Leica SL full frame mirrorless mount
Three weeks ago, I published the post “Leica will not share their mirrorless L-mount with Panasonic and/or Olympus“. Since then we have seen several “reports” online about Panasonic coming up with a new full frame mirrorless camera with Leica SL mount.
The “rumors” go even further, reporting that there will be TWO new Panasonic mirrorless cameras and THREE full frame mirrorless lenses with Leica SL mount launched at Photokina. But wait, it gets weirder… Sigma is supposed to also be on board with the new Leica/Panasonic mirrorless camera SL mount… All three companies (Leica, Panasonic and Sigma) are supposed to announce a new partnership at Photokina about sharing the Leica SL mount. Here are the details on the “rumored” Panasonic mirrorless camera with Leica SL-mount:
- Panasonic will show only a camera prototype at Photokina
- Panasonic is “rumored” to announce two full-frame mirrorless cameras – an entry level and a pro version with a 50+ MP sensor
- Three new Panasonic SL full frame mirrorless lenses are “expected“: 24-70mm, 70-200mm zooms and a 50mm prime
- There are no finalized specs yet
- The new Panasonic mirrorless camera with Leica SL-mount should start shipping in March 2019 (?)
- The new full-frame sensor is supposed to be designed by Panasonic (TowerJazz?)
- The new Panasonic full-frame high-end camera is supposedly able to take 150 MP images in pixel shift mode
We already know that Leica, Panasonic, Olympus and almost every other company will have scheduled press events on September 25th (Photokina Media Preview Day):
Panasonic also has a countdown timer on their website:
I contacted many of my sources that have been providing me correct information for over a decade and nobody has heard of a new Panasonic full frame mirrorless camera with a Leica SL mount so far. If this rumor really materializes, this would be the best-kept secret in the photography industry. There is ONLY ONE hint that remotely suggests this whole nonsense could actually be true – the Japanese website Nokishita reports that a new domain name l-mount.com has been registered online:
It is unclear if this domain name was really created by Panasonic/Leica/Sigma to promote their new full-frame mirrorless camera with L-mount (I seriously doubt this… it’s not even a secure website https://).
Update – the contact for the l-mount.com is a Leica employee (see WHOIS listing):
Here is the place to mention that there are some websites out there that have a long history of making up rumors, so we should see how this will all develop next week. Stay tuned.
