Panasonic published a new lens design patent describing a 12mm f/1.2 OIS lens for the Micro Four Thirds system! A terrific fast wide angle lens with built-in lens stabilization…sounds good to me! The patent also shows more compact design variations with f/1.4, f/2.0 and f/2.8 aperture.
[poll id=”244″]
Source: Egami.
70 Responses
A 12mm f1.2 would be great but if possible I would prefer a 9mm version.
I would, but I prefer an ultra wide prime such as a 7mm f2.8 or wider. – Took a shot of the interior of the blue mosque with the 9mm, it just wasn’t wide enough :/
I would ‘even’ be fine with F3.5, of F3.8 like a Super-Elmar. =)
A 12/1.2 is awesome too, just for very different purposes. Basically a really fast night-time wide-angle like a mild 28mm equivalent (because 24mm equiv on MFT doesn’t really have that wide look it has with 3:2 imho), useful for all kinds of purposes. Maybe even asto-photography. Don’t know what the OIS is doing there thoug, makes no sense what-so-ever, even Panasonic started using IBIS. Bulk and potential quality degradation for nothing.
I’ll take what I can get :p
Here’s the shot with the 9mm, had to lay down on the ground and still missed parts of the ceiling :/
https://flic.kr/p/oB8MSX
Get Autopano Pro, works perfectly even hand-held (with a little practice). Especially if you only need just a little extra. Just because it’s called Pano doesn’t mean you can only use it horizontally or even limit yourself to only one axis. 😉 One shot of all four corners each will do.
For video the stitching is not sustainable so a 7 mm low light lens is still preferable.
Of course it is! But that’s a whole other matter. Doesn’t make this any less awesome. Always good to find ways to do more with less. 🙂
I see no point in f/1.2 in 12mm lens. OK I can see it would be fine for low light photography but for me a f/2.8 in a compact lens would be just fine.
Well that’s just your lack of imagination. 😉 (seriously, plenty of use)
F1.2 it’s not just about low night , is about swallow DOF that m4/3 always struggling in this segment .
F2.8 is not sufficient enough when come to bokehlicious in m4/3 .
It is for low light, or more like hand-held night-time – that should be easily done with such a fast wideangle. If you want bokeh then don’t get a 12mm!
Pretty sure a 12mm fast aperture lens is mostly for low light and astrophotography. Getting shallow DoF with a 24mm equiv focal length isn’t that necessary, as it requires getting close up to the subject regardless of aperture which then distorts the image.
The Canon 24mm 1.4 L is a fantastic lens that allows both good subject isolation and a wide angle of view. Nikon also makes one. This Panasonic lens would be very similar. I’d say there is definitely a market for this lens.
What ?
15mm F1.7 & now 12mm F1.2 .
I vote yes but only if it is Leica sealed lens .
Another unobtainable Leica F1.2 lens?
My ideal mft wide angle lens would be a Panasonic 7-14mm f2.0 or f1.8 probablly won’t happen but it would be a great combination for the GH4
yes!
1800 USD…
I voted “no”. Price and size will be what it must be and not for me.
I’m in trouble: I don’t like zooms but would like a decent wide angle. 12/2 from Oly is still too expensive. F4 and MF would all be ok for me. Any recommendation?
Yes, not f4 but f2: the samyang 12mm.
Yes, yes, yes. Both are nice. Maybe the samyang. I also considered the 9mm body cap. And then put things straight in post. Wide angle is rare for me and I still don’t master it anyway. (posted in wrong position first)
SLR Magic Hyperprime 12mm T1.6. Nice little lens.
Yeah, between that lens, Rokinon 12mm, Olympus 12mm, and even the Olympus 12-40mm lenses, I don’t see many people buying this. Plus, it will probably be $1000+. Wasn’t there also another brand of manual focus lenses coming with a 12mm?
Kowa Prominar 12mm f1.8.
Their 8.5mm f2.8 is the one that intrigues me.
http://www.kowa-prominar.com/special/wide_lens/index.htm
Yes, yes, yes. Both are nice. Maybe the samyang. I also considered the 9mm body cap. And then put things straight in post. Wide angle is rare for me and I still don’t master it anyway.
No, but 18 or 19 or 20mm 1.2 or 1.3 or 1.4 would be very interesting.
Those are exactly the FL we don’t need. You’re interested in a 20mm f/1.2-f/1.4, really? Maybe a super high quality 16-17.5mm f/1.2-f/1.4, but MFT desperately need much wider and much longer primes.
This is getting pretty boring! The zillionst ultra-fast prime lens. *yawn* Lens roadmaps are full of fast prime lenses and megazooms. What about something a little bit more remarkable like a fisheye-zoom, a MFT-version of the 35mm macro, a macro-zoom (like Canon and Minolta once had) or a tilt-shift lens…?!?
I might just buy the 7-14mm 2.8 for landscape – a 12mm is too wide for most things and not wide enough for the rest – 1.2 is fancy but I doubt I´ll need it… Any price suggestions? 1500€ or less?
I voted NO, simply because of price.
If M43 can’t beat Sony and Fuji in price with thier top of the line cameras and lenses, they will lose.
Panasonic and Olympus, well, mostly Olympus is losing marketshare to Sony and Fuji. The only way M43 can beat them is through Price, being Smaller, or providing better features, 4K, Ibis, Silent shutter, etc.
In actuality, they need to do all of the Above to compete. Fuji is building out a formidable lens line up, where most of them are serious glass. M43 would be best to fill in the gaps in thier line up.
perfect low-light video lens for in tight spaces. I’d buy it.
17.5mm 1.2!! I would happily pay a premium for this focal length
yawn…I will believe it when I see it.
i vote no because i dont have money
Never write off about your financial status & commitment to this great fast lens should it become a reality .
For me , I’m not much better , being unemployed for few months & just pick up a job recently but my commitment to buy a great lens never die .
I can’t afford a Nocticron right now but never write off to have this great lens , it’s the matter of time before things turn sweet to me .
the moment i have a solid income the debts i have will suck up all the extras for now. Later I could think again about things like this, there is always hope.
I will consider it, but when it turns out to be expensive, I will feel sad and not buy anything.
I would consider it, but Panasonic will probably charge $1400 for it, so no
I would buy this.
This is not m43 lens.
From original link: BF=back focus=Distance from rear element to focus plane 0.4mm, that is even shorter than most fix-lens digital cam.
Half imaging height: that is half of length of diag of imaging sensor 0.86mm. What a tinn wenny sensor.
And rest of data:
From half imaging length we can know it is a 25x crop factor sensor.
And focal length is 1mm, which is about 25mm FF equiv.
Match the field of view which is 12mm 4/3 equiv.
Units are not specified. They could be inches. Then it’s a FF lens
What is a “tinn wenny” sensor?
The lens is described as a scaled design (normalize focal length (i.e. f=1.0) and all other measurements are in those units). It’s a common way of patenting a lens design.
That said the BF for a 12mm lens is under 6mm. So this is not a micro 4/3 lens (which have a BF/flange focal distance of 19.25mm).
The lens design also don’t include the “thick plate” (the 4mm thick sensor cover) in front of the sensor (that’s true of all m43 lenses — take a look at real m43 lens patents).
This lens is for a fixed lens camera (of some sort) not m43.
Yes, yes, yes, I want this lens !
I already have a 12mm f2. This, IF for a m43 camera, should be bigger. No reason at the moment to plan the selling of a good f2 for this f1.2.
This could be a great tool to capture Milky Way though.
It’s nice to see that Panasonic is gambling on very fast primes. f1.2 lenses will give more control over dof considering the mft sensor. However imo the f1.8 / f2 primes from Olympus are better in terms of size/weight and price. Not to mention the IBIS that makes all primes stabilized (5 stops). Those pluses make Olympus lenses winners when used on Olympus bodies.
The consumer will gain a lot if it has more products to choose from. And that’s good news for everybody!
http://photobyandrei.wordpress.com/
I’m interested. Bring it on, Pana!
Could be an awesome lens. I hope it features the aperture ring that Panny have been favoring of late (Oly, please do this too!), and would love to see them add weather sealing. I don’t (yet) own the Oly 12mm but do have the Panasonic 12-35 2.8, which is a great lens. If this can come in at a much smaller size than the zoom, I’d be very tempted.
12mm f/1.2 and OIS … i like it !!
Maybe if it was 1.0…but 1.2? I don’t think so.
More compact f1.4 is a better idea IMO. Shouldn’t be much larger in size than the 45mm macro IMO.
My kingdom for a 7mm/f2.8!
Why can’t m4/3 have an UWA prime lens?!?
I’m with you there, the olympus 12mm f2.0 is good but sometimes you want ultra wide angle (7mm) and there is no option bright enough to shoot indoors with no flash.
Not a m43 lens … see my common inline below.
It says right there in parentheses (4/3″ equiv.). This implies that it’s not a m43 lens. The confusing thing is that the heading states “MFT lens design”. I agree with Kevin. This is for a fix lens point and shoot that is not m43.
A fixed-lens point and shoot at this focal length and f/1.2?
Highly unlikely, to the point of ridiculousness.
most of cellphones have 28 or 35 FOV and f/2 lenses, the lens in question is only a bit wider than them.
Nothing intriguing about this. It’s a lens, and I believe lenses were invented a long time ago. For a patent to be intriguing, it must describe something not yet seen, something completely alien to human experience, possibly of cosmic importance and having repercussions throughout the universe. Such a thing would impress me!
It’s going to be large, expensive, and even with a f/1.2 aperture won’t have shallow DOF. Unless you really need wide angle shots in extremely dim light, it seems to answer a need most people don’t have.
Most people don’t have a need for shallow DoF in a wide angle shot, either.
Its perfect for the BMPCC.
Good if Panasonic can make a number of good primes with OIS that also can be used for video, as it seems they cannot make their in-body sensor IS work for video (GX7); maybe because of heating problems when they want the video quality to be really good. A 20mm or 25mm would seem a good idea.
I would be pleased with this lens as my new travel lens for low light situations…can’t wait…
love it – will get it – unless it will be $1699 – which I suspect it will be –
The FF version for Canon L 50mm F1.2 is around $1600 –
Can’t quite understand why M43 lenses are so much – a simple 50mm F1.8 for APS-c for Canon is $120 – the 20mm F1.7 from Panasonic is around $400 and neither have IS and have both similar build quality – the 25mm F1.8 from Olympus is also around $400 –
so I am not seeking just DOF but low light performance – as the M43 sensor needs all the help it can get 🙂 due to smaller size and 16MP –
Someone said that Panasonic was about to introduce an Organic sensor that had super low light performance – – what is the truth in the rumor? first is such a thing on the way and will it have a much better low light performance ?
Have you folks never shot with a 24mm lens on a FF?? I loved my color skopar in my leica days and even a 25mm f4 can get you nice bokeh with an near perfect reportage FOV for environemental portraits…
This 24mm f2.4 with the low light ability of a nocticron seems like a winner, and who says otherwise is just not a photographer!
It’s going to be yet another overpriced toy for fauxtographers like you…
A Panasonic 7-14mm f2 or f1.7 would be amazing, and more beneficial to me. Seeing that Olympus are about to release a 7-14mm f2.8 Panasonic could really corner the market with a f2.0 or (if possible) f1.7
+1 ! A 10mm f1.2 or f1.4 would be an even better wide option for 4K than 12mm
Based on the performance of the other Leica branded primes I will get this lens. It will be great if it has IS for hand held video. The Nocticron is as good or better than anything Canon makes including lenses that are more expensive so it is well worth the premium price. I expect this lens to be comparably priced.