Fuji just announced the 56mm f/1.2 lens for $999 (here at Amazon). And now comes Panasonic with their Leica Nocticron 42,5mm f/1.2 and guess how much it will cost….$1,699 (here at BHphoto)!!! Great lens with wrong pricing 🙁
Official Press Release:
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Panasonic is proud to introduce the new LEICA DG NOCTICRON 42.5mm / F1.2 ASPH. / POWER O.I.S. (H-NS043) interchangeable lens for the LUMIX G based on the Micro Four Thirds System standard. (35 mm camera equivalent: 85 mm). This incredible lens not only has a maximum aperture of F1.2, but it also incorporates optical image stabilization (POWER O.I.S.) along with full time Auto Focus. Certified by the world-renowned LEICA, exceptional high image quality is guaranteed as well as its sophisticated metal design. The name “NOCTICRON” was newly defined by Leica Camera AG for this lens that achieves a remarkably fast F1.2 aperture among Micro Four Thirds digital interchangeable lenses.
The new lens system is comprised of 14 elements in 11 groups and uses two aspherical lenses, one ED (Extra-low Dispersion) and one UHR (Ultra High Refractive Index) lens. The aspherical lenses suppress spherical aberration and distortion. The ED lens enables sharp, high contrast description without color bleeding to the corners while the UHR lens enables high optical performance that renders an image with uniformed descriptiveness from center to edges as well as downsizing of the lens unit.
The popular 42.5 mm medium-telephoto focal distance (Equivalent to 85 mm on a 35 mm camera) is perfectly suited for portraits with rich stereoscopic effect. Together with the high-speed aperture, users can utilize the beautiful soft focus for more impressive, creative shots. Nine blades give the aperture a rounded shape that produces an attractively smooth effect in out-of-focus areas when shooting at larger aperture settings. It also captures landscape with an extremely natural perspective. In addition, the aperture ring on the lens barrel allows direct, intuitive control over aperture settings.
Panasonic’s Nano Surface Coating technology has been adopted to the NOCTICRON 42.5mm / F1.2 ASPH. / POWER O.I.S. Reflection is dramatically minimized at entire visual light range (380nm-780nm) by applying the extra-low refractive index coating with nano-sized structure on the surface of the lens. It results in a super clear image with dramatic reduction of ghost and flare.
Due to the shallow depth of field which is unique to the large aperture lens, even a slight handshake can potentially cause images to be out-of-focus. However, the POWER O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) which is integrated in the LEICA DG NOCTICRON 42.5mm effectively compensates for not only small, fast movement but also large, slow movement, making it easy to capture super clear shots even when shooting in low-lit situations such as in night time or indoors.
It incorporates superior inner focus system, which enables excellent resolution and contrast from close-up to infinity. The inclusion of newly developed stepping motor makes the focusing action smooth and silent for use in both still and video recording. Notably the performance of Auto Focus is far superior to the phase-difference AF when a fast lens with smaller F value is used. When mounted on LUMIX G cameras, users can take advantage of the high-speed, high-precision Contrast AF system.
The sophisticated metal design of LEICA DG NOCTICRON 42.5mm / F1.2 ASPH. / POWER O.I.S., including the hood, deserves to bear the prestigious LEICA name. A highly reliable metal mount is durable enough for repeated mounting of the lens.
10 Responses
Not only is it dramatically more expensive than the Fuji 56/1.2, it has one stop less “DoF control” which is really the only reason you would even buy such a lens. So instead of buying this lens, you could buy a used X-E1, or a new X-M1 plus the Fuji lens for the same or less money.
Or better yet, be a Nikon full frame camera owner and spend $499 (or less with sales, etc.) on the 85mm f/1.8G which is probably going to produce higher quality images than any of these.
Oh and to add insult to injury, this Micro Four Thirds lens is larger and heavier than the APS-C Fuji 56/1.2. (if only just).
Heavier and way larger than Fuji´s f/1.2 lens for APSC. Where is the point of going 4/3 if there is not advantage in size?
Great lens? Have you tested yet? People go wild with large aperture lenses and Leica name…sad really.
$1,600 for what is really a 85/2 lens?
Do has Zachery Jensen wrote, get a real camera camera like Nikon and buy yourself a no frills high quality lens for 1/3 of the price.
M4/3 is getting more and more dead with this approach. What next, a Panasonic G something signed by Dior? The system is getting more and more niche orientated and pedantic too.
If you wan’t to call it a 85/f2 because you want to compare it’s focal length and DoF to a 85/f2 on a bigger sensor that’s fine by me. But it’s really a F1.2 lens, could you point me to a stabilized cheap ~85mm/f1.8 for Nikon of Canon camera’s? And although this lens is big for M43’s, body+lens will still be much smaller and lighter then any Nikon APS-C body+lens.
But it needs to be really really good to justify the pricing, thats for sure.
Hi Zachery Jensen
I have the exact opposit belief about the depth of field issue and appreciate the greater depth of field.
For example. a 90mm lens for full frame when used to take a picture of a human face with some neck with an f of 1.2 only has a depth of field of .02meters, or 2 cm. This makes focous tricky. Eyes can be ok, but end of nose not. A 45 mm 4/3 sensor has a depth of field of .04 at an f of 1.2. This is a much better focous range, face is in focous and if one wishes to push the blur region back or forward a bit just move the focous point a bit.
When ever I used a 90mm lens for full frame, I often had to loose shutter speed just to keep the photo focoused. For me my usually reaction was I was loosing light gathering capacity just to keep what I wanted in focous.
Below is a link to check the depth of field region your self
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/dof-calculator.htm
You are right. Greater depth of field while maintaining luminosity could be an advantage. But making a lens so big for a smaller sensor format is plain stupid.
i think this is a great lens on paper, but will have to wait to see more results before coming to any conclusions on this.
m43 lenses have always been pricy, plus this lens is quite a niche so I would expect the price to be slightly higher because they sell less of it. I wouldn’t be surprised if this could focus much better coupled with a oly/pana camera than a fuji camera and the 56 1.2 though. i’m not a m43 shooter but I know people who own a EM-5 and the focus always feel snappy and quick, the touch screen is also much better because it allows you to tap and select focus, especially on a f1.2
I agree with Shi Zheng,
Great on paper,
But I would like to seethe Bokha. I prefer circular type of bokha instead of “(” shapes near edges. 85 90 mm lenses usually do a better job of delivering nice blurring.
I particular like the ability to control f stop on the lens.
Also, like others interested in the lens, I wish it wasn’t so pricey.
killer lens – price now at BnH $1599
http://www.cameralabs.com has some really nice images from the lens – I do hope Panasonic drops the price near $1000 as now Fuji has a F1.2 for their X-series which is APS-C size lens – so has an advantage –
At $1599 it is a bit steep for a prime – so hopefully Panasonic will hear us and lower price as otherwise I will just be happy with my 25mm F1.4