The L-Mount Alliance is now in its fifth year since its formation. With the addition of new alliance members, the appeal of freely combining lenses and cameras with the unique characteristics of each company has been further enhanced. In this article, we report on the development managers of the three founding companies as they share their enthusiasm for future developments.

The four speakers were Kaoru Mokunaka of Leica Camera AG who served as the facilitator, Stephan Schulz, also of Leica Camera AG, Yasuhiro Ohsone of SIGMA Corporation, and Toshiyuki Tsumura of Panasonic Entertainment & Communication Co., Ltd.

Contents

• L-Mount Alliance enters its fifth year with 68 lenses
• The initial alliance between three companies has grown to five, allowing for greater freedom in the combination of cameras and lenses!
• The camera industry is undergoing a paradigm shift, and the L-Mount force is accelerating
• What are the advantages of the L-Mount for photographers and videographers?
• Future "challenges" as described by each company

L-Mount Alliance enters its fifth year with 68 lenses

Mr. Mokunaka
In 2018, three brands, Leica Camera, Panasonic and SIGMA, founded the L-Mount Alliance.
The L-Mount is a standard developed by Leica Camera, and the aim of the L-Mount Alliance is:

1. To provide photographers and videographers with one unified lens mount standard.
2. To utilize versatile mounts to provide significant benefits to a wide variety of customers.
3. To provide customers with a diverse and future-proof range of products in the premium system camera segment.

This year, 2023, marks the 5th year since the formation of the L-Mount Alliance.

Joined by Ernst Leitz Wetzlar in October 2021 and DJI in June 2022, the number of partners and product lineup has grown, with the number of L-Mount cameras and lenses currently up to 12 models and 68 lenses.

The initial alliance between three companies has grown to five, allowing for greater freedom in the combination of cameras and lenses!

Mr. Schulz
Since 2018, Leica Camera AG has extended its offer for the full-frame SL-System by introducing two new cameras and six new lenses.

The current L-Mount Alliance now includes Ernst Leitz Wetzlar, a manufacturer of imaging lenses, and DJI, a camera and drone manufacturer, bringing the total number of companies to five, and we expect to welcome an additional company to the L-Mount Alliance in the near future.

We are looking to cover a wide variety of imaging applications, even targeting B2B areas such as photographers, videographers, and cinematographers.

We make all possible efforts and any kind of innovation to increase the appeal of the L-Mount standard. An example is the introduction of Phase Detection Autofocus to the L-Mount standard that works smoothly with all components of the different brands. We think this is a great confirmation to all potential customers that we are able to manage full compatibility among the different brands assortments.

As Mr. Ohsone mentioned before, a paradigm shift occurs every 30 years in the camera industry. We are confident that we have the right partners to make this happen by attracting many customers with unmatched versatility of compatible cameras and lenses with the unified L-Mount standard.

The camera industry is undergoing a paradigm shift, and the L-Mount force is accelerating

Mr. Ohsone
Starting with Leica, system cameras became SLRs such as Nikon F and Pentax 30 years later, followed by α (MAXXUM) and EOS 30 years after that, and after another 30 years, mirrorless.

It is truly a paradigm shift after 30 years. In this time of great change, the number of new products will be extremely important, and the L-Mount Alliance between the three companies can make the system three times faster than usual, five times faster now that two companies have joined, and the addition of another company will make it six times faster.

And let me say, we three companies have a very good relationship. This talk show is actually the fifth event among the three companies, and when we have new products, we invite each other to the launching events. It is a pretty rare case in the camera industry to have such a good relationship, and I'm sure we will definitely get along with the other new members as well.

However, we do not develop cameras and lenses through collusion just because we have a good relationship with each other. Even though we are all members of the L-Mount Alliance, each of us is an independent competitor, and each company competes with each other to create L-Mount products with its own unique characteristics.

Mr. Tsumura
As mentioned by Leica, we are now in the 5th year of the L-Mount Alliance, and we have great lenses and cameras from the allied companies. I feel that we have now become so well-developed that we can be considered a major force.

It has become a common sight to see works shot with SIGMA lenses on Panasonic's official social media sites, or to see visitors to LUMIX BASE TOKYO with Leica cameras and our S-PRO lenses attached. I am very pleased about this. I think there's great value in giving customers more freedom of choice.

What are the advantages of the L-Mount for photographers and videographers?

Mr. Schulz
We believe that the L-Mount provides the appropriate camera or lens for almost each application.

The imaging world has become more complex than ever. Still photography, video shooting and movie production moves closer together regarding the use of production equipment.

The same is true for users: In addition to traditional photography for printing purposes, images for social networking require innovative creativity that has never been seen before, and content has become more complex, requiring appropriate formats according to the output channels and applications.

By creating this Alliance, we support such customer needs by offering almost all choices with the power of several independent manufacturers within a unified camera and lens interface standard.

We think together we can offer more dedicated solutions for different target groups and applications than any other single manufacturer would be able to do.

Our customers’ investments in any L-Mount product will be long term sustainable for future use.

Mr. Ohsone
When I'm asked, "why choose L-Mount?", I like to mention the diversity of cameras and lenses available.

Often the SL2, S1/S5 and SIGMA fp are used alongside. And I'm excited that cinematographers for action movies will also use our fp as a second camera, together with the RONIN 4D.

It's also interesting that the fp camera is used in the director's viewfinder system of Leitz Cine.

With the introduction of the S5II from Panasonic with Phase-Detection AF, I think the importance of the SIGMA Mount Converter MC-21 will be increased. The S5II and MC-21 work better together than ever, since the SLR lens was basically driven by the Phase-Detection AF.

I was impressed by the 'spigot-style' construction of the L-Mount on DJI's Zenmuse X9 gimbal camera for the RONIN 4D.

This is similar in construction to the PL mount, which is popular in the cine industry, and is attached by turning the outer circumference of the mount on the camera side and tightening the bayonet blade on the lens. Furthermore, it has a lock button mechanism to prevent the lens from falling off! This is a great mount that shows the seriousness of DJI.

In fact, during the three company’s meeting for the launch of the SL2 in 2019, Mr. Schulz and I were discussing the possibility of making a spigot-type mount in the future. Happily, DJI realized the spigot-type mount before we did. Thanks to DJI, the world of L-Mount has expanded even further.

Mr. Tsumura
I believe that what is important for photographers, videographers and cinematographers is expanding the expression and realizing stress-free shooting.

The S5II is the first camera to incorporate image phase detection AF, but the L-Mount has made great progress in setting up a mechanism to accurately utilize the optical characteristics of each company's AF system, or in the case of LUMIX, to track the AF system even while zooming, and maintaining compatibility over other complex movements between the body and the lens. The engineers had a lot of trouble achieving this in our body construction, but in the end I think we achieved the perfect performance.

I believe that this mount will reflect more and more what each company wants to do and accelerate the evolution of the L-Mount, which is the appeal of this mount for videographers and photographers.

Because of our short history, we have a lot to learn from the two companies. We feel very pleased to be participating in L-Mount in this way.

Future "challenges" as described by each company

Mr. Schulz
We are just in the beginning.

Our journey has just begun. Our vision is that L-Mount will become the leading standard for every kind of imaging creator with unlimited possibilities and perfect compatibility among all L-Mount Alliance members.

We are already working on the products for the next few years, which means new cameras and lenses that will bring our SL-System to the next step.

We are convinced that due to our highly innovative partners, these new products will be accompanied by other L-Mount innovations that will help to offer an unmatched amount of choices and quality to our customers.

Mr. Ohsone
SIGMA has developed special lenses such as 'super telephoto zoom', 'super wide-angle zoom', 'macro lenses' and 'F1.2 large-aperture lenses'.

SIGMA will continue to follow this policy and actively develop products that are in some ways special and sometimes crazy. I think the "I series" lens lineup is one example.

SIGMA will also keep attempting to develop new technologies. I was very impressed with the development of Panasonic's phase detection AF system. The AF performance of the LUMIX S5II was amazing and beyond my imagination.

I was also impressed with the DSD focusing technology of Leica lenses. I assume that the amazing optical performance of the APO Summicron SL 35mm F2 and 50mm F2 is the result of this DSD.

SIGMA has also been able to develop new technologies.
The new AF motor “HLA" has made the AF speed considerably faster with the SIGMA 60-600mm F4.5-6.3 DG DN OS | Sports. In addition, the new OS algorithm “OS2” has enabled us to achieve considerable advancement in OS (Optical Stabilizer) performance.

SIGMA will continue to actively develop new technologies to improve on functionality, performance and quality.

Mr. Tsumura
As a pioneer in mirrorless cameras, we want to maintain our commitment to innovation through technology.

LUMIX has established a brand vision of proposing products for creators who enjoy photos and videos, and will continue to refine such hybrid cameras that blend still and video images.

In this aspect, I believe that the direction of L-Mount’s evolution is in the exact same vector as our company's vision.

With the participation of new cinema-related companies, the system will continue to evolve in both use cases, and we ourselves would like to contribute through technical development. We would very much like to maintain our close relationship and expand our partnership.