I firmly believe that Olympus is barely able to keep their head above water.
They won't be introducing anything earth-shattering anytime soon. Look to
Cosina for the neat stuff, like their new 35mm f/1.2 lens! Or the announced
N*kon F/F2 version of the 12mm f/5.6.
If/when the 4/3 system comes to market, the four lenses you saw in the PMA
shots are likely to be it for a while. Face it, they cover 950f the typical
SLR photo needs of the typical buyers. Most buyers don't use wide-angle
primes, they use wide-angle zooms. In fact, I'm surprised that Olympus showed
such a long lens as the 600mm. Most shooters find 600mm lenses far too long;
I'd have expected a 400.
F/1.0 or F/1.2 lenses ARE NOT cheap to make, and Olympus would be stupid to
sell them for a loss. There just aren't enough people who are real buyers to
make most of those lenses viable. Cosina's new 35/1.2 lens has three
aspherical surfaces and is likely to sell for $1,000 - $1,200. And they are
one of the lowest cost manufacturers in the world.
Skip
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>Subject: [OM] 4/3's lack of WA lens
> From: Albert <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Fri, 07 Mar 2003 18:44:24 +0800
> To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>There's some talk about the lack of a wide angle lens on the 4/3rd's
>system...
>
>Also, since my 50mm is my favorite, a lack of a standard fast prime..
>
>BUT... I have this funny feeling (maybe it's from lunch??) that Olympus
>is going to drop the bomb on the rest of the photography world, and come
>out with something like a 50mm f1.2 or 50mm f1.0 as the standard lens!!
>
>That would just about drop the jaws and crank up the sales... Sell that
>for 1/5th the price of the Canon 50mm/f1.0 or the Leica Notilux and you
>are rollin'!!
>
>I'd like to see a 24mm and a 28mm as well as 35mm.
>
>of course, 21mm and 14mm FULL FRAME!!... While we are going wide, might
>as well stick that 8mm fisheye in the request..
>
>Albert
>
>
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