Don't mean to make this thread too commercial... if you seriously want the lens, give me a ring and I will guide you on how to secure one.
I lost track of who were interested and I almost oversold the first allocation I had. I didn't even have a chance to keep one piece for myself.
So, if you are really keen, do let me know.
Here's how I felt after having the lens for just one night mated with G1:
1. I first held the lens while in Photokina on Sept. I was surprised that the construction was as good as the 75/f1.8 which was announced about the same time. I had assume that being a M4/3 lens, Cosina would make the lens lighter. But I was wrong. Putting 11 elements into 8 group with 10 aperture blades, make this a real serious lens. My instant feeling then was, it will be a instant hit. This will give people a reason to keep the M4/3 cameras. With NEX and other rumored Mirrorless system coming out from the "N" company, Panasonic and Oly should still be able to retain some fans for sometime....
2. Received the lens last Thursday, but didn't have a camera body to test. Finally borrowed a G1 and went for a spin on the deepavali night, Friday. Put my kids to bed and came out at 10:30pm. That's where the more interesting things happen in little india. Shooting alone at night, I had to be extra careful. Especially, recently there were so many "369" cases...
3. I've been trained to shoot with viewfinder and the G1 viewfinder by far, to me, is the best EVF I've used. As the DOF is so shallow on the 0,95 lens, I don't even need to use the focus assist to focus most of the time, unless I need to do a close zoom in to the subject.
4. Minimum focusing is crazy 0.17m! And at that distance, wide open, the out of focus is simply CRAZY. And it's a real challenge to get the pin point sharpness hand held because, every breathe you take, will cause the focusing to be out. If you want to shoot wide open at 0.17m minimum focus distance, best is use with a GOOD tripod... nothing but Gitzo... :bsmilie:
5. My previous experience with the G1, which I had more than a year ago was, wash out and muted colours. But with the 0.95, I was surprised that colours is contrasty even wide open. Modern lens look.
6. Many customers wish for the lens to be in M mount. Can Cosina make it? Well, of cos they can... but if it's priced at USD5,000, would anyone buy? Leica's 50/0.95 is at least USD10,000 and it's not like something that you can walk into a supermarket and pick it up, readily available.
7. Well, due to the high world wide demand, Cosina can only allocate a few lenses on each shipment to each dealer. I don't expect to get enough for everyone in the next shipment, which earliest will be 2 months time.
That's all for now... hope to see more photos on flickr...
