Leica D Vario-Elmarit 14-50 mm f/2.8-3.5 Asph. Mega O.I.S.
1. Introduction
In June 2006 was launched the first reflex digital camera from Panasonic, marked with the DMC L1 symbol. The company implemented an interesting strategy because they decided to sell it as an inseparable set with the Leica D Vario-Elmarit 14-50 mm f/2.8-3.5 Asph Mega O.I.S. for the price of over 7000 PLN. Although nowadays the price went down to 5000 PLN such a sum of money still remains rather significant.
The lens influences the price tag for sure. We can even risk a statement that the body is added free of charge to the lens. If we look at the best “kit” equivalents produced by competitors their prices will oscillate about 4000-6000 PLN. The Canon 17-55 f/2.8 IS USM or the Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 are good examples here. A bit different situation can be noticed for the other representative of the 4/3 system – Olympus. In this case there is a 14-54 mm lens available, considered to be an excellent “kit” lens substitute. If we buy the E-510 body to it, though, our spending will also reach the level of 5000 PLN.
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Being one jump ahead of our test of the L1 reflex camera, which is going to be published on Optyczne.pl any day soon, we must say that the camera compares with the competitors well. If the stabilized Leica lens, added to that body, proved to be optically excellent, the price of 5000 PLN for such a set wouldn't seem so far-fetched after all. Let’s look closely at the L1 kit lens, then, which was provided by the Panasonic Poland company for testing purposes.
You are also invited to get acquainted with our test procedure, described in the article "How do we test lenses?" If you feel it’s still not enough, please go to our FAQ section where you can find some further explanation.
