Panasonic has released yet another lens designed in partnership with Leica. This time it is a fast wide angle prime lens with the Summilux label.
The new Panasonic Leica 12mm f/1.4 gives you the same angle of view as a 24mm on full frame cameras (35mm format) and the fast aperture should make this lens appealing for low light work (reportage, weddings) as well as astro-photography.
The lens has a robust design with a splash/dust proof build. The barrel is made of metal and the lens features an aperture ring and an AF/MF switch on the side. The lens hood (included in the box) is also made of metal.
The internal optical design includes two aspherical lenses, two UED (Ultra Extra-Low Dispersion) lenses and an ED (Extra-Low Dispersion) lens for a total of 15 elements in 12 groups. Panasonic promises high resolution from the centre to the corners, whch should prove useful for starry skies, and minimum distortion. The aperture diaphragm has nine blades to give a rounded shape to the out-of-focus areas and a smooth, pleasant bokeh when shooting at the fastest aperture.
The focus mechanism is internal with a stepping motor that provides smooth and quiet focusing. The lens is compatible with the 240fps sensor drive and should deliver fast and accurate results for both stills and 4K video.
The price is set at $1300 and the lens will be available in August. You can check out this excellent review by Gordon Laing at Cameralabs where he also compares the performance to the Olympus 12mm f/2 and 7-14mm f/2.8.
As a final note, Panasonic also launched a Lens selector tool on its website to help you choose a lens.
GX8, 15s, f/5, ISO 200