Las Vegas (NV) - Panasonic and Leica today announced that the two firms have developed of a new telephoto zoom lens for Panasonic's first DSLR camera Lumix DMC-L1.

The new lens, which will be called Leica D Vario-Elmar, will have an effective range from 14 to 150 mm (F3.5-5.6), which translates to a 28-300mm range for 35mm cameras. The maximum magnification achievable with the device is a factor of 10.7x.

According to the manufacturer, the device will come with a quick and "extra" silent autofocus. The D Vario-Elmar is expected to be available by the end of this month for a suggested retail price of $1000. Besides being compatible with the Panasonic DSLR, Leica said that the lens can also be used for other cameras that have a four-thirds mount.

Source: TG Daily

Leica has yet again release some lens for their L1- a four-thirds mount. For the four-thirds mount community, this is nothing but great news as now Olympus users will be able to enjoy a Leica. I am not very sure about the weigh of this lens but I think that it will not be more then 1kg. This may transform to be a good walk about lens for four-thirds users, just like the role played by Nikon’s famous 18-200 VR lens. Mind you that after the conversion it is 28mm and that means it’s a Wide – Telephoto lens.

At the retail of $100.00, there is possibility that some shop will be selling it around $900.00 - $950.00. This price tag is almost as same as the Olympus’ 50-200mm F2.8-F3.5 ED. User will have a choice to get a faster lens but lesser focal length – The Olympus or vice versa - The Leica as mentioned. Unless you know what you will be shooting, else it will be a tough decision. Overall, it’s a plus for the four-thirds communities as user are slowly being spoilt by choices!

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