have sold me… Why can’t anyone do that…. especially for a $900 to $1200 compact….
i’d rather just have good lenses without the Leica name for a reasonable prices.
does the new D-Lux has wifi feature? will it work with Panasonic’s wifi remote app?