We “predicted” it on 43rumors and now it is here! The new 3D lens for MicroFourThirds cameras. The lens will be on sale by late 2010 and also the image of the lens is just a prototyp. But also other 3D stuff has been announced:
Press release:
ThePhoblographer
DDay (italian)
Gizmodo
dpreview
engadget
Panasonic is pleased to announce the development of the world’s first* twin digital interchangeable lens. The revolutionary new accessory will make high quality 3D shooting possible with an interchangeable lens system camera for the very first time. As 3D content becomes increasingly popular across a variety of platforms, Panasonic plans to release this new lens for sale before the end of the year to deliver the joy and excitement of 3D shooting to interchangeable lens system camera users.
Having already taken the lead in 3D technology, Panasonic has had great success with the launch of their 3D-capable VIERA televisions and 3D Blu-rayTM Disc Players. The 3D market is predicted to steadily grow over the coming years, as explained by industry analysts, Screen Digest: “As consumers slowly replace the main TV set in their house, and as the price of 3D TVs continue to fall, Screen Digest expects that 3D TVs will be in around a quarter of households in major developed markets by the end of 2014***. “
The introduction of the 3D lens aims to respond to demands of consumers who want to enjoy 3D shooting for themselves whilst also expanding Panasonic’s range of 3D products. The lens will allow users to capture images in 3D which can then be viewed back using 3D-capable VIERA televisions in the comfort of their own home.
“As consumers slowly replace the main TV set in their house, and as the price of 3D TVs continue to fall, Screen Digest expects that 3D TVs will be in around a quarter of households in major developed markets by the end of 2014. “
Until now, 3D shooting with an interchangeable lens system camera has only been possible by using panorama systems or a combination of two lenses and two CCDs, but these systems have drawbacks including the need for a dedicated 3D camera and the difficulties of capturing moving objects. Panasonic’s new 3D lens for the LUMIX G Micro System features two optical systems installed within the diameter of the lens mount, creating stereo images from the left and right lenses, to be processed with a 3D image processing system. Thanks to Panasonic’s advancements in optical technology, image processing system, and lens barrel design, the 3D lens still manages to retain an extremely compact size.
This new compact 3D-capable interchangeable lens allows easier handling and instant 3D shooting, producing 3D images without distortion or time lag between left and right images, even for moving objects.
Through expanding its range of 3D products, Panasonic will continue to lead the industry by bringing a true-to-life 3D experience to its customers.
21 Responses
Wow! just need a 3D home printing solution…
any word on specs and pricing?
i wonder how they manage a parallax similar to human’s eyes as the double lenses seem to be quite near to each other.
I have a feeling that this will be the GH2 kit lens ( or one of ). Better sensor and image quality, better video, touchscreen, 3D capability, seems enough of improvement over GH1.
Anyway, I hope older models will get a firmware update for this lens, but I somehow doubt it. It’s good they made the lens that compact.
P.S. Doesn’t this press release just scream “don’t buy Sony NEX, our 3D is better, just wait a couple of months” 🙂 ? Nothing concrete in it, bar a simple photo. Competition is a wonderful thing …
This is a misguided trend. As a pro consumer I want sharp, fast prime lenses more than I could ever want 3D technology for which I have no output channel.
A 4/3 sensor that does decent pictures at ISO 800 (possibly ISO 1600) and a nice E3 successor would really mean revolutionary news. All that 3D rubbish is not going to get me excited.
Oluv, you ask a good question. For most moderate- to long-distance work, the stereo perspective will be correct with a larger separation. Previous high-quality stereo lenses like the Leitz Stemar etc. were supplied with prismatic attachments to accomplish that.
See this link:(often called “beamsplitters” though I think that isn’t the right term to use for this device).
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSWlheMoHo3EMyVyel8ggoCm_oL8tQSqfkoDZsym-T0WN30P3Y&t=1&usg=__osRuuevfUWm9effwrmIYJUOLxQc=
and this one for an even more rare version for Nikon rangefinder:
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTrVsZjHaBtdxVUqiQFUwn1kYbdjzU-ORt5IyWA-qsH_dI_ntw&t=1&usg=__sRh9HQWMtxVxk69UGmq9utHDk8Q=
For close subjects, a good stereo effect can be achieved without the beamsplitter.
Nice accessory, tied to Pana’s Viera line of television sets. Anyways..I’d rather like them to focus on ordinary 2D photo- and videography as there’s still a lot to do if they want m43 to stay succesful and survive the upcoming rush of mirrorless cameras from Sony, Canon and Nikon.
I really don’t understand this 3D gimmic. Once they figure out hologram recorders i’ll be interested ;-P.
Toy lens. Agree with posts above- this is at best a distraction from the important business of developing mft. Pana have fallen into the classic trap of trying to sell us something they want to sell (because they can sell us Vieras etc too) rather than something we want (faster/smaller lenses, better bodies).
No info on its presumably fixed focal length or maximum aperture – I would expect it to be a very slow lens – not much glass to gather light with and also presumably requires double the shutter speed of a normal photo if each lens focuses onto the whole of the CCD.
I want to want this but I really dont, especially with no cheap or convenient method of viewing its output available (Viera and other brands fail on both counts).
I’m convinced that this current enthusiasm for 3d tv is yet another false start – 3d will never go mainstream until it works without glasses (very high resolution screen with fine lenticular lens coating could work – low resolution versions have been around for some time).
This is the final portrait lens. Focal length and depth of field (in 3D) allow it to overperform anything in the market till now.
Photography is not that hard to understand. We haven’t caught up with the Canon T2i quite yet, why would I want a gimmicky little plastic piece of crap instead of some fast primes? I just don’t get why we have a 3d lens coming before we have a 40-60mm F1.2. It’s not like the mount isn’t capable, and it’s not like that lens wouldn’t sell. A nice small 35-100 F2 or F3.5 constant zoom scaled down for micro four thirds would be pretty helpful, too.
Why try to sell gimmicks to photographers when they’ve already been very clear about what they want to buy? Why produce product for which there’s very little demand?
Even amateur cinematographers would rather catch up with the quality of film than catch up with James Cameron’s Avatar.
Every day I become more convinced that executive positions must be filled by a headhunting agency on another planet.
I used to go to a restaurant that did pretty brisk business. They had a number of awesome and creative sandwiches. Then they decided to make even more money by discontinuing all of those sandwiches and serving mediocre pasta lunches instead.
They had previously solicited customer input regarding their foods. Many people suggested more sandwiches, and even specific ones. In the end, they did something NOBODY suggested.
They’re gone. I miss those sandwiches.
Simply a big snap to $ony NEX, LOL
Long Live the FourThirds/MicroFourThirds
Why does everyone think that this is exclusive to a fast prime. Guys……it’s not like Panasonic only have 1 team to work on camera lens.
That’s a big ‘Whatever!’ on this lens. Panasonic has a chance to grab a top spot as a quality camera maker alongside Nikon and Canon, and with gimmicks like this they’re going to blow it. I guess they’re competing against Sony as a consumer video/HD company and not so much against Canon/Nikon as a pro-sumer camera company. If the GH2 is a GH1 with a touchscreen and no new sensor, I’m out.
Huh, requires a firmware update? I wonder if this’ll work with my PEN.
And yeah, I strongly doubt this has reasonable parallax, but for macro photos it might be neat. Lesse what Pana does with the pricing, every time I consider a Pana lens the price/performance ratio turns me away…
I think every new m4/3 lens is welcome, as long as Panasonic keeps releasing pro or prosumer lenses from time to time…. but I don’t need it!
“As consumers slowly replace the main TV set in their house, and as the price of 3D TVs continue to fall, Screen Digest expects that 3D TVs will be in around a quarter of households in major developed markets by the end of 2014. “
They’re dreaming or on drugs. A quarter of all households with 3D TV by 2014????? I remember a similar prediction about virtual reality glasses dominating the video game world by 2004. At the end of the day, this is a gimmic that most people don’t have the time or patience for. I certainly don’t want to have to wear a pair of special glasses to watch TV or look at photos.
Yes, 3D is a fad, not a trend. Okay, it’s a trend on the part of manufacturers, who are for the most part trying to force it into the consumer market.
But you can’t blame Panasonic for addressing it as a revenue stream. They’re in the business to make money, and that’s where the money is with the mainstream consumer (for now). We’ve seen Stereography become popular several times in the past, but it’s always been limited in appeal and lifespan.
This move towards 3D is really inspired by what is popular at the moment in the movie theaters. Electronics manufacturers see a big potential revenue stream and they want in (let’s not forget that the reason it appears as if there’s a lot of money in 3D is because theaters attach a few extra dollars to each movie ticket).
However, 3D is big at the movie theater because it’s one of the few ways they can differentiate their experience from the one you can have at home. Once 3D television is widely penetrated in the home (and believe me, that might take a decade, if it happens at all) you can bet the theaters will move on to another fad to bring people in, which will then be adopted into the home theater eventually. Who knows? Maybe they’ll bring back Aroma-Rama.
Honestly, I really expect all these 3D electronics manufacturers to take a bath on all this eventually. Consumers didn’t rush out to buy Blu Ray because most didn’t see the increase in image quality to be worth the money, if they could perceive the increase at all – and I don’t expect they’ll shell out the money for 3D.
But for now, 3D is a fun gadget to mess around with, and that’s okay. I won’t buy it, but if that’s where you find fun in your photography, go for it.
As a novice photographer just learning the ropes, I’m not interested in 3D right now, but in a few years when the price of 3DTV sets & glasses come down, I could change my mind. I imagine those 3D “home movies” from the Grand Canyon or Hawaii would be pretty spectacular. Also, I think with every other movie in theaters being in 3D these days, amateur cinematographers would be interested.
The question is whether this is actual 3D (2 full sensor images – one left eye, one right – shot in burst mode) or stereoscope (offset, side-by-side images, on one frame)?
This thing is interesting, and I’ll probably buy it if price is under $200. But given its size, laws of physics tell me that it’ll be good only for macro (the two lenses are very close together) well-lit (the lenses are too small, thus about f/8 or closer) scenes. Nothing bad, well. I’d say very good indeed. But not everything that’s needed for stereoscopic photography.
Let alone non-stereoscopic photography. I really like Panasonic products, they are innovative and ground-breaking in several fields that other players disregarded (mirrorless, ultra-wide-angle on compact and ultra-compact cameras). But they have to listen to their customers: if they don’t come out soon with a small and cheap (max $350) 40mm f/1.4 or f/2 they’ll lose their opportunity!
Nikon will have their mirrorless camera, canon will have their “very small” mirrorless-like camera and they both know photographic needs. Nikon and Canon will have all the needed lenses (and a huge selection of legacy lenses, much larger than u4/3), and people will be glad to make the switch.
Panasonic: hurry up!
I’m with Johnson on this one – a system that can capture holographic images is interesting – 3D specs are not.