L-Mount Could Explode With More Love From Third-Party Lenses
The L-Mount Alliance may gain new partners and that could be amazing.
The L-mount Alliance appears to have been a great idea. Panasonic got a boost joining the Full-Frame Mirrorless game that Nikon and Canon didn’t. Sigma has been pumping out new lenses lately with no sign of slowing. Of course, Leica has beautiful lenses for the mount. However, third-party manufacturers could quickly enhance lens selection to even greater heights. Read on to find out more about all of the exciting possibilities.
L-Mount May Be Welcoming New Partners
According to L-Rumors, the L-Mount Alliance has mentioned possible new partners. This could be great for lens choice. Micro Four-Thirds has seen the benefit of this. As a result, in that system, there are tons of choices. Also, Laowa recently joined the Micro Four-Thirds alliance. Could that hint at possibilities for L-mount? Looking at all of the options there makes me excited for the future. I would love to see more non-standard lens options for the Full-Frame mount.
With today’s Mirrorless cameras, lenses can be so diverse. Having some of these manufacturers join the alliance could be great. We could see more autofocus lenses. Manual lenses would likely have electrical contacts. As a result, the bodies would be able to identify the lenses. No more worrying if you set your IBIS properly. Also, metadata for the lens could then be included.
Modern Lenses With Vintage Rendering
It has been great to see third-party lens companies embracing vintage character. Eastern brands like TTArtisan and 7Artisans really go big here. They aren’t alone, however. Voigtlander has been a big player in this arena. Also, Lomography has really been jumping into the Mirrorless lens segment lately. These brands have supported other mounts. However, they could certainly benefit L-mount as well. Many people in the video world have loved this type of lens for their work. It would be great to see some cinema-housed lenses of this type. Also, the Panasonic bodies and the Sigma FP are perfect platforms for this. The vintage rendering would also pair well with Leica’s famous color.
The Benefits of More L-Mount Partners
There could be awesome benefits if the L-Mount Alliance welcomes more partners. Sure, L-Mount already has a lot of great lenses. However, it would be outstanding to see what more lens makers could create. Official partners would have access to things like autofocus algorithms. As a result, they would be able to build lenses that transfer metadata. This could also give third-party manufacturers a leg up on new lens designs.
Viltrox has been showing what inexpensive autofocus lenses can do. Their Fuji lenses have been hugely popular. Samyang’s latest autofocus lenses for Sony are buzzing online. Imagine what these lens makers could achieve without having to reverse engineer algorithms. The value proposition of L-Mount cameras could go way up. Not only would we have access to great native lenses, but also inexpensive alternatives. Better yet, these alternatives would likely work super well.
Lenses I’d Love to See Made
With all of these exciting possibilities, what would I like to see? As mentioned before, L-mount is a great platform for video. Sirui makes interesting anamorphic lenses at great prices. They already exist for Micro Four-Thirds. I’d love to see them bring their expertise to L-Mount also. It would also be exciting to see more vintage-based lenses make their way over. Kipon and Meyer-Optik Gorlitz have already started on that. Also, 7Artisans and TTArtisan are on board. I’d love to see Voigtlander join the party. It would be too cool to see a trio like Pentax’s Limited primes.
As far as more standard lenses go, more competition can’t hurt. Viltrox and Samyang would be great candidates to jump in. It would be great to see them enter with small, inexpensive primes. Laowa has already added some of their excellent wide primes to the mount. However, I’d love to see their full lens line-up make its way over. I’m also curious to see if they stick to manual lenses. Since they are now a Micro Four-Thirds partner, I wonder if they will venture into autofocus.
The Possibilities for L-Mount Are Endless
Now we’ve discussed several possibilities that could come to pass. These ideas just scratch the surface of what could happen. I’m waiting with bated breath to see who the L-Mount Alliance invites to join them. Could it be more lens manufacturers? Could it be another camera maker? It is all quite exciting to ponder. One thing is for sure, more third-party lenses for the mount would rock. What do you hope for the most? Be sure to let us know in the comments!