Leica, Panasonic, and Sigma Join Forces for Full-Frame Development

Catechism and Nikon entered the full-frame camera marketplace inside the past few weeks after years of giving way to Sony's dominance in the space. Leica has been hanging around for a few years, with its total-frame autofocus SL anchoring the system.

Just it didn't take long for others to jump into the fray. Today, Leica announced the L-Mount Alliance, a partnership with longtime collaborator Panasonic, too every bit Sigma, best known as a lensmaker, simply also a company with its own camera system.

It's no surprise to see Leica working together with Panasonic. The two companies have a long history of collaboration, ranging from Leica marketing Panasonic Lumix pocket cameras in the D-Lux line, or the more easily-on role Leica played in the evolution of the LX100, which was as well sold equally a D-Lux.

Sigma brings something more to the table. The visitor has shed the third-political party, budget-make albatross and reinvented itself as a maker of high-quality, affordable lenses under the guidance of CEO Kazuto Yamaki. Having a manufacturer whose main business is making lenses on board volition help build out the lens library faster than Leica and Panasonic would exist able to do on their own.

The Cameras

Leica didn't denote a new version of the SL this morning—the current edition is about iii years former, but still competes with newer models in prototype quality. Panasonic did shed the light on its start two full-frame cameras.

The Lumix S1R and S1 are Panasonic's commencement 2 L-mountain cameras. The S1R is the high-resolution, 47MP model, while the S1 sports a more than modest 24MP paradigm sensor. Aside from the sensor size, the cameras look to exist physically identical, although details are deficient at this point. Nosotros don't have a spec sheet, prices, or a solid shipping date yet, only we do wait the cameras to launch in the starting time half of 2022.

We do know that the cameras will roll 4K footage at up to 60fps, are fully weather-sealed, and sport dual memory menu slots, one SD and i XQD. Panasonic also touted a loftier flash sync speed, an electronic viewfinder that promises to deliver an epitome that's close to what our eyes perceive, and in-body image stabilization.

The company is yet using contrast-based autofocus tech, coupled with its Depth From Defocus (DFD) organisation to speed up operation. Most competitors employ a mix of on-sensor phase and contrast detection, but Panasonic is sticking to its guns here. I've institute DFD focusing to be quite speedy in do, but I've had better results when tracking moving subjects with stage detection. We'll reserve judgement on the S1 and S1R until they actually be and we're able to test them, of course.

I am happy to see a monochrome data LCD on the acme of the S1 series body. Nosotros saw similar screens in the recently announced Nikon Z and Canon EOS R mirrorless systems. Sony has withal to include the feature in its mirrorless models.

Information technology's unclear at this point if Sigma will develop its ain L-mount camera. Yamaki hinted that information technology was working on one at the press briefing announcing the system. When asked how information technology became involved in the partnership, Yamaki stated that the visitor's original plans for mirorrless involved creating its own mount. Peradventure this is why its Quattro H mirrorless camera used the existing SA SLR lens mount rather than one designed specifically for short flange-back lenses.

A full-frame Sigma L-mount camera would well-nigh likely bring something incredible to the tabular array, a Foveon image sensor. The layered sensor applied science, which captures image information in an inherently different manner than most other cameras, delivers photos with an incredible amount of detail, on par with medium format systems. It does have an Achilles heel—epitome quality falls apart when y'all move above ISO 400—merely information technology'south an appealing system for many, including landscape photographers. Nosotros'll just have to expect and come across—Sigma hasn't yet made its kickoff spate of L-mount announcements.

The Lenses

Leica already has a one-half-dozen total-frame L-mount lenses, every bit well as a line of APS-C optics, which can exist used with the larger sensor, admitting with a heavy crop and reduced resolution.

The full-frame options currently include the Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm f/2.8-4 ASPH., Super-Vario-Elmarit-SL 16-35mm f/3.5-4.5 ASPH., APO-Vario-Elmarit-SL 90-280mm f/ii.8-4, Summilux-SL 50mm f/ane.4 ASPH., APO-Summicron-SL 75mm f/2 ASPH., and APO-Summicron-SL 90mm f/two ASPH. They don't come cheap—prices range from $four,750 to $half dozen,395.

It plans to release an additional five prime lenses, all f/2 designs, over the next two years. The Summicron-SL 35mm f/2 ASPH. and Summicron-SL 50mm f/2 ASPH. are coming in 2022. They'll be joined by the Summicron-SL 21mm f/ii ASPH., Summicron-SL 24mm f/2 ASPH., and Summicron-SL 28mm f/2 ASPH. the following year. Prices have not yet been announced.

Panasonic is bringing three lenses to the table. Its 50mm f/ane.4 is well-nigh certainly going to be less expensive than the Leica option, and we're likewise getting 24-105mm and 70-200mm zooms. Information technology promises to deliver seven additional lenses in the year post-obit the S-series launch.

Sigma hasn't yet announced what information technology's bringing to the tabular array, but we expect it to deliver quality lenses at affordable prices based on its recent rail record.

What Nearly Micro Four Thirds?

What shouldn't exist lost in the buzz surrounding something new and shiny is that Panasonic is already heavily invested in a mirrorless camera system. Along with Olympus, it is the driving force behind the Micro Four Thirds organisation.

Micro Four Thirds sensors are smaller than full-frame—they utilize a 17 by 13mm size, while full-frame is 24 by 36mm—and it seems every bit if the industry is hit a wall in sensor resolution. The near pixels nosotros've seen squeezed into the smaller frame is 20MP, which limits video resolution, a pregnant business concern for Panasonic's customer base.

Panasonic promises to release an 8K-capable camera in time for the 2022 Olympics, which is set to accept identify in Tokyo. A 20MP sensor won't cutting it—each frame of 8K footage is well-nigh 33.2MP in size. The 47MP resolution offered past the S1R is telling hither—it is dense enough to deliver 8K resolution, so it's only a matter of Panasonic pushing processing and sensor readout speeds faster in order to net 8K from a future model.

That doesn't mean Micro Four Thirds is going away. Panasonic promises it will co-exist with the Fifty-mountain. To reassure M43 organization owners, the company appear a new Micro Iv Thirds lens this morning. It's a 10-25mm zoom—that'due south twenty-50mm in full-frame terms—with a constant f/i.7 maximum discontinuity. The visitor promises it will deliver image quality as good as prime number lenses at every focal length. It is a big lens for the format, and while it won't offer the same level of shallow depth of field as Canon's aggressive 28-70mm f/ii zoom for its total-frame organisation, it does take a brighter aperture.

Meanwhile, we're waiting to see what, if annihilation, Olympus does to react to the news. Information technology's not involved in L-mount evolution, and so all of its eggs are proverbial Micro Four Thirds basket. Olympus's Photokina press conference is later today, boot off at v:30 p.m. in Germany—eleven:30 a.m. EDT.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/panasonic-lumix-dmc-lx100/29559/leica-panasonic-and-sigma-join-forces-for-full-frame-development

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