Kenko-Tokina (Click here) announced a new 300mm lens for Micro Four Thirds. And that lens looks good on a PEN camera! Here are the specs:
300mm: focal length (equivalent to version 35mm: equivalent to 600mm)
F/6.3: brightness
66mm: length lens
66mm: the maximum diameter
55mm: diameter filter
Less than 300g: Weight
Manual focus
And also Kowa (Click here) will show some new m43 lens at the CP+ show in Yokohama. These are the lenses:
12mm f2.0 4/3 “LM12XC (110,000 yen 4,450)
16mm f2.0 4/3 “LM16XC (100,000 yen 8,150)
25mm f2.0 4/3 “LM25XC (90,000 yen 5,550)
35mm f2.0 4/3 “LM35XC (90,000 yen 2,400)
50mm f2.0 4/3 “LM50XC (90,000 yen 300)
Don’t know if this are newly designed lenses or lenses based on current [shoplink 28721 ebay]Kowa C-mount lenses (here on eBay)[/shoplink].
72 Responses
That’s really compact! But never used such a long focal length (600 eqiv.) What is the usual aperture value range?
That’s really compact! But never used such a long focal length (600 eqiv.) What is the usual aperture value range?
It’s a Mirror lens (Catadioptric (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catadioptric_system)), therefore the Aperture is fixed (in this case f6.3), sometimes there are discs which fit in rear of a Cat’ lens to close down but not all Cats have this facility.
Also, the f-stop (ratio of aperture to focal length) and t-stop (actual light transmission) are significantly different in a mirror lens because the mirror in front blocks part of the light.
So this lens is fixed f6.3 but will transmit light like an f8 (or slower) lens.
I agree that they have a lot of weaknesses, but mirror lenses can be fun too.
That secondary mirror blocks only something like about one fifth of the area so light loss because of it isn’t even half a stop.
And normal lenses have actually easily as much light loss because of number of lens elements and surfaces light has to go through.
It’s a mirror lens. They’re all very compact and usually very dim – at least f/8. They also have, uhm, interesting bokeh 😀
http://comparecamerasales.com/wp-content/uploads/mirror%20lens%20bokeh.jpg
Lovely example of the Donuts, Boooo!
x
Yep. This is what you get when you have a central obstruction.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA love it!
Kinda Pandora planet :)))
Looks pretty compact..
Price? 🙂
Hmm… manual focus. I wonder if the focus ring will activate focus assist. Without at least that, I don’t see a lot of uses for this lens.
Just push the magnify manual button.
@Jesper
Looks like a reflex type telephoto unit, if so, the aperture will be fixed – f/6.3 will be your only available setting.
Makes you wonder what was Nikon thinking with their “smart G” lenses…
Turning the focus ring does nothing for MF assist and it dissanages AF only while you are turning it, so if didn’t hold a halfpress on a shutter while manual focusing, the camera will AF again when you press the shutter…
Not very smart, is it… :-/
I am not THAT fond of mirror lenses for m43. I used the Minolta Rokkor 250mm/5.6 on my Panny G2 via adapter; this lens weighs even less. Although the image quality is quite decent, manual focusing this lens is not so easy.
I don’t understand the google-translated stuff on the kowa-page.
According to that, the 12mm f2 lens costs 110000 yen (~ 1100€)? With the Oly 12/2 with autofocus and the even cheaper 12/1.6 Noktor/Slrmagic another, more expensive 12/2 makes no sense – or am i missing something here?
Most likely movie lenses for video. Kowa do make high end movie lenses. “SLR Magic” is no match!
I dunno, that new T.95 lens is supposed to be pretty out of this world.
Have you seen the night shot samples (from the latest iteration)? The OOF highlights, at least, are pretty out of the world, indeed. Useful for UFO hoaxers! LOL!
BTW, it isn’t T0.95. That itself would make it out of this world! 😉
I have an Angenieux 25/0.95 (M2) that has a T value of 1.1
Are Kowa lenses any good? Is the pricing okay?
Kowa makes C-mount lenses mostly seen on security cameras and older 16mm video or closed circuit TV. They can be good and they are all manual focus. Provided they do not vignette, they can be very good lenses. The question is will they be sold in the US or only Japan.
600mm sounds like real fun, but mf not so much
They 100-300mm will be so much better than this lens. And probably not cost that much more. What I want is someone to make a nice m4/3s telescope. Maybe a 1250mm F4.0.
difference is in double length:
Panasonic 100-300mm = 126mm
Kenko-Tokina 300mm = 66mm
I think this lens will be $200 tops.
Other reflexes are. And those are much bigger, more material is used…
Another difference with the Pana is that this lens almost certainly doesn’t have optical stabilisation. So using it on a Pana body will be that more challenging than on an Olympus (only the latter providing sensor stabilisation).
wonder if any of the others will be af capable… we really need low cost primes e.g. sub $250 imho.
NEX lens styling on m4/3 :).
As it’s a Tokina ,which will be available in a number of mounts, I don’t see the styling of any consequence.
Nex lense of that size would probably be a 50 or maximum 90mm equi. though.
But the question is: Does it only look like NEX design, or does it also support an APS-C-sized sensor? If this lens would indeed be a NEX-lens only featuring a m43-adapter instead, then it was massively oversized. I’m afraid the trend goes to adapting APS-C-constructed lenses to be sold additionally with an m43 mount. In that case, the weight-quality-ratio makes more sense using a NEX body, unfortunately.
Sorry for speculating. Kenko site states “dedicated microFourThirds”. Apropos design: Is it really NEX-style or could it be Panasonic-grey like Panasonic adapters?
Here’s a couple of 500mm Cat’s on ebay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mirror-Lens-500mm-f8-M4-3-micro-four-thirds-Olympus-Panasonic-/180807873545?pt=UK_Lenses_Filters_Lenses&hash=item2a18fd3409
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CENTON-OLYMPUS-OM-FIT-1-8-F-500MM-REFLEX-MIRROR-LENS-/110818679498?pt=UK_Lenses_Filters_Lenses&hash=item19cd4edaca
take a look.
I’ve tried a 8/500 mm catadioptric lens (Vivitar branded, Samyang made) on my non-micro-good-old-real-FourThirds bodies using a high priced Novoflex adapter. The image-quality is so weak and unsharp that comparable images shot with an Olympus ZD 70-300 at 300 mm show you much more details. You have been warned! Hint: Try the moon test. Whenever you can see the moon, take your tripod and make photos of the moon using all kind of telephoto lenses you may have or you are interested to buy. The moon craters will tell you the truth, absolutely!
Hi Mountainwalker,
Just to say I’m not looking for one of these myself, as a user of the 50-200 ZE with 2x convertor also use the Zuiko 200/f4.0 with 2xa, so I have no use of it. Funnily enough I was out the other night on top of mountain trying some Lunar shots, froze my nuts off (was -7 plus wind chill, very cold) even on a Manfrotto wind was a little to strong for crystal sharp shots. Will be trying again though.
Moonshot with 500mm mirror. Not that bad. Maybe you do better with the 70-300?
http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/9887794399/photos/939773/fd500mm
The link above is obviously _not_ based on a Samyang $100 mirror lens, branded under Vivitar or Walimex etc. Indeed this photo looks much better than taken with a ZD 70-300. In fact there are old mirror lenses like the famous Nikkor 8/500 which are incredibly sharp but can not be compared to Samyang’s “toy” lenses.
If it had AF I might have been compelled to give it a try. I’m not a huge fan of mirror lenses but with practice it is possible to avoid situations that produce those ugly donuts. Still, this is not a bad addition to the m43 line-up. Can’t wait to see what other lenses Tokina may add to the line. They are my personal favorite of the big three 3rd party lens makers.
Is that on a 43/m43 camera?
Oh boy oh boy the future of m4/3 is good, so good !
What are these prices in euro or usd?
Is it specifically designed for Micro FourThirds?
Yes and it has electronic parts for EXIF etc.!
This is a REFLEX lens or mirror lens. However it is MF. Both Oly and Pana bodies don’t have a feature like “focus peaking” which NEX has. Therefore, it may be a bit difficult to focus on M4/3.
And one more thing, a tripod is very necessary for this kind of lens.
The 300/6.3 looks neat!
This lens is on stock for several months with a 500mm focal length and not particular expensive.
Look: http://www.ebay.de/itm/Monster-Tele-Objektiv-Panasonic-G3-GF2-GF1-G-500mm-/290642538223?pt=DE_Foto_Camcorder_Objektive&hash=item43aba52eef
That’s a totally different lens with no electronics (no EXIF). The new one announced here supports EXIF information.
Kowa has announced that they will create m43 lenses, and everyone is still talkin about the mirror lens?
That’s a pretty useless lens !
I actually love that Tokina is releasing lenses like this. Yeah, mirror lenses have a lot of drawbacks, but this shows that Tokina understands the mirrorless market. A 600mm equivalent lens that’s 2.6″ long? That’s pretty awesome. It’ll be exciting to see what else they have in store.
Looks nice. Not in the market because I already have a 100-300, but I’d perk my ears up more for a 500mm mirror lens.
Yeah seriously the real news is a set of primes from Kowa. Kowa lenses can have great character, from what I understand.
So, now we got the mirror out of the camera after decades of suppression by the evil(!) mirror industry, we put them back on the lens mount? Nice twist 😉
If E-M5 will have focus peaking or something similar, I will be absolutely happy with these manual lenses.
+10 !
I want to have “focus peaking”.
I hope firmware update for Lumxi GX1, too. (or any others, too)
This is actually attractive
edit: just noticed the Kowa lineup. sounds useful. might get some for the focal lengths i won’t use too often (12mm probably)
The Kowa line is a very usefull set of lenses, very interesting.
Have one Pana 100-300 and one Zeiss 300/4(=600mm). The Pana 300 and the Zeiss 300 are very different in perspective. The Pana actually crops less than a Nikon DX 70-300 (=450mm). The Zeiss really brings you closer and if light is good, the IQ is very good, much better than Pana on 300mm.
600mm on m43 brings you very close to the subject – and that is good because it weighs close to 1100g, don’t have to walk that far! 🙂
Perspective and bokeh is hefty and results with the right subject very nice.
Just a question…
This knew lenses could be great fot the olympus new body. But…. I ask my self if such a combo could have any disadvantage in terms of image quality, like color aberrations or other small/big problems, considering that the compatibility between lenses and bodys it is not 100% guaranted.
I am considering to buy them… so I ask for your advice. What do you think?
Thanks
Oh, sorry… I was speaking about the NEW panasonic zoom lenses¡¡¡ (
The only disadvantage you might be seeing is color aberrations. But I don’t think they will be a big issue. You’d have to wait for the test results. Some digital photography web sites will surely examine that.
So far I haven’t had any problems with this using Lumix lenses on Olympus bodies. They work great.
If I mount this lens on my camera, can I still call it a “mirrorless” camera…? 😉
LOL Good 1!
ooooo nice, oooo small, and here I was lugging an F-mount sigma 400 around
According to Kowa’s website, these new XC lenses do feature 4/3″ coverage indeed, but only come with a C-mount, no native mFT support. It looks like they designed them primarily with FT/mFT in mind but didn’t care to attach an adapter.
Admin are you sure you didn’t mistake 4/3″ coverage for native mFT mount?
http://www.kowa.eu/fa/en/4_3inch_xc_series.php
Yeah it looks like he did, and the lenses are available for purchase already.
It’s a shame the Pentax variants don’t fit on a c-mount adapter.
Not only are they faster, but the design is really cool with the red paint and all.
The Kowa variants are really long and generic looking.
Kenko is also releasing a 400 mm f/8 mirror lens for m43 (and Sony A/E-mount, Canon, Nikon and Pentax)
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fdc.watch.impress.co.jp%2Fdocs%2Fnews%2F20120131_508811.html
I have to admit, that is a great looking lens and I used to get pretty good results with an old Tamron 500mm f8 mirror lens on my E-P1 – but I wish that someone would just build a m4/3 300mm prime lens with an aperture of f4 or so. Something that is more compact but has better image quality than the ZD 70-300mm that I am using on an adapter I would buy that tomorrow!
is there any reason why these types of lenses cannot have variable aperture?
I didn’t read all comments. (too much)
so below might be repeated one.
This is “mirror lens” (if you don’t know it, search wikipedia).
what this Tokina’s is unique, is that it has “the electric terminals” for m4/3 mount that communicates to m4/3 body.
Consequently, you get lens info. in EXIF info.
Adding to that, this lens has “focus position encoder” to communicate in the m4/3 protocol through the terminals.
I don’t think any of current m4/3 body records focus distance (not focal length). So I don’t know what the feature means. But I guess, when you rotate the focus ring, m4/3 body automatically enters “MF-assist mode” (enlarge the finder image), because the body knows when you rotate the ring. Of course, depending on your mode setting (MF-assist: ON)
Quote:
12mm f2.0 4/3 “LM12XC (110,000 yen 4,450)
PLEASE explain 4,450
Thank you