Thoughts on "Power Zooms"?

[doxborrow]

I'm just curious what your thoughts are on the new power zoom lenses announced by Panasonic (and rumored to appear for Nikon soon after their MILC is announced). I like the idea of having longer lenses being collapsible(for portability reasons). However, I'm not sure if they'll be able to match the quality of something like the new 24mm Zeiss. What are your thoughts, and do you think Sony will follow suit or not?

 

[Djarum]

It is interesting. I could see Panasonic making a model with a zoom rocker switch on it and basically the camera would look like a beefed up P&S. I'm not sure if sony wants to do something like this or not.

 

[Knikki]

Power Zooms?

Look very gimmicky and match the quality of the new Ziess I doubt that very much. The zooms will have small apertures and in this market can't compete with a high quality fast prime lens.

 

[Amin Sabet]

Hi doxborrow, I think we should distinguish between "power zooms" (lenses which zoom by pressing a button) and "powered collapsible lenses" (lenses which extend and retract automatically when the camera is turned on/off). The Panasonic lenses you mentioned are both power zooms, but only one of them is collapsible.

 

[doxborrow]

Hi doxborrow, I think we should distinguish between "power zooms" (lenses which zoom by pressing a button) and "powered collapsible lenses" (lenses which extend and retract automatically when the camera is turned on/off). The Panasonic lenses you mentioned are both power zooms, but only one of them is collapsible.

Good call; I should have distinguished between the 2. I'm actually more interested in the powered collapsible lenses. I've been keeping up with all of the different mirrorless systems and have been most intrigued with Sony's NEX. I have yet to purchase one of these systems because I'm waiting on an APS-C sensor in conjunction with a compact, fast, and high quality prime. So I'm curious, do you think that these collapsible lenses could lead to a fast prime that maintains quality without having to compromise on size?

 

[Amin Sabet]

Yes, I'm confident they can and will do just that.

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[allofthelights]

There seems to be some compromise with regards to aperture sizes. The Panasonic is a "X" series lens, but still fairly slow. Nice as a walkaround kit lens thought.

 

[Djarum]

I don't think power zooms are there to compete with high quality primes. The reason why Sony needs something like this is to reduce the size of their kit lens. We all know the compromises of zoom lenses compared to primes.