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Incredibly sharp ultra wide angle lens for Micro FourThirds users that is splashproof, dustproof and freezeproof.

Panasonic 8-18mm f2.8-4.0 ASPH. Leica DG Vario-Elmarit Lens

Highlights

Lens is suitable for: Micro FourThirds Fit Bodies
Fitting: Micro FourThirds
ZOOM
Wide ZOOM
Filter Size: 67mm

Product code: 8188 (5025232868865)

4.6

(56 reviews)

Panasonic 8-18mm f2.8-4.0 ASPH. Leica DG Vario-Elmarit Lens

£869.00

RRP £1,049 (SAVE £180.00)

No used versions available

Product Details

Description

Micro Four Thirds System
16-36mm (35mm Equivalent)
Aperture Range: f/2.8 to f/22
One Aspherical ED and One UHR Element
Three Aspherical and Two ED Elements
Nano Surface Coating
Splash, Dust, and Freezeproof Design
Rounded 7-Blade Diaphragm

Covering a focusing distance from ultra wide angle to super telephoto, this new LEICA DG VARIO-ELMARIT F2.8-4.0 Series achieves superb picture quality and high performance for both photo and video recording and yet its size is kept compact. All lenses take advantage of Panasonic’s Nano Surface Coating technology to minimize ghosts and flaring. Boasting a rugged, dust/splash-proof design, the lenses are even freeze-proof down to -10℃ to withstand professional use under harsh conditions. The high-quality video recording capability is also one of the advantages of this lens series.

The LEICA DG VARIO-ELMARIT 8-18mm / F2.8-4.0 ASPH. offers a zoom range of ultra wide 8mm to versatile 36 mm (35mm camera equivalent). It covers a variety of daily shooting situations, from dynamic landscapes to snapshots. Taking advantage of the F2.8-4.0 high-speed performance, it is suitable for capturing starry sky or a night scenery. ND or PL filter (67mm) attachments enable the lens to be flexible while at the same time the filters become creative and useful tools for photographers or videographers.

Comprising 15 elements in 10 groups, the lens system features an aspherical ED (Extra-low Dispersion) lens, three aspherical lenses, two ED lenses and an UHR (Ultra High Refractive Index) lens. The use of these lenses effectively suppress spherical distortion or chromatic aberration to achieve high resolution and contrast from centre to corners, ensuring amazing picture quality.

The sensor drive at max. 240 fps enables to take full advantage of cameras with high-speed, high-precision Contrast AF. It also helps to reduce wobbling, ensuring smooth and crisp videos. Notably, the new lens excels in video recording performance. In addition to the silent operation achieved by the inner focus drive system, the micro-step drive system in the aperture control section helps the camera to smoothly catch up to brightness changes when zooming or panning. The optical design achieves exceptional barycentric stability to minimize image shifts during zooming. Thanks to high-speed frame analysis for focus control, the AF tracking performance in zooming is also improved.

Reviews

Product Reviews

4.6

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(Experts)

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(Users)

Expert Reviews (5)

The Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 8–18 mm f/2.8–4 ASPH. is one of the most interesting ultra wide-angle lenses available on the market. It is a solid device, with good aperture fastness, physically small and handy, allowing you to use filters with a normal diameter.

The Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 8-18mm f/2.8-4.0 ASPH ultra-wide-angle zoom offers a classic focal range of 16-36mm in a small and lightweight package, backed-up by outstanding image quality throughout the focal range and impressively fast and silent autofocusing.

Covering the same angles of view as a 16-36mm lens on a 35mm camera, the DG 8-18mm f/2.8-4 is the fourth ultra-wide zoom lens to be released for the M4/3 mount by Panasonic and Olympus.

As you might expect, the Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 8-18mm f/2.8-4 ASPH is a very decent performer in its category. The image center is very sharp and the borders and corners are pretty good as well - technically at least.

This new ultra wide to wide standard 8-18mm lens has a useful “35mm equivalent” of 16-36mm. Designed for Micro Four Thirds (MFT) format cameras, it is reviewed here using the 20mp Panasonic Lumix GX8 camera body.

User Reviews (51)

My favourite MFT UWA zoom, albeit I think the 8-25mm f4 might be the a good candidate too.

Early days with this lens quite a learning curve going from 12mm max with previous lenses to 8mm, I use it on my Olympus cameras, the build quality seems good and design is very neat, for me it is a pity that the zoom ring is a smaller diameter than the manual focus ring but that will be easy to...

This new UWA zoom from Panasonic is perfect for MFT, because it doesn't compromise the fundamental ethos of MFT as a small, portable system. Panasonic has always understood this, whereas I sometimes feel Olympus does not.

I am a long-time enthusiast photographer. Having just moved to the M43 system because of its lighter weight and advanced features compared to my more traditional FF system I was looking for a lens that "ticked the boxes" for high quality and reduced weight. This lens does these very nicely.

As you would expect this is a top notch lens from the Leica stable. Superb build quality and optics for not a lot of money compared with the competitors. Highly recommended!

I have mainly used this for travel and architectural photography. It is light and responsive. I have been shooting wide open a lot of the time and am happy with the results. It replaced my excellent Oly 7-14mm f 2.8 Pro and for me this was a good move, simply because of the ergonomics.

Well built nice to handle ideal size. Images spot on at all focal lengths.

I have only just started using it but find it good for photographing garden borders and for individual flowers and getting the background out of focus. Hoping to start using it for video this week.

I had long contemplated buying this lens and now that I have it, I must say how pleased I am. The focal length range is perfect for interiors and enclosed settings as well as wide open spaces where you want to show the whole extent of the landscape. There is no over-exaggerated distortion that you would get with a fish eye lens. The size and feel of the lens feel good too. It has the usual Panasonic Leica high quality: optics, construction, designed for photographers. I bought this to replace a manual wide-angle lens, and for me the auto focus and exposure controls are easy and convenient to use.

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