Photography Gear News

The Lenstip editorial office received the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17 mm f/1.8 lens already on the day of its launch courtesy of Olympus Poland. Such a fast reaction mobilized our team to test the device as soon as possible and today we can present its full review. Enjoy!

Micro-Four-Thirds (MFT) is undoubtedly the mirrorless system with the biggest footprint in the market today. However, so far the system focused primarily on consumer- and prosumer-grade products and ignored the professional arena but during the recent months we are seeing indications that this is going to change. Olympus released the popular OM-D camera and a high grade 75mm f/1.8 lens and Panasonic is also placing some bets into the higher end of the market.
In this review we'll have a look at the Panasonic Lumix X 12-35mm f/2.8 ASPH Power OIS - the first fast standard zoom lens of the MFT system. In full format terms the field-of-view is equivalent to 24-70mm. While it is, of course, a f/2.8 lens regarding its speed potential, the depth-of-field capabilities are actually not quite as impressive. In MFT land you are "losing" about 2 f-stops here which obviously reduces the creative potential of the lens quite a bit.

"The Panasonic-G X VARIO PZ 14–42 mm f/3.5–5.6 ASPH. P.O.I.S. is a new „kit” lens produced by Panasonic and a quite specific construction at the same time. We were very curious how such a construction performs in practice and we have decided to test this lens. Today we would like to present our review. Enjoy!"

"Our hands-on preview of the Olympus 75mm F1.8 for Micro Four Thirds. The 75mm is Olympus' premium grade portrait lens for the joint Olympus/Panasonic mirrorless system. We've had a pre-production example in the office for a couple of days and have prepared a hands-on preview, to which we'll add a samples gallery when the promised production example arrives."

"If we take a closer look at the micro-four-thirds lens lineup we will find five telephoto zoom lenses - 2x Olympus and 3x Panasonic lenses including our test candidate. The Panasonic LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 45-175mm f/4-5.6 ASPH. POWER O.I.S. belongs to the new premium d “X” series. The Panasonic lens features an electric zoom lever and an optical image stabilizer ("OIS") as well as 2 ED lenses which are supposed to reduce optical aberrations.
You should be able to find one for around 400EUR which is not cheap in absolute terms but this is roughly in line with comparable offerings from other original manufacturers."

"It's no surprise that the mirrorless interchangeable lens camera category is continuing to grow at a rapid pace. These compact, pro-featured ILCs undoubtedly have a strong future, with mass consumer appeal and a widening assortment of price points. We're particularly taken with the technology's compact footprint -- we're focusing our camera reviews on mirrorless models, and even outfitted our entire CES team with Sony's NEX-C3. But long before the likes of Sony and Fujifilm launched their first cameras, Olympus and Panasonic dominated the then-infant mirrorless category, developing the Micro Four Thirds sensor standard, that, for better or worse, has failed to catch on among other manufacturers. Surprisingly, Panasonic's pioneering days were far stronger than those of recent past, with the company's GF1 melting the hearts of compact-seeking professionals. But following that successful first model, Panasonic opted to take the GF series in a different direction, launching a dumbed-down GF2 (and later GF3) in what was likely an attempt to appeal to the much larger amateur category. This left the GF1 faithful without a worthy successor -- until now."

"The lack of pure speed is no longer an argument against micro-four-thirds (MFT) as more and more lenses like the the Panasonic Leica Summilux 25mm f/1.4 ASPH or the Olympus M.Zuiko 12mm f/2 ED have entered the market. However, the system wasn't really blessed with dedicated "portrait" lenses ... till Olympus announced the M.Zuiko Digital 45mm f/1.8. Its field-of-view is equivalent to about 90mm in full format terms so it fits perfectly into that category. The maximum aperture of f/1.8 is certainly fast with respect to light gathering, but in terms of depth-of-field you are are effectively "loosing" about two f-stops in this respect compared to the classic full format. However, this is still sufficient for quite shallow depth-of-field images especially for portrait photography from short distance. Fair enough, let's have a closer look at the lens."

The micro-four-thirds (MFT) system may be the most complete of the mirrorless systems. However, it mostly tackles entry to medium level users but slowly but steadily we are seeing more ambitious offerings. The Olympus M.Zuiko 75mm f/1.8 ED is certainly among them. It has a fairly "unusual" focal length equivalent to a 150mm lens on classic full format cameras. As such it is a moderately long tele lens suitable for applications such as portrait and still-life photography. At f/1.8 it is very fast by MFT standards but keep in mind that in terms of depth-of-field is behaves like a "150mm f/3.6" (full format). While this may not be highly impressive it is usually "good enough" for many if not most scenarios in this focal length class.

The Olympus M.Zuiko DIGITAL ED 40-150mm 4-5.6 R MSC may not be the hottest lens around in terms of generated excitement. However, it is certainly one of the most sold lenses of the micro-four-thirds (MFT) system - simply due to the fact that it is usually sold as part of camera-lens kits (either with a black or silver color finish). Given its specs it is a mid-range tele zoom lens suitable for a variety applications such as basic wildlife or portrait photography. The "R" model is an improved version of the initial 40-150mm - if you count in the Four-Thirds variants this is even the 4th incarnation.

Today we would like to present our review of a very interesting, unique and extremely fast lens, designed for Micro 4/3 system, which is the Voigtlander Nokton 17.5 mm f/0.95 Aspherical. Enjoy!

The Lumix G X Vario PZ 14-42mm is a member of Panasonic's new premium “X” series. It is probably the smallest zoom lens in the whole industry. However, this compactness is achieved by a trick - out of the box (in its "transport position") the lens is not ready for shooting - it needs to be extended to its working mode similar to a digicam lens. Nevertheless, in working mode it is still shorter than e.g. the directly competing Panasonic G 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6.
The compact allrounder offers an equivalent focal length of about 28-84mm in full format (35mm) terms. The lens is offered both as part of camera-lens kit and individually. In the latter case is available for around 350 Euro which is certainly a bit expensive for a lens in this class but its "pancake" style character just doesn't come for free.

"There was a time where fast lenses were scarce in Micro-Four-Thirds land but things have changed quite a bit during the last 2 years. Among the first high-speed lenses was the Panasonic Leica Summilux 25mm f/1.4 ASPH which filled the "standard lens" gap in the system. Its maximum aperture of f/1.4 is certainly fast with respect to light gathering, but in terms of depth-of-field you are effectively "loosing" about two f-stops in this respect compared to the classic full format but this is still sufficient for quite shallow depth-of-field images especially for documentary photography. You should be able to find one for around 500EUR so it is far from being a budget item considering the typical prices for standard prime lenses in the DSLR market."

"In January 2012 the Sigma company presented two new lenses designed for mirrorless cameras - the Sigma 30 mm f/2.8 EX DN and the Sigma 19 mm f/2.8 EX DN. One month ago we have published our review of the first one of them. Today the time has come for the second. Enjoy!"

"During recent years fisheye lenses have seen quite a renaissance. However, they tend to be rather expensive beings - just take e.g. the Panasonic Lumix G Fisheye 8mm f/3.5 as an example (~650EUR) - and most users will be shy of investing big money on such a niche lens. There is an interesting exception to the rule though - the Samyang 7.5mm f/3.5 UMC fisheye is offered for an incredibly low price of under 300EUR.
The Samyang 7.5mm is the first model of a new family of lenses developed specifically for the Micro-Four-Thirds system."