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Panasonic updates its lens roadmap to add the upcoming Lumix S 18mm f/1.8

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Panasonic announced that they were working on a new Lumix S 18mm f/1.8 lens for the L mount camera system earlier this month when they announced the launch of the new Lumix S 35mm f/1.8 lens. Now, the company has updated their lens roadmap to include it, knocking off the more generic “large-aperture wide fixed focal length” lens from the previous S series roadmap.

There’s no word on exactly when the new lens will appear and simply being added to the lens roadmap doesn’t necessarily mean that it’ll come any time soon, either. But given that it’s the only lens with a designated focal length that doesn’t already exist, we might not have to wait too long.

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ZY Optics brings its Mitakon Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95 to Leica L mount

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ZY Optics has announced the release of their Mitakon Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95 lens for L mount. The fast aperture manual focus lens is designed for use with full-frame mirrorless cameras and is compatible with the complete line of L mount cameras from Sigma, Panasonic and Leica.

The Mitakon Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95 was initially offered in full-frame format with Sony E mount in 2014. A Mark II came in 2017 and it was then refreshed in 2019 with a new Mark III version. The Mark III was still available in Sony E mount but also Nikon Z and Canon RF, too. Today’s release now makes it available for every full-frame mirrorless system currently available.

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Panasonic officially announces is full-frame L mount “nifty fifty” 50mm f/1.8

It looks like Nikon isn’t the only one dropping long-overdue new glass today. Photos and bits of info have been leaked over the last few days and now, as expected, it’s Panasonic’s turn. Yup, today, Panasonic has officially announced their new Lumix S 50mm f/1.8 full-frame lens for L mount.

Coming in at around $450, this isn’t an inexpensive lens, given that it’s “just” a 50mm f/1.8 lens. With Canon & Sony still floating around at $200-250 for their 50mm f/1.8 mirrorless lenses, the new Panasonic lens sets expectations pretty high.

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Leica launches their new 24-70mm f/2.8 L and it looks like a rehoused Sigma Art lens

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Leica has now officially unveiled the Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-70mm f/2.8 ASPH lens and, well… it looks like it’s basically the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Art lens in a different housing. The specs of the two lenses are virtually identical, except the one with Leica written on it is more than two and a half times the price at $2,795.

The number of elements, groups, minimum focus distance, magnification factor, everything is basically the same. The only real difference seems to be that the Leica uses a metal housing instead of Sigma’s carbon-composite housing.  What other changes there may be internally are unknown. But it almost certainly seems to be using Sigma’s optics.

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Price and more Leica 24-70mm f/2.8 L mount lens photos leak ahead of official announcement

After yesterday’s leak of the first product photo of Leica’s new VARIO-ELMARIT-SL f2.8 / 24-70mm ASPH lens, three more have now also leaked. No surprises for guessing who leaked them. Yes, that’s right, it’s Nokishita. They’ve also confirmed a price for the two kits, including the Leica SL2 or SL2-S cameras.

As a reminder, Sigma’s old 24-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Art lens that they adapted for L mount costs a mere $1,059. Panasonic’s Lumix S Pro 24-70mm f/2.8 L mount lens costs $2,200. Yesterday’s estimate for the new Leica lens was $2,750. According to this latest post, the Leica 24-70mm f/2.8 L kits will cost you around $8,050 bundled with the SL2-S and $10,500 with the SL2.

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Upcoming Leica 24-70mm f/2.8 L mount lens rumours and photo leak

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The first close-up product photo of Leica’s VARIO-ELMARIT-SL f2.8 / 24-70mm ASPH lens has leaked to Twitter, courtesy of Nokishita, with a claimed price tag of 352,000 yen (including tax), equating to around $3,215. It’s supposed to be part of a new “economy line” from Leica, although that name might have lost a little something in translation.

According to the latest rumours, the US price is expected to be a little closer to $2,750, which is noticeably more expensive than the Panasonic Lumix S Pro 24-70mm f/2.8 L mount lens, which sits around $2,200. It’s also said to be based on the optics of the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Art lens, which is significantly lower at around $1,059.

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Sigma has now officially launched their new 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art series lens for L & E mount mirrorless

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Sigma has now officially announced the totally-already-leaked Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art series lens for Sigma/Panasonic/Leica L mount and Sony E mount mirrorless cameras. Essentially replacing the 9-year-old Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art, Sigma says that the new lens has been redesigned from the ground up, optimised for today’s mirrorless systems.

Of course, at the moment that’s only two mirrorless systems. L and E mounts. There’s no word on when or if we can expect this lens to come to Z and RF mounts at some point. Sigma says that the new 35mm f/1.4 DG DN offers “exceptional optical performance”, a fast quiet autofocus motor and a “professional feature-set”.

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Retailers leak complete Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art specs, photos and prices early

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It’s not really much of a surprise that with the official announcement expected tomorrow we’re seeing leaks. This time, though, it doesn’t come from Nokishita. Well, it sort of does, but not directly. This time they’re just the messenger. British retailer Campkins Cameras and Dutch retailer Foto Konijnenberg both published complete product listings for the upcoming Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG DN Art series lens for L & E mounts a day early.

According to the now-removed listings (thanks, Google Cache!), the UK price will be £745 with the EU price coming in at €849. This tallies up with the previously rumoured $899 price for the USA. The specs pretty much confirm those leaked by Nokishita a few days ago, and also offers up a couple more that weren’t in the previous leak.

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Sigma’s new fp L has a 61-megapixel BSI sensor with an AA filter and no IBIS

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Well, Sigma has now officially announced their new Sigma fp L mirrorless camera and… Well, it’s a bit meh, really. Sure, it has a shiny new 61-megapixel backside illuminated sensor, but it’s not the rumoured new colour filter array. It’s just a regular Bayer sensor. And like the Sigma fp, there’s still no mechanical shutter and no IBIS.

It does retain the same form factor as the original Sigma fp, though, so fp owners looking to upgrade to the fp L should be able to retain any of their current SmallRig cages and other bits designed for the fp. It’s an odd upgrade, because it seems to be geared towards photographers with the new high res sensor, but lacking features photographers wanted in an fp follow-up.

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Sigma’s full-frame Foveon still far from ready, but “we’re still working on it” says Sigma

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It’s been a long, strange trip for Sigma’s Foveon X3 sensor since the L mount alliance was announced in 2018. During that announcement, Sigma said they were working on a new full-frame Foveon L mount camera to come in 2019. Then in March 2019, its release got pushed to 2020. But in February 2020, Sigma announced that they were starting over from scratch.

Now, in February 2021, Sigma CEO Kazuto Yamaki has posted a video to YouTube retelling last year’s story and the decision to terminate the contract with the original chip manufacture with whom they were collaborating. But today’s announcement reaffirms the company’s commitment to releasing a full-frame Foveon L mount camera… Eventually.

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