Dpreview Blog:On Lenses for Small cameras

[Djarum]

Not sure if this is a good place for this:

http://blog.dpreview.com/editorial/2010/01/on-lenses-for-small-cameras.html

So Andy from dpreview has written a good article discussing the lenses or types of lenses he'd like to see as well as an "op-ed" regarding the current lenses.

My thoughts on this is that what he's asking for, and criticizing, is very introspective. There are many members on dpreview who believe that this camera is only being purchased by advanced photographers who are looking for a compact system that is close to DSLR quality. These types of photographers want primes, fast and small. I personally have nothing wrong with these types of lenses. However, we can't forget about the casual photographer either..

After looking at the lenses road map, especially from Olympus, it looks to me as if they believe that consumers want more zoom related type lenses that the more casual or novice photographer wants.

When it comes to what consumers want, are primes what most users of mFT want or are more flexible zooms what most mFT users want? Does anyone really know? Does Panny or Oly know?

I personally love the oly collapsable zoom. I personally would want a faster zoom that would be roughtly the size of Panny's kit zoom, if possible. I think the perfect all round walk about lens for my uses would be a mFT 14-45 2.8-3.5 lens. But it seems I may be in the minority here.

 

[Amin Sabet]

Djarum, I think you make a good point, and I doubt you are in the minority. Although Andy and others imply that these companies are out of touch with what we want and need, there are some smart folks at Olympus and Panasonic trying to figure out which lenses will sell and make the system a success.

I'd be very surprised if we don't see some faster zooms soon, though I am not optimistic that they will be able to make one the size of the current Panasonic 14-45.

That said, I'm well pleased with what we already have available. It will take a strong effort for a new mirrorless system to catch up.

 

[Djarum]

Djarum, I think you make a good point, and I doubt you are in the minority. Although Andy and others imply that these companies are out of touch with what we want and need, there are some smart folks at Olympus and Panasonic trying to figure out which lenses will sell and make the system a success.

I'd be very surprised if we don't see some faster zooms soon, though I am not optimistic that they will be able to make one the size of the current Panasonic 14-45.

That said, I'm well pleased with what we already have available. It will take a strong effort for a new mirrorless system to catch up.

I complelty agree. I think those who've had the system for a while are begging for more. They've gotten over the shock value. Maybe I'll be singing their tune in 6 months. I think its just an aweful lot to expect for companies to have a system of lenses ready as soon as a new format camera rolls out(really, new mount format).

 

[cosinaphile]

still the absence of a 10mm 2.8 or 3.5 a 12 mm 2.8 a 24 f2 or 1.4 an affordable 7-14 wide zoom

these are signs to me that the companies dont listen or understand the lenses that would instantly be bought by a huge number of folks who have move over to m4\3

personally i think they are clueless fools who barely understand the marketplace or the desires of the micro four thirds shooter

ifn i want a "normal'fov f1.4 lens i need to spend almost a thousand bucks? , thats frickin insane

 

[Amin Sabet]

still the absence of a 10mm 2.8 or 3.5 a 12 mm 2.8 a 24 f2 or 1.4 an affordable 7-14 wide zoom

these are signs to me that the companies dont listen or understand the lenses that would instantly be bought by a huge number of folks who have move over to m4\3

personally i think they are clueless fools who barely understand the marketplace or the desires of the micro four thirds shooter

I'm not sure those lenses would sell as well as you think. You and I, along with most of the folks here, in the various Flickr groups, and other photography communities, are in a huge echo chamber. Outside of that chamber lies a vast market which will buy the Pana 7-14 or Oly 9-18 and not necessarily crave a 10 or 12mm prime. With the 20/1.7, I think that a 24/2 would not sell all that well.

Also, the 14/2.8 is an attempt to address the traditional prime lengths. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people clamoring for a "digital Leica CL". With the 14/2.8, Pana now has 28, 40, and 90mm equivalents, so from that standpoint a traditional "prime shooter" has a very nice kit indeed. I'm guessing that the market research has been weighted towards the Japanese market in this regard, and that may well be prudent of them.

ifn i want a "normal'fov f1.4 lens i need to spend almost a thousand bucks? , thats frickin insane

They've given us a normal f/1.7 lens for $400. That's cheaper than Leica or Zeiss and competitive with Pentax (for the pancake) and Cosina. We are not dealing with the same economies of scale as Canon or even Nikon, and honestly, the cheaper f/1.8 lenses from Canon and Nikon aren't as nice as the Pana 20/1.7, at least from my point of view.