We finally have more info about the pricing of the new lens:
In USA the lens costs $599 at BHphoto (Click here). But there is no info on the GM1 + lens kit price
In Europe the lens will cost 599 Euro and with the GM1 camera 1.000 Euro.
In Uk £549.99 and £999.99 for the camera+lens kit.
And this is the official MTF chart from the lens:
Low resolution image samples can be seen at Panasonic UK and Panasonic Germany.
And now the question: You know price, look and MTF chart…
[poll id=”232″]
P.S.: Yesterday Panasonic also announced a new 4K wearable camera. More info at Engadget.
54 Responses
already so many lenses in this focal length, I think many will already own a 14 or a 17. I personally have the Lumix 14mm and for my needs it does well, I can’t imagine spending 3-4 times as much to gain aperture and 1mm.
It would be nice if Panasonic would come out with something ultra wide instead as that is where there are relatively few choices (Samyang or Olympus 12mm) for primes.
The Olympus 12mm is ny favorite M 4/3rds lens yet. This new lens looks nice but can’t see buying it for the same price I paid for the 12..ps; I never cared for the Panasonic 14mm at all , except for the size.
To many, 1mm is not a gain but a loss. I love my 14 and don’t see meaningful gain. At this focal length the extra stop results in small gain in background blurring. Depending on what you shoot, the extra ability to blur background may or may not be important. If you shoot in dim lighting often, this lens is certainly advantageous. To me, it’s the only reason to consider this lens. But at 3x the price?
Nope, will be getting the Panny 25mm / f1.4 and the Voigtlander 17.5mm / f0.95… that should cover all my low light needs . Also have the 14-140mm and planning to get 100-300mm for superzoom needs… all on the tiny little Panny GM1, I love it.
Thanks for letting us know. All for NZ.
nice lens for sure, the 25mm summi was already a very pleasingly rendering lens.
After getting the 45mm, my 20mm is getting less use, I’m thinking about getting something a little wider. I am getting spoiled by choices: 17mm f1.8/2.8, 14mm f2.5 and now this 15mm f1.7
17 f1.8 for $450 (RRP is $490) or 15mm f1.7 for $590 (I guess the price will drop soon)
$140 difference isn’t a whole lot on the long run, specially if any of those two becomes your go-to lens, or at the very least, it will be put to good use.
I say, if you have the luxury to try both, just pick your favorite regardless of price.
Sell your 20mm and save up for voigtlander 17.5/0.95, you will enjoy a lot!
“Highly reliable metal mount is durable enough for repeated exchange of lens” now Canon and Nikon are really screwed LOL… Not.
I’ll wait to see how it compares to Olympus 12mm/f2.
I don’t need many crap lenses, but few good even if expensive (wide around 12-15, normal 20-25, tele 45-75)
Aperture ring and manual swich is great! I’ll use it for video and my wife for photo.
it’ll be faster that’s for sure. ƒ1.7 will save you one or two ISO steps.
Two steps compared to f2.0?!
okay – an exaggeration 🙂 but it’s a question of how well your camera’s sensor can exploit that little bit of extra light. Performance is exponential. Also I’m not talking full ISO steps here, there are incremental steps, and how many will depend on your camera’s software/hardware capabilities.
It’s surely a great lense, but price is to high for me, and if the diameter is ok to match the gm1, it’s not a pancake lense. Maybe one day, there is a lense with a length similar to the 20mm, the diameter of this 15mm and the price of a sigma lense 🙂
Got bitten when I bought the 20mm/1.7 and found that focus performance was terrible, and useless in low light / high ISO on Olympus bodies. This time I’ll wait and let others test it thoroughly first.
Already have the 17/1.8. The 15/1.7 would be more interesting to me if the Oly lens didn’t exist.
Same for me. I recently bought the Olympus 17/1.8 and don’t need another lens in this range. If I were in the market right now, though, I certainly would consider both of them.
Any rumors about this promise coming ?
http://www.43rumors.com/peaking-mode-coming-soon-on-the-e-m5/#disqus_thread
a bit pricy, but no doubt an impressive lens. This is the first lens I’ve seen that could replace my beloved Lumix 20mm ƒ1.7, which has notoriously slow and noisy AF. Let me put it this way: If my current Lumix lens breaks or gets lost or stolen, then yes. I’d much prefer this to the Lumix 20mm ƒ1,7 Mark II.
gm1 + lense = 499,-
I’m sure this lens is great, but what do I need it for? I have the 20mm 1.7 like almost every other m43 user. I also recently got the 12-35/2.8 because it was on sale and I’m going to use it on the GH-4 for video. Even if someone gave me this lens for free, it would be a pretty rare occasion that I would actually use it.
I think I’ll probably buy it because my current lineup is SLRMagic 12mm, Oly 25, and Oly 45 (plus a couple of random kit zooms from various body purchases over the years). The 30mm equiv. focal length would fit nicely in that lineup.
But I agree – for the majority of people (those who have the Panasonic 20, namely), this is kind of redundant. I like the manual aperture dial, but is it worth the additional cost of “upgrading” from the 20? Hard to say.
I have the 20/1.7 and I just pre-ordered this 15.
Main reasons:
20/1.7 has HORRIBLE AF. Its slow and the noise makes it annoying for videos.
20/1.7 is small but actually kind of large on my GM1.
15/1.7 is a bit longer but the lens diameter fits my GM1 perfectly.
I can just sell my 20/1.7 (and I do plan to).
I replaced my 20mm with a 25 1.4, so this does have a position for me. I don’t have a 17, though I do have the 12-40mm. Still, this should be decent for me as well. Not everyone has the 20mm 1.7.
As many said, I’m hoping for a GX7 + 15mm kit…
I would hope for Panasonic to make the 12-35mm and 35-100mm F/2.0 lenses. Also Sigma has a very nice 1.8 18-35mm lens. If I’m paying top dollar for a Prime it needs to be at least 1.6 or faster like the Voightlander’s. I’m sure there is a market for Wedding videographers and photographers, but personally I’m just not convinced as of now. Things could change, but there’s just too many other options.
Yep, that 0.1 between a 1.6 prime and a 1.7 prime make all the difference don’t they life4eva?
I agree with your general sentiment, but it would be nice if they could bring these lenses down to 1.4, Be easier to stomach the $600 price tag.
Not all lenses are the same and if you ever shot anything in your life you might now….. Specially I was referencing T 1.6 which should = F 1.4
Next time raise your hand before talking in class….
Nice lens – Altough the price is not THAT nice.
(The following part is not accoridng the 15mm F1.7 …)
I like the m4/3 system – But in general it would be GREAT to have a few (or at least ONE) better standard zoom lens for everyday usage. Because not everyone can afford a big set of super fast primes (let´s say: 15mm Leica, 25mm Olympus & 45mm Olympus for about 1200 to 1300€ – Actual package price.)
The new 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 is nice and primes are better (size / weight / picture quality
wise) – But every other system has good, fast and affordable standard zooms with acceptable constant apertures. I would LOVE to have a 12-50mm or at least 14-50mm F2.8 at a good price. At this point Sigma should jump in – As their DN lenses (19 / 30 / 60mm) are also quite nice already (used them quite intensively). @ Sigma: Make one for 600 to 700€ max. and I am in ^^.
Am I the only one who want such a lens?
For example: Used / Borrowed the 12-60mm 2.8-4 Olympus for one day.
I LOVED the focal length & flexibility (altough I used it for video primarily).
Yes! As a video guy I’m often shooting on rigs and adapting to PL/shooting fast first party primes, but a nice zoom with a good focus ring and OIS that doesn’t cost $1200 would be spectacular!
I’d even take a constant f/4 12-50 OIS or something like that, for $400. That would be incredible! Panasonic, please make this happen!
Your not alone. I wonder why Tamron don’t make zoom for µ4/3. They have such good and quite cheap zoom for APS-C (the 18-50 f2.8 cost around 300€)
Agree; i want an 18-105 F3.5 constant aperture equivalent -that is what Tamron should make, I can’t understand why the independent manufacturers are so slow to fill the gaps
I have the Oly 12-60 2.8 – 4.0 and it is a superb lens, my favourite of all time. If the auto focus on the GH3 was faster than unbelievably slow I would use it as my main lens. I agree – MFT needs something like this focal length range and speed, IS would be a benefit too. If Pana or Oly produced something like this, at whatever cost, I would buy it in a flash!
How it compares to 20 1.7 MFT chart? (I can’t read them.)
The 15mm MTF chart looks better than the MTF charts from the 20mm and 25mm. Not only is the 15mm very sharp but the rolloff is very gradual towards the edges.
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/53377779
Pre-ordered the silver version already.
Will probably sell my 20/1.7 in the next month or so.
This will be great with my GM1 😀
I bought for almost the same price a Ricoh GR, almost same equivalent focal length and it even comes with a camera! 😉 Sure this 15mm lens is great but in my opinion overpriced.
In the UK, for £20 more you could get both the Oly 17mm/1.8 and 45mm/1.8, or for a bit less the Oly 12mm/2.0. I have the Lumix 12-35mm/2.8 so don’t find this 15mm that compelling. It would be nice if Pana/Oly would bring out lenses we don’t have covered yet, like ultrawide primes, longer focal length macro or high quality long zoom/teles.
Tempting, but I’ll stick with Zuiko 17mm 2.8 and Coolpix A which I recently picked up for the insane price of 385,- euro’s with less than 1000 clicks.
YES!
It’s a tempting replacement/upgrade for my 14mm f/2.5 but I don’t really have complaints about that lens for my typical usage. It’s certainly not in the budget right now.
It’ll be on my list but after the GH4 and Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8.
I love the aperture ring, really Nice tactile thing I miss from mye Fuji Xe-1.. Noe alle we need is av shutter speed dial on a Nice m43 body and we’re in business!!
Question; what is the focus ring like? By wire?
I heard the aperture ring does not work on Olympus cameras. So, no deal.
Until Olympus changes the firmware, it won’t work, and they’ve had since the E-330 body to support the Leica/Panasonic aperture rings.
Olympus will not be changing their firmware to accommodate a competitors lenses. Think about it. (I am an Olympus fan and own two of their bodies and this fact disappoints me greatly)…remember Olympus has done nothing to rectify the “rattle snaking” of the Pany/Leica 25mm f/1.4…and since the introduction of their 25mm f/1.8…you can be sure they never will.
I think I’m going to wait until more reviews are out. I think many people get blinded with the Leica brand and forget that there are sub par Leica lenses just as for every other mass-produced brand.
Name a few? I’m serious, I actually dont know much about Leica’s history.
P&S cameras are an exception of course, those are just all terrible by comparison.
The one that comes to mind in recent memory is the Pana-Leica 25mm/1.4 prime. People rave about that lens but much of the work is actually done in the camera correction. For a 25mm it has quite a bit of edge distortion and noticeable vignetting at apertures 4 or larger. I’ve gotten some tricky shots with lots of people’s faces toward the corners of the frame and you can see quite a bit of distortion. And before people say it, it’s not a bad copy as the one I currently have is my third exchange from Amazon and all had the same issue and other readers have reported the same issue. I should have exchanged it for either the m.Z 12 or plain pana 20.
I voted “No”, because I’m going Fuji.
After I get the Panasonic 14-140mm, I’ll have all I need for my M43 cameras.
But most of my purchases will be towards Fuji glass.
I really love Oly glass, and then there’s the special Lumix glass too. I really want to try Fuji but I keep trying everything and my blood is going to be dry soon from the donations.
I won’t buy it but I welcome this new lens : the more choices, the better!