Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 8-18 mm f/2.8-4 ASPH.
11. Summary
Pros:
- Solid, metal casing,
- Excellent image quality in the frame centre at all focal lengths,
- Imperceptible longitudinal chromatic aberration,
- Slight lateral chromatic aberration,
- Lack of problems with spherical aberration,
- Properly corrected coma,
- Lower vignetting than in the case of the majority of rivals,
- Silent, very fast, and efficient autofocus.
Cons:
- Very high distortion level for RAW files,
- Image on the edge of the frame at longer focal lengths could have been better.
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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. It is also characterized by an excellent image quality in the frame centre and a very good correction of the majority of optical aberrations. If only the image quality on the edge was a bit better and the price a tad lower, you would have an ideal instrument. The lens, like the majority of products with the ‘Leica’ label on them, is, in our humble opinion, rather overpriced – you have to pay $1100 for it. Perhaps, as the time goes by, that will change and the company will lift the ‘novelty tax’ a bit. Anyway we keep our fingers crossed!
