Panasonic LUMIX G II Lens, 20MM, F1.7 ASPH, MIRRORLESS Micro Four Thirds, H-H020AS (USA Silver)

Product Information

Main reason being was weight, it was just to heavy sometimes lugging it all about even with just the body & one lens. Unfortunately, your options are fairly limited if wanted to save money, but still wanted a splash resistant lens. There is the Sigma 16mm f/1.4 that claims to have seals. I have this lens because like you I was looking for something in my sweet spot (15-17mm) that was cheaper than a pro lens. I use this lens in my steampunk camera box, where part of the time I want a fast lens, and the other part of the time, I need splash resistance. Sigma claims it is splash proof, but is it? I haven't taken it out in wet conditions, so I don't know. Also, unlike the Olympus 20mm f/1.4 or PL 25mm, the Sigma 16mm is a big lens, weighing 405g and 92mm long compared to 205g and 63mm for the PL lens. 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 This entry in the feather-weight category of Micro Four Thirds lenses has been around a good while, but we re-tested it recently to see how it holds up and found ourselves summarily impressed. The Panasonic Lumix G 20mm f1.7 II, which somehow weighs about the same as a couple of boxes of matches, is a crisp, fast and punchy lens that makes for an excellent day-to-day shooter. Its equivalent focal length of 40mm makes it a natural choice for general, all-purpose photography, providing a similarly naturalistic perspective to a nifty-fifty but getting that little bit more of the scene in the frame. 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

I have to say I really love 20mm vs 25mm comparisons. And I'm not being sarcastic; I really can't get enough of 'em I think it's because this focal length range is my favorite for general purpose people photography. I've had both lenses myself (I did sell the 20mm recently however because I discovered I preferred the 25mm focal length a bit more), and have a feeling for both. The 20mm is a little sharper at 1.7 compared to the 25mm at 1.4, but the 25mm becomes sharper stopped down even as soon as 1.8. Color and contrast are more appealing on the 25mm with a lot more "pop" to images, whereas the 20mm is flatter--some would say more natural. And of course we all know about the differences in focus speed and noise by now. What I wasn’t prepared for was that the image quality of this little E-P2 and 20 1.7 would surpass a Nikon D3s with a Nikon 50 1.8 (more on this later). I guess that right there is proof that a lens can make all of the difference in the world. When the lens arrived from B&H I opened the box and was pleased to see a lens pouch was included. Not that I ever use them really, but it’s a nice touch. One of the main complaints against the 20 is its focusing speed. I think we've all been spoiled by how fast many m4/3 lenses are at focusing, because when using my friend's T3i with a couple of lenses a few weeks ago, I was surprised to find it focused generally slower than my 20mm did, especially in low light! The thing is the 20mm isn't actually a "slow" lens per se, and most certainly not when compared to lenses across different systems. It's only slow relative to the newer M4/3 lenses(particularly on newer bodies).

Tech Specs

Falling in love with this lens is inevitable. Highly recommended when looking for something like this! Even the 45-200mm isn’t a bad lens upto 150mm it’s pretty sharp, but starts to drop off after that but still very usable and nothing abit of lightroom can’t sort out. Image Stabilisation– IS, Power OIS, or Mega OIS? If you’re using a Micro Four Thirds camera without In-Body Image Stabilisation (IBIS), then having optical image stabilisation in the lens is going to be of particular interest, it’s also worth looking out for it when looking at longer telephoto lenses. Panasonic lenses with optical image stabilisation come with “Power” or “Mega” OIS, whilst Olympus lenses with optical image stabilisation simply have “IS” in the name. We’ve divided the guide into sections, with lenses that earned five stars from our review team first, then 4.5-star lenses, then the four-stars. Lastly, we’ve also included a couple of lenses we haven’t scored, but have taken out on field tests, so you can read our full impressions. Panasonic GX7– The GX7 is a camera that may go best with the lens due to its smaller size–which works best with the lens’s small size.

As I said the only flaw is the vignetting wide open at f/1.7 to around f/2. You can eliminate vignetting at f/4 or you can just correct it later in post processing (something very easy and 100% efficient with a good software). This wide-angle prime, a recent effort from Panasonic, is a solid addition to the kit bag of any landscape photographer using Micro Four Thirds. It impressed across the board in our testing, delivering sharp results in most shooting scenarios that we subjected it to. It’s also worth noting that this is an autofocus lens, which somewhat sets it apart in the MFT system – generally, for something this wide (18mm equivalent), your options are manual focus only.

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The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC DN is part of a range of bright f/1.4 lenses designed for APS-C and Micro Four Thirds mirrorless cameras, along with the 56mm f/1.4, there’s also a 16mm f/1.4 lens available. The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 gives a 60mm equivalent field of view, making it slightly longer than the “standard” 50mm lens. With an f/1.4 aperture, it’s also a good choice if you need to shoot in low-light conditions. We can expect to see more Micro Four Thirds cameras and lenses in the future, including likely an OM-System OM-10. It’s safe to say the format has a future for now. FAQ: Will Olympus Micro Four Thirds lenses fit Panasonic? As one should expect at the price point, this 25mm offers a bare-bones feature-set. There's no optical stabilization, though this shouldn't matter for the vast majority of shooters, as almost all modern Micro Four Thirds bodies have internal IS. Nor is there an aperture ring or custom buttons. What the lens does offer is a sizable focus ring. Ultimately, though it's not optically perfect, for most folks, the Panasonic Lumix G 25mm F1.7 ASPH is going to be more than good enough. If there's a weakness in the lens, it would be significant corner shading when used at larger apertures. This is especially noticeable when used wide open, where we note corners which are a full stop darker than the center of the image. This light falloff reduces as the lens is stopped down, becoming 3/4 of a stop at ƒ/2, and 1/2 a stop at ƒ/2.8. At ƒ/4 it remains more or less constant at a third-of-a-stop of light falloff.