Five new Panasonic prime lenses patented in the US

Panasonic has recently patented five new prime lenses in the United States, all featuring a maximum aperture of f/1.8 and confirming that the company is actively working on expanding its Micro Four Thirds line-up.

A lot of new lenses are said to be in Panasonic’s pipeline, but there is little information available on the web to point that they will actually be released on the market in the near future.

Furthermore, the company has confirmed that a super telephoto zoom lens with a bright aperture has been cancelled. As a result, some questions about Panasonic’s involvement in the Micro Four Thirds line-up have been raised, courtesy of the format’s fans.

Although this may not seem like much for the time being, five new Panasonic lenses for Micro Four Thirds cameras have been patented in the US and they are proof that the Japanese company has not abandoned the MFT users.

These are just some of Panasonic’s lenses for Micro Four Thirds cameras. According to the company’s latest patent, five new prime optics are in the works and could be released on the market in the future.

Five new Panasonic prime lenses show up at the USPTO

Most lens patents are usually coming from Japan, where most digital imaging manufacturers are based. However, patent applications filed at the US Patent & Trademark Office are showing up on the web from time to time.

On this particular occasion, Panasonic is in the center of attention. A handful of new Panasonic prime lenses have just been patented at the USPTO, signalling the fact that the company is aiming to expand its Micro Four Thirds offer sometime in the future.

Patent number 8,749,893 was filed on July 4, 2013 and was published on November 7, 2013. It became official quite recently, on June 10, 2014 to be more exact. As stated above, it is describing five new optics from the Japanese company, all of which have fixed focal lengths.

Panasonic 12mm, 16mm, 26mm, 30mm, and 50mm f/1.8 lenses are the patented lenses

The list of lenses covers focal lengths from 12mm to 50mm. All of them have one thing in common: their maximum aperture has been set at f/1.8.

The five new Panasonic prime lenses are as follows: 12mm, 16mm, 26mm, 30mm, and 50mm. When mounted on MFT mirrorless cameras, they will provide the followning 35mm focal length equivalents: 24mm, 32mm, 52mm, 60mm, and 100mm.

According to the patent application, their internal design is also very similar and they come with “inner focusing”. The full technical aspects can be found at the patent’s page at the official USPTO website.

Keep in mind the fact that Panasonic has patented five other lenses in the US sometime in the past and it is still uncertain what happened to most of them. Either way, stay tuned for more info!