New July 2020 Olympus lens roadmap

[djtaylor7]

Issued today.

Firmed up is a 8-25mm F4 Pro lens, and confirmation of a Pro macro lens around 100mm.

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[John King]

@djtaylor7 And here was silly old me thinking that dear old Olympus was as dead in the water as an upside down duck ... .

Thanks for this info, David.

 

[Aristophanes]

Having both a 50-250 and 50-200 Pro tele is the oddity.
They do need to finish off the f/4 trinity.
And another Pro "bright" prime...? Really? Probably a vanity 0.95 seeing as how Nikon and Canon ventured there.
All the rest make sense.
As much as we value the m43 telephoto advantage, that 100mm Macro shows off another.
The TCs should be on that graphic. I'm writing a letter!
I wonder how much of this was confirmed with JIP in the decision matrix?
Because obviously this–alongside the webcam beta–is part of a PR campaign to say "biz as usual".

 

[djtaylor7]

And here was silly old me thinking that dear old Olympus was as dead in the water as an upside down duck ... .

I suspect the announcements today, with the updated roadmap, a confirmed time window for the 150-400mm lens, and the webcam beta are a message to say we are listening, and still here.

 

[djtaylor7]

I certainly could be a buyer of the 8-25mm F4, to partner my 12-45mm. Have the 9-18mm, keep looking at the 7-14mm, but not taken the plunge yet.

 

[soundfanz]

Am looking forward to reviews of the 8-25 F4 Pro if and when it releases; guessing it'll be light and more compact, along the lines of how the 12-45 pro is compared to the 12-40 pro. I used to own the Oly 7-14 pro, but sold it due to the bulbous front end which couldn't take filters.
I can live with f4 too.

 

[doady]

Pro telephoto macro and pro ultra-wide bright prime is really I need more from m4/3 system.

I hope the telephoto macro is at least F2.8 to differentiate further from my 12-100mm F4.

Bright ultra-wide doesn't have to F1.2, I would be happy with F1.4.

Judging from their positions on the chart, I'm guessing the 50-200mm is F2.8 while the 50-250mm is F4.

 

[Holoholo55]

I certainly could be a buyer of the 8-25mm F4, to partner my 12-45mm. Have the 9-18mm, keep looking at the 7-14mm, but not taken the plunge yet.

Agreed, especially as it will be weather sealed, the 8-25 f4 Pro looks like a possible replacement for my 9-18, especially if it'll take standard screw-in filters. Waiting for the 100-400.

Olympus also said there will be Bird detection AF for the EM1X.

 

[djtaylor7]

Having both a 50-250 and 50-200 Pro tele is the oddity.

It looks as though the bottom end of one goes down to 40mm ish. So perhaps they are looking at a 40-150 F4, or a 50-250 F4, and are doing market sounding to decide which one to go with.

 

[Sleepy Capybara]

Love this. That 8-25 f4 could be my preferred wide angle for m43.

 

[Hypilein]

8-25 certainly sounds amazing. I am already a happy owner of the PL8-18, but if I wasn't this would be the lens to go for (if it has a standard filter thread, which is likely). I've given up on 7-xmm variants. They just have too many problems.

With the 8-25 it becomes even easier to just not bother with a normal zoom at all. 8-25mm + P35-100 and you're all set with a two lens kit. It's what I'm doing with the 8-18 but with 8-25 it becomes even better.

 

[Aristophanes]

This sentence...

Olympus is pleased to announce an updated M.Zuiko Digital lens roadmap, outlining plans to expand the M.Zuiko lens lineup and including an update of anticipated availability of the previously announced M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400mm F4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO super telephoto zoom lens with built-in 1.25x teleconverter.

 

[Aristophanes]

It looks as though the bottom end of one goes down to 40mm ish. So perhaps they are looking at a 40-150 F4, or a 50-250 F4, and are doing market sounding to decide which one to go with.

Yes, they need to finish the f/4 trinity.
A 50-250/4 is going to be big glass. There’s already the 40-150/2.8 with TC.
A 45-140/4 makes sense keeping with the more compact concept.

 

[Reflector]

A 50-250/4 is going to be big glass. There’s already the 40-150/2.8 with TC.

Not a hard and fast thing here but approximate minimum diameters on the front element can be determined by Lens FL divided by aperture.

250/4 = 62.5mm minimum front element diameter, or likely a 67mm filter thread at minimum. Alternatively, 72mm, see below for reasoning. It isn't going to be that much more enormous.

For contrast:
150/2.8 = 53mm but curiously the lens uses a 72mm front element diameter and most certainly seems to use up a lot of that 72mm diameter for the glass. If someone who owns one could actually give me a quick approximate diameter it'd be interesting to hear.

A Canon 70-300II NanoUSM is 62mm and is f/5.6 on the long end, 300/5.6 = 53mm (thereabouts from measuring it as well) so Canon and Canon did not use a 58mm diameter filter diameter - granted the filter itself has glass smaller than said diameter.

Conversely this does not hold to things like the Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 family but there is speculation that it isn't "fully" a 300mm and that it might be say a 290mm (at close to MFD) or that the aperture might be closer to a f/3.0 or something since manufacturers round to the closest number. Up and down. That and Sigma does use almost all of the 105mm diameter for the front element so maybe 105mm just is close enough to get by and I'm robbing the lens of a little aperture by mounting a UV filter on it.

 

[Lcrunyon]

I’m just glad for some positive news. The bird AI detection is huge news for me, as is that there will be a Pro macro lens.

I agree that this message was more of for reassurance than anything else.

 

[Biro]

I got the email from Olympus this morning as well. Two things:

1) This is certainly good news.

2) This announcement is going to confuse a lot of people given recent developments.

 

[RichardC]

I want a 100mm IS macro, and I want one NOW (well, actually, not for a couple of weeks because I've just sprung for the 75-300 II for an amazing £249 on Amazon.co.uk - I don't mind infrequent use at that price).

 

[Robstar1963]

I will definately be looking at the 8-25mm f4.0 and the 100mm Macro
I would love the 150 - 400 f4.5 but i fear it will be out of my justifiable price range

 

[Holoholo55]

8-25/4 seems very promising. Excellent range. But I'm still hoping and waiting for 10 or 9 mm non-pro prime.

Unfortunately, their roadmap doesn't have anything new for non-pro primes. I was hoping for some updates with weather sealing. :-(

 

[Holoholo55]

I’m just glad for some positive news. The bird AI detection is huge news for me, as is that there will be a Pro macro lens.

I agree that this message was more of for reassurance than anything else.

I'll take that reassurance gladly!