Leica L shooters must be enjoying the increasing number of lens options for the mount these days. Along with the Sigma 28-105mm f2.8 DG DN Art that was also announced today, the introduction of the new Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 70-200 F2.8 ASPH increases the number of 70-200mm F2.8 lenses for the L mount cameras to three. To be honest, the new lens looks extremely similar to the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 DG DN OS Sports with its optical design (20 elements in 15 groups with 11 Diaphragm Blades), features and external dimensions (considerably heavier though), and as expected from Leica, it is more than 2x the price of the Sigma ($3,299 vs $1,499). The Panasonic Lumix S Pro 70-200 F2.8 O.I.S. is priced somewhere between -$1997 as of this writing to be specific- but never been as popular as the Sigma version as far as we are concerned.
Here I have prepared a scaled size comparison image, followed by a specs and feature comparison of these three lenses to better explain the differences (or the lack of) between the options.
(click on the image for a larger version)
Panasonic S 70-200 F2.8 vs Leica SL 70-200 F2.8 vs Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 Sports Lenses Size And Feature Comparison
Panasonic S 70-200 F2.8 vs Leica SL 70-200 F2.8 vs Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 Sports
The new Leica is nice and well I don't see much reason to buy it over the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8, at least on paper, so let's hope Leica did their 'magic touch' to add something special to justify the $800 price and 215g weight difference!
Panasonic S 70-200 F2.8 vs Leica SL 70-200 F2.8 vs Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 Sports Specs and Feature Comparison
