New Leica Primes for M43

[johnny9fingers]

I was looking at micro 4/3rds lenses at B&H and saw a couple new primes made by Leica.
A 25mm f1.4, a nice fast 50. And a 45mm f2.8, a nice 90 for portraits.
Good glass but pricey......

John

 

[GoneSavage]

Haven't those been around for a while?

 

[johnny9fingers]

Maybe, I guess I should re-phrase it to say new to me ; )
I haven't been looking at lenses for a while so they must have come out while I wasn't looking......

 

[FA Limited]

the 25 1.4 is for the full four thirds system and can be mounted via adapter
the 45mm 2.8 is a macro IS lens

 

[Tom Diaz]

I was looking at micro 4/3rds lenses at B&H and saw a couple new primes made by Leica.
A 25mm f1.4, a nice fast 50. And a 45mm f2.8, a nice 90 for portraits.
Good glass but pricey......

John

The 25mm f/1.4 is for the 4/3 system. You can use it on a micro-4/3 camera with an adapter. I had one and used it for a while on my G1.

On the G1 the autofocusing worked OK although it was a little on the slow side and made a whirring-motor noise. Not obnoxiously loud, but noticeable if you are used to totally silent AF.

The lens is also large, physically. Its design had to accommodate the different dimensions of 4/3 cameras and so is necessarily larger. So many would find it a little unwieldy on a small m-4/3 camera, especially compared with a new design like the Panasonic 20mm. (I do not have that lens--yet--but people speak really well of it.) It "felt" more reasonable on the large Leica Digilux 3 SLR I used to have.

The image quality of the 25mm is really superb, so there is no compromise there at all. I thought it completely deserved the Leica Summilux brand it has. I'm really hoping there will be more jointly produced lenses like this one. The 45mm is an exciting prospect, and I'll bet it's worth the money. The 25mm certainly was.