Hi Daniel, Great blog! However, I was shocked that no-one seems to mention the huge drawback to buying expensive Panasonic/Leica lenses, as I just discovered from references by DP Review and Lens Rentals. Namely, that after the warranty period has expired, Panasonic will NOT repair any defect in your lenses! I was considering the new 50-200mm after buying the G9 but this puts me right off. As a Panasonic Luminary, can you provide any insight or solution to this major issue? Best, Chris S.
Hi Chris,
This issue suggesting Panasonic will not repair a lens is absolute nonsense. The confusion comes from the fact they may not repair YOUR lens and send it back to you. But they do repair THE lens to absolute factory specs. A process they call “Factory Recertified” which is better than refurbished. They take a damaged lens, put it on the bench and fix it to the same specs and tolerance as any of the absolute untouched lenses coming down the factory production line. There are two reasons they do this. 1). it allows them to send you a lens ASAP! 2). They don’t have the same facilities here in the US to do such high quality repairs, therefore the lens needs to be sent to Japan. Rather than make you wait, they exchange the lens for one that is basically brand new. I have no idea why this policy is a problem to people. It’s fast, efficient and takes care of the problem in as short of time possible and they basically get a brand new lens. Hope this helps.
One more thing. attached is an image of my photo library where Mylio shows I’ve shot 133454 images with the Leica 100-400mm lens. It’s still going strong and I’ve had no issues whatever with this lens. I absolute love it. I’ve seen and held the new 50-200mm and cant wait to finally get one to try. Thanks for the question.