Ahead of Photokina, we reported about an upcoming German-made 15mm shift lens for Micro Four Thirds. We also showed you some pictures of the first prototype that was shown on photokina. The lens was based on the 15mm f4.5 Super Wide-Heliar from Voigtländer, and was fitted with a custom-made shift mechanism and Micro Four Thirds mount. However, the German blog “Pen and Tell” now reports that the project has been put on hold — allegedly because the manufacturer found that the 15mm Voigtländer didn’t work as expected.
Upon a personal call with B.I.G. Photo this information was confirmed. I was told that they are currently looking for other solutions to make the lens work, but as of now they cannot say when and in which form it will be realised. Which means that we’ll have to wait. Until then, no wide-angle shift lens for Micro Four Thirds, sadly — unless you adapt something like the huge and expensive Canon 17mm f4 TS-E, which, frankly, does not seem to make much sense at all.