Lens News

Panasonic has just announced it’s coming out with an intriguing new technological function called “Post Focus” that lets you focus on a specific area in a photo after you’ve shot the image. The company also said that it’s developing two new lenses: a Leica DG 200-800mm and LUMIX G 25 mm/F1.7.

According to Panasonic, Post Focus will let users select an “in-focus” area after shooting with a simple interface. The company says the function has been developed as a further evolution of 4K Photo technology to prevent out-of-focus errors and offer additional creative freedom.

By combining high-speed, high-precision DFD (Depth From Defocus) auto focus technology and the 4K Photo burst images in 4K resolution are shot at 30 fps while shifting the lens to set focus on approximately 50 areas.

With the Post Focus function, the best image can be selected from the 4K burst images shot with different focus areas. Once the composition is fixed, you are free from the job of serious focusing. In addition, this function can be used for creative photography such as landscapes or portraits.

Users can pull different impressions out of one picture by changing the subject to enhance it with focus. The operation of the Post Focus function is designed to be easy – just touch the point where you want to set focus while playing back the image, no matter where the original focus area is, and the image with different in-focus area will be produced as a separate photo.

Panasonic will introduce this Post Focus function via a firmware update for LUMIX GX8, Lumix FZ300 and some other models in late 2015 and 2016 will study to integrate it into upcoming Lumix digital cameras as well.

New Leica DG 200-800mm (35mm Equiv.) Zoom Lens Under Development

Panasonic is developing the first Leica DG 100-400mm / F4.0-6.3 telephoto zoom lens (35mm camera equivalent: 200-800mm) for the Micro Four Thirds system standard to expand the lineup of DSLM (Digital Single Lens Mirrorless) digital interchangeable lenses.

The Leica DG lenses are designed and developed under the stringent quality standard certified by Leica that boast excellent optical performance. Four single focal length Leica DG lenses have already introduced to the market and have been highly acclaimed by users worldwide.

The new telephoto zoom achieves exceptional imaging performance over the entire zoom range. It also features high-speed digital signal exchange at 240 fps to comply with the high-speed, high-precision AF (Auto Focus) with DFD (Depth From Defocus) technology on LUMIX G cameras. Together with the POWER O.I.S.(Optical Image Stabilizer), it lets users to focus on the target quickly to capture crisp, clear images. In addition, the new lens is both light and small and is splash/dust-proof to withstand heavy field use.  As the new telephoto zoom lens excels in size and weight, it enables handheld 800mm (35mm camera equivalent) telephoto shooting without using a tripod.

New LUMIX G 25 mm/F1.7 Single Focal Length Lens Under Development

Panasonic is developing a LUMIX G 25 mm/F1.7 single focal length lens. This lens is a 50mm (35 mm camera equivalent) single focal length lens with a large diameter. The 50mm focus distance offers almost the same viewing angle and sense of perspective of human eyes which means users can enjoy shooting a portrait or scenery as they see.

The new lens also supports high speed digital signal exchange at 240 fps to comply with the high-speed, high-precision AF (Auto Focus) with DFD (Depth From Defocus) technology on the LUMIX G cameras.