It's official: New L-mount alliance between Leica, Panasonic and Sigma

[HHPhoto]

Hi,

currently there is a press conference going on held by Leica, Panasonic and Sigma.
It is official now: These three companies have formed an alliance using the Leica L-mount.
So in future there will be also Panasonic and Sigma cameras / lenses with the Leica L-mount.

https://www.photoscala.de/2018/09/25/leica-stellt-s3-vor-und-verkuendet-l-mount-alliance/

And Leica introduces a new Leica S3.

Cheers, Jan

 

[Archlich]

An updated SL and a high resolution SL. With better ergonomics, (likely) lower price and full lens compatibility to go.

But Leica users will buy Leica anyway...

I wonder if they're gonna use the Leica or the Panasonic TTL flash protocol, or maybe both?

 

[jarski]

full frame Foveon using L-mount, easily adapted for M-glass. anyone interested? (besides me 😀 )

 

[narsuitus]

What is an "L" mount?

 

[Calzone]

What is an "L" mount?

"L-Mount" is a Leica developed lens mount first developed for the Leica TL series that was adopted for use on the SL and later CL.

This new lens mount has a larger diameter than a M-mount and is less constricting as far as lens design.

Cal

 

[ptpdprinter]

What is an "L" mount?

It is the lens mount Leica uses for the TL, CL and SL cameras, and now the mount Panasonic uses for the S1 and S1R FF cameras.

 

[DanskDynamit]

What is an "L" mount?

 

[leicapixie]

The need for LARGER mounts results in Beluga sized lenses!
Not better, just supersized like McD fries..pop etc.
The beauty of Leica was small beautiful lenses, still unmatched!
Some lenses I did not like are still way better than modern harsh over sharpened.
The era of 39mm filters, meant small size.
The phone has replaced a camera for millions of folk.
The camera companies retaliate with super size..
Zeiss SLR had wonderful large lenses, the company made its own grave..
My Leica M will outlast me, so upping in size a no-boner.

 

[kshapero]

Add this to the mix:

https://www.thephoblographer.com/2018/09/25/the-panasonic-s1r-and-the-panasonic-s1-are-their-first-full-frame-mirrorless-cameras/

 

[Calzone]

The need for LARGER mounts results in Beluga sized lenses!
Not better, just supersized like McD fries..pop etc.
The beauty of Leica was small beautiful lenses, still unmatched!
Some lenses I did not like are still way better than modern harsh over
The era of 39mm filters, meant small size.

LP,

I mount Leica M-mount lenses on my SL that has a "L" mount, no problem.

The larger mount allows mounting "M," "R," and even "S" glass.

The key idea here is "less constriction" and more freedom in lens design.

BTW I have seen what "S" glass mounted on a SL can do. It crushes M-Glass. More dynamic range. Does not resemble small format at all. Really great skin tones and more detail.

Cal

 

[jarski]

would be nice if remaining makers, Olympus and Ricoh/Pentax would join the L-mount alliance as well. no more new mounts thank you 🙂

 

[DominikDUK]

LP,

I mount Leica M-mount lenses on my SL that has a "L" mount, no problem.

The larger mount allows mounting "M," "R," and even "S" glass.

The key idea here is "less constriction" and more freedom in lens design.

BTW I have seen what "S" glass mounted on a SL can do. It crushes M-Glass. More dynamic range. Does not resemble small format at all. Really great skin tones and more detail.

Cal

I don't see how the lens is responsible for the camera's dynamic range, I am pretty sure that the Leica lenses for L are very very good and superior to the M Lenses on the SL Body, they were after all designed for the camera whereas most M-Lenses were designed for film bodies. It would be interesting to see results from the L lenses on other cameras especially film.

 

[TennesseJones]

I must be mistaken but is Leica's major announcement a Lens Mount that they already make?

 

[Scapevision]

I must be mistaken but is Leica's major announcement a Lens Mount that they already make?

isn't it Panasonic's announcement of new cameras that use the Leica mount they already make.

 

[Calzone]

I don't see how the lens is responsible for the camera's dynamic range, I am pretty sure that the Leica lenses for L are very very good and superior to the M Lenses on the SL Body, they were after all designed for the camera whereas most M-Lenses were designed for film bodies. It would be interesting to see results from the L lenses on other cameras especially film.

D,

I too was a skeptic, so I went to the Leica Store in SoHo. They had John Kreider the Leica "S" and SL Technical specialist on hand, and set up the rear of the store as a studio. I was the model.

It seemed like a rather moot exercise, but even without a calibrated monitor in a dimmed room the zoom in on a tethered laptop displayed mucho more shadow detail. Anyways this was where the enhanced dynamic range was clearly evident.

Using "S" glass on a SL seemed to me to be a very unpractical thing to do, but if I was a studio shooter who owned a Leica "S" system and had the glass...

BTW the rendering was mucho smooth. The lens utilized was a 100/2.0.

I owned a 50 Lux-M ASPH and traded it away. It seems the SL favors "R" glass and the rendering is to die for. Also I mount my 58/1.2 Noct-Nikkor on the SL which is really amazing. For a straight MF 50 I use a 50 Lux-R "E60" the last version 50 Lux that pretty much renders a lot like a Noctilux as far as the bokeh and OOF.

BTW I use the Noct-Nikkor on a Leica CL. With the crop factor the 58/1.2 becomes an insane 87/1.2. The Noct-Nikkor exploits the sweet spot of the lens and even at F1.2 any defect is cropped and is outside the perimeter of the sensor. Like in the Leica "S" glass demonstration the IQ takes a rather big step towards medium format IQ. I have the prints to prove it.

My 50 Lux-SL is not only big, but it is also the only native fast prime offered by Leica that is not APO. For the SL Leica will, eventually..., be making even all their SL Crons APO. These APO lenses also include wides: 35 Cron, 28 Cron, 24 Cron, 21 Cron.

I know it may be a long wait but it does seem like perfection will become available one day... eventually. These lenses will unlikely will be small like M-glass. In comparison APO glass for M's is very limited. I would expect performance to be in the realm of the Leica "S" glass demonstration, or like when I sweet spot a lens on my CL.

All this IQ likely does not matter to most people because they don't print, and if they do print it is of modest size or small.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

I must be mistaken but is Leica's major announcement a Lens Mount that they already make?

T,

Partly. Another element is the collaboration between these companies, which also is not new news. Some of the native Leica CL lenses are not made in Germany, and are clearly marked "Made In Japan." Panasonic and Leica have collaborated before.

What is suggested is creating a standard and sharing of research and development between these three entities. Pretty much they move together.

Perhaps not news, but buzz.

Cal

 

[aizan]

panasonic chose a great set of initial lenses. going from 24-70mm to 24-105mm is so sensible.

the bodies will have IBIS and dual card slots. just watch everyone not get excited at how they didn’t screw things up.

 

[Calzone]

panasonic chose a great set of initial lenses. going from 24-70mm to 24-105mm is so sensible.

the bodies will have IBIS and dual card slots. just watch everyone not get excited at how they didn’t screw things up.

A,

My SL has dual card slots. Mucho good.

Also in camera IBIS is a very-very big deal.

Two years ago Leica lent me a 24-90 SL zoom to cover NYC Fashion Week. This zoom has a claimed 3 stops worth of IS, and IS built into the lens is optimimal over in camera IS.

So on night I was walking around in a darker part of NYC called the Bowelry just blasting away and goofing around doing what I would call "Circus Shots."

When I went home and downloaded I was really amazed because I was shooting at 400 ISO and some of the shutter speeds were 1/13th second at 65mm zoomed out, so the tack sharp images on my EIZO really floored me.

Who would think that a slow zoom lens would be great for night shooting. I was amazed.

Cal

 

[xayraa33]

From this hazy angle it looks spec wise that Panasonic has done a better job for a first FF Mirrorless camera entry than Canon and Nikon did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH5E7z7oWic

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

Leica has five f/2 primes on its L-mount lens roadmap. (21, 24, 28, 35, and 50). If these are reasonably sized, I will be a lot more interested in the L-mount system.



I have no idea why anybody would want a 50mm prime that has 15 elements, weighs two pounds, and takes a 77mm filter. Why? So it has perfect sharpness in the corners at f/1.4? Who cares—nothing is in focus in the corners at f/1.4 anyway!