Leica D Vario-Elmar 14-150mm F/3.5-5.6 Mega O.I.S

[Greg McCary]

The Leica D Vario-Elmar 14-150mm F/3.5-5.6 with Mega O.I.S.. Optical Image Stabilizer should be out next month for the Four Thirds system. I am not sure of the street price, but here is a link if you want to check it out.

http://www.panasonic.co.uk/puk04-otm...50mm/index.htm

[Xia_Ke]

There you go Greg! There's a zoom lens for you

[Greg McCary]

There you go Greg! There's a zoom lens for you

Thanks Aaron, but this one has built in IS. I already have that in the 510. This one would certainly help Panasonic and 500 users. If I hear a street price I will post it.

[Photo-John]

The optical image stabilization sort of defeats one of the main benefits of the FourThirds system, in my opinion. That is, it makes the whole thing bigger. We did a review of the Leica Digilux 3 and one of the first things you notice is how huge the lens is. Compare the Leica or Panasonic with Leica zoom lens to the Olympus E-510 and a comparable lens and you'll immediately notice the difference. Pick them both up and you'll be amazed at how much heavier the Leica/Panasonic is. I'm just finishing up a follow-up article to my first Olympus E-3 preview piece. One of the things that Olympus points out is that in-camera image stabilization keeps the lenses smaller and lighter. That's not something I had thought about before. But when I do think about it, it's a huge benefit - especially if you need small and light, like I do.