(UPDATED) Schneider 14mm has AF and costs less than €1.500. Two more m43 lenses in 2013.

The German Fotomagazin (Translation here) and Photoscala had a chat with the Schneider Kreuznach managers.  The just announced 14mm f/2.0 Micro Four Thirds lens has autofocus and nano surface coating. It’s made of 10 lenses and four of them are aspherical. It’s made in Germany (a guarantee for top quality) and it will be priced at less than €1.500 ($1800). That’s a less than the price of the Angulon lenses made for Nikon mount which do cost over $2,000 at Amazon (Click here to see it – has T/S). The lens will ship in early 2013. And Schneider also said that they will announce two more m43 lenses in 2013.

Back to the 14mm f/2.0 lens. Don’t know if it can compete against the other lenses like:
Olympus 12mm f/2.0 (Price check at [shopcountry 23576]). 2mm wider but with high image quality I doubt Schneider will beat it to justify the price difference (if my guesses price is correct).
Panasonic 14mm f/2.4 (Price check at [shopcountry 16258]). Slower lens and certainly the Schneider will have a much greater image quality. But the real advantage of the Panasonic is the pancake size.

Anyway, thanks Schneider for joining the system! It’s great to have so many wide angle lens options!