Introduced in november 2017 the Panasonic Leica DG Elmarit 200mm F2.8 have been marked as discontinue at the japaneese Panasonic page. Also discontinued is the associated teleconverters (1.4 and 2.0).
The Panasonic Leica DG Elmarit 200mm F2.8 is a fast telephoto lens that is equivalent to 400mm when mounted on a Micro Four Thirds body. (An included 1.4x teleconverter increases the equivalent focal range to 800mm.)
The lens probably only had a single production run. It was the single most expensive lens in the Pana Leica lens collection, retailing for a whooping USD 3000. It probably was a slow seller despite the premium optical quality.
Praise for the 200 mm:
While we are at it these lenses have also been discontinued in the past:
H-FSA45200
H-FS14140-KA / H-FS14140 (none splash proof design of the super zoom)
H-FS1442A-KA / H-FS1442A
The first one is perhaps better served by the Pana Leica 50-200 (at a premium price point).
The 14-42 kit lens is replaced by the 12-60 kit lens.
A update: Only the non splash proof edition of the 14-140 has been discontinued.
There was basically three (or four) versions:
The initial 14-140 had the grayish design of the first Pana m43 lenses and was f4-5.8 with MEGA OIS.
The next H-FS14140 was much improved and was f3.5-5.6 and had Power OIS. Design was that shiny metal look and HD mark in red.
Later replaced by that BK version which was mate black and with white lettering (and no HD marking), optically the same.
The third/fourth was the H-FSA14140 with same design as H-FS14140 but with dust / splash proof additions. Retail price was the same.
H-FSA14140 is not discontinued.
Since I have decided to collect most of the Leica DG lens lineup I got the 200 mm f2.8 now in december.
Retailer charged 2600 euro (MSRP 3200,-). Nice winter cashback in Germany (300 euro) and an aditional tax free since i live in Norway.
However I noted that the 200 mm was still on the orginal 1.0 lens firmware. I.e. v1.1 was release in 2019. Lens itself was introduced in 2017/18. I think this basically confirms my gut feeling that there ever was only one production run on this expensive tele lens. I'm not sure how the serial numbers work, but my copy is xxxx1024.
Also, I noted that there seemed to be layer of dust on the box itself.
So in total its understandably that this lens has now been discontinued.
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