The bokeh – or quality of the out-of-focus regions produced by this 25mm – is fairly pleasing. Panasonic takes pride in the smoothness/polishing of its aspherical surfaces/molds, and it shows here. The discs rendered by out-of-focus highlights are relatively Gaussian and free of distracting patterns like 'onion rings'. Only occasionally do they show the slightest hint of a hard edge (more noticeable as you stop down), but not enough to cause any concern. The Panasonic Lumix G 20mm f1.7 II lens on the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III. Photo credit: Joshua Waller I do a lot of portraits when hanging out with friends. With the 20mm, I was pretty much obligated to switch to my 45mm for decent traditional portraits, which ended up with the 45mm being my most used lens. With the 25mm, thanks to the narrower angle of view and greater aperture contributing to less perspective distortion and more subject isolation, there are few occasions where I actually have to switch lenses. In fact, it's making me consider selling the 45mm to fund the 75mm, where there would be a larger FL and subject isolation difference against the 25mm. But of course, on the other hand, I have less of an ability to shoot landscapes and architecture in the crowded streets of NYC. For that I now use the wide end of my new 12-50 kit lens. I think the differences between these two lenses show what I've seen referred to as the differences between Japanese and German design. Japanese designed lenses may oftentimes be superior technically and quantitatively: better MTF numbers, less CA and the like. But these German lenses tend to have character and superior ability in areas that are harder to measure with numbers, such as contrast and color rendering.

In comparison to other lenses, we have to admit fully and outright that we’ve seen sharper offerings from Olympus at close focal lengths like the company’s 25mm f1.8 that we reviewed. However, that isn’t a pancake lens and if that’s what you’re looking for then the Panasonic offering really can’t be beat. Sharpness BTW, the first digit or 'X' is the dust resistance measure, and the second digit or 'X' is the water resistance measure. It is only with the OM-1 did OM start mentioning the dust resistance on micro 4/3rds cameras (the TG-6 is rated IP68). And no doudt as the Sensors, AF ect improve as they will over time, there will be little point for most owning a DSLR, all expect the pro’s. When shooting bright light sources at stopped-down apertures – like in the F16 shot above – the 'spikes' of the sunstar are soft-edged and not all that well pronounced. Lateral and longitudinal chromatic aberration (fringing) The Phoblographer’s various product round-up featuresare done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear we’ve fully reviewed in these roundups.The front element moves in and out during focussing and it seems a little fragile to me. The 14mm f/2.5 for instance, has no external moving parts. Maybe Pansonic will build a new 20mm f/1.7 someday with a design like this 14mm. Another difference is the weight of the new lens vs the original, with the new lens weighing 100g compared to 87g for the original, with both being very lightweight lenses. The Leica DG Summilux 12mm f/1.4 ASPH lens is a premium lens with the Leica branding, and the wide-angle lens gives a 24mm equivalent. You’ll find an aperture ring on the lens, and can also control the aperture with the camera. There’s also a solid build quality, thanks to a metal construction, and you’ll benefit from weather-sealing. Perhaps more importantly, the lens also delivers excellent image quality, with plenty of fine detail, even when shooting wide-open. The D300s is great but I actually prefer the color from the E-P2/20 1.7! The Canon 7D… Well, it’s a nice DSLR no question and gives superior ISO, DR and color. But for all out fun when you go out for a day of shooting? I go with the E-P2 combo. If you do not need the fast FPS, improved high ISO or BULK the m4/3 cams are ideal. Considering that this is a very typical Micro Four Thirds autofocusing lens, all you really need to do is mount the lens to the camera, point, shoot, and enjoy the images. Considering that there are no switches on the lens, you’ll need to go through camera buttons and menus to switch the focusing type. Otherwise, simply mount it and forget it. It’s a true joy to use. Autofocus

I would also expect this might explain the different sharpness results from the 16mp tests(and my own experience) and the 12mp tests, where the added contrast helps lenses resolve more detail at the edges, whereas on a more resolving sensor you might see there is actually more resolution with the 20mm. When combing all the programs together you get much of the functionality of the substantially more expensive Final Cut Pro. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. My LUMIX GF1 (white ivory, with the pancake lens) arrived just 10 days ago, and I am absolutely happy with it. I agree in full with your comments regarding the pancake lens. It is certainly in the forefront of glass in kits. It is maybe a bit unfair to compare with LEITZ lenses, but it fares very well indeed also in comparison with them, given that their lenses (and cameras) play in a different league /price range. Another explanation is that I think the 20mm may show more lateral CA at the corners of the frame than the 25mm at relative apertures in contrasty settings.Main reason being was weight, it was just to heavy sometimes lugging it all about even with just the body & one lens. Announced alongside the flagship OM-1 camera, the M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm F4.0 PRO is its second all-new optic under the OM System brand, after the M.Zuiko Digital ED 20mm F1.4 PRO. It’s a compact, weather-sealed telephoto zoom than employs a space-saving retractable design and promises premium optics. With a zoom range equivalent to 80-300mm on full-frame, it’s designed for use with Olympus and OM System cameras but can also be used on Panasonic Lumix G-series MFT bodies. The OM 20mm F1.4 alongside its Panasonic rivals: the Leica DG 25mm F1.4 (left) and Lumix G 20mm F1.7 (right). These are the original versions of the two Panasonic lenses: the updated versions are optically identical, but the 25mm F1.4 II is weather-sealed, while the 20mm F1.7 II is smaller in diameter That being said, stopping down just a bit to F2 or F2.8 will result in the sharpest output. But sharpness will drop quite visibly by even F5.6 and certainly by F8, due to diffraction (remembering that F5.6 - F8 on Four Thirds is F11 - F22 in full-frame terms). So it's better to crank your shutter speed in bright light, rather than go beyond those apertures, if possible. Vignetting and distortion We really rated this as a landscape lens when we came to review it, especially given that robustly weatherproof construction that keeps the rain out. It’s also a solid do-it-all documentary lens, with fast and silent autofocus that can be relied upon to nail the shot in varying conditions. We weren’t huge fans of either the manual focusing ring or the aperture ring, the former being too slippery, the latter being incompatible with Olympus. A pity that the high price tag of this lens probably precludes it for MFT shooters who aren’t using Panasonic. Pros