A Micro Four Thirds database overview (by Eric)
43rumors reader Eric created a MFT database some of you might find useful to check out and use. This is his original mail sent to me this week:
Eric: “This spreadsheet helps me keep track of all the MFT lenses and how they relate to each other, so I can try to do a better job of picking-the-next-lens than I have in the past.
I don’t know what other people use, if anything, but I thought someone might find these useful.”
All Lenses-Specs
http://www.flickr.com/photos/87870429@N06/8041366928/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Primes-Graph
http://www.flickr.com/photos/87870429@N06/8041366610/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Zooms-Graph
http://www.flickr.com/photos/87870429@N06/8041357975/sizes/l/in/photostream/
PrimesByCompany-Cost
http://www.flickr.com/photos/87870429@N06/8041366696/sizes/l/in/photostream/
PrimesByCompany-Chart
http://www.flickr.com/photos/87870429@N06/8041366752/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Thanks Eric!
Eric
8 months ago |Thought everyone might like a little more in the way of explanation:
All Lenses-Specs – Everything I know about the lenses, no minimum focus distance, etc. I had to draw-the-line somewhere.
(I used to have the future lenses in Yellow, but the last round of announcements made this too messy)
Primes-Graph – Focal Length vs f-stop.
Zooms-Graph – Same thing for zooms, a line shows the zoom range of each lens. (I know its not linear in real life)
Primes by Company(cost) – Cost vs. f-stop. Interesting to see the relative “value” of each lens. Doesn’t stop the lens-lust on the bottom-right.
Primes by Company(chart) – Focal Length and speed of each lens by Company. Useful for finding the “holes” and seeing the alternatives.
* All prices and most specs are from B&H (US). Except the wished-for Oly zooms which I used wished-for prices.
* Mistakes are likely, please correct me in a kind manner.
El Gatto
8 months ago |Nice job Eric!
still, it seems you’ve forgotten the Tokina mirror lens in your charts:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/02/03/tokinareflex300_6p3
Best,
El Gatto
Eric
8 months ago |Sorry about that. I’m not into mirror lenses, so it wasn’t on “my” chart. But I should have added it when I was preparing it for use by others.
Incessant Troll
8 months ago |olympus needs to bring out a lens hood for the 15mm. they can make it out of tin in order to protect the lens from falls and sell it for $120 if the performance is there. they can also make an oversized lens hood out of Papier-mâché and use it for rain protection. it will be cheap for $50. both hoods, one time use only. the possibilities are endless.
Mr. Reeee
8 months ago |LOL! As long as they have “Zuiko” emblazoned on them the lemming-like fanbois will gobble them up!
robin
8 months ago |the price must be worth it… 1.8 yeah 400us
JP
8 months ago |Eric, kindly note that the upcoming all metal Olympus 17 mm f/1.8 will not be anywhere near $400, the 12 mm f/2.0 costs $800, and is of the same ilk, not the plastic 45 mm f/1.8 which costs $400.
Try $700-$900 for the 17 f/1.8 – that is what it will cost.
El Gatto
8 months ago |Why not buy a canon/nikon/minolta/olympus 50/1.4 manual lens and an adaptor instead? it will cost you less than $100 and the results will be superb. My old Minolta MD 50mm/1.4 is just perfect for portraits…
Anonymous
8 months ago |+1, I use the Zuiko 50 1.4 and it is stunning, lovely bokeh and sharp as a needle on focus.
Eric
8 months ago |Yeah, I’m sure I’m a little low on that estimate. But I can dream, right? And I’m sure we both hope you’re a little on the high side, right? Maybe instead of plastic like the 45 (which I love), it will be *cheap* metal?
Really just trying to justify getting the 17 to replace my 20…which I’ll probably keep anyway! But… if I sell the 20 for $250, and the 17 is “only” $600,…
JP
8 months ago |Eric you can probably sell the 20 mm for more, I paid $360 and sold it for $370. It was when they were harder to get at one point and minus Amazon’s commission, but people will pay up a bit for them.
robin
8 months ago |TROLLs waaaaaaaaaaaa
inis16
8 months ago |No lens stabilization column?
Eric
8 months ago |Sorry about that, 3 of my 4 MFT bodies are Olympus, including my current E-M5. I have the 14, 20, and 45-200, and looking hard at the 12-35 and 35-100, so I’m not anti-Panasonic in any way. But I guess Mr Reeee would call me an Oly Fanboy (on IBIS-yes, Hoods-no)
I could add an Indicator for OIS though (wouldn’t need a separate column). Really wanted some way of distributing the actual spreadsheet, so everyone could customize it themselves, use custom sorts, track their own lenses, etc.
Amanda
8 months ago |With the 4/3 system I only had zooms, with m4/3 i’m stuck with primes. Panasonic and Olympus are to late with premium zooms……
Anonymous
8 months ago |I need a 7 or 9mm prime… why doesn’t anyone make one? and I don’t mean a fish eye or 3d lens…
*sigh* the waiting continues…
TheEye
8 months ago |I hear you!
ph
8 months ago |7mm is probably a little too wide for my liking. A 9 or 10mm is a bit more versatile.
I’m looking for a classic three prime setup with a 9 or 10mm and the 20mm and 45mm. Can’t understand why it has to take so long. Fuji does better by offering a 21mm eq. as their fourth prime.
El Gatto
8 months ago |The Pana 7-14 is just great and very versatile (my favorite lens, indeed). A prime lens would bring little added value: cost, sharpness and speed would be more or less the same, imho… Don’t you think so?
uberzone
8 months ago |Except it is kind of slow compared to the other primes and you can not put filters on it (this is the biggest rub for me)
El Gatto
8 months ago |I’m not sure a prime 7mm could be faster than 3.5 to remain at a reasonnable price ;o) The 7-14 opens at 4.0… So the diffrence will not be stunning. I take your point regarding the filter issue: it is the only con I can see. Price? My bet is a prime would not be cheaper.
Anonymous
8 months ago |it’s slow, expensive, and large…
In theory… although I’m not a lens designer, you can make primes faster, cheaper, and smaller as there are less concerns. (or you can make them faster and smaller and make them more expensive as is most cases …)
Before anyone cries no useful bokeh on wide angles, it’s not always about bokeh, the fast speed is to allow lower ISO and decent shutter speeds.
Think about the panasonic 14mm… it’s small, fast-ish, and cheap. I’m not asking for a super high quality lens, just something matching the rest of the prime lineups at a wider angle.
El Gatto
8 months ago |“it’s slow, expensive, and large…”
Slow: 4.0 @7-14mm. Would a prime be much faster?
Expensive: 830 euros. Would a prime be much cheaper?
Large: good point. It IS large indeed.
but it’s:
.versatile
.light (even if big)
.excellent in terms of image quality
Anonymous
8 months ago |Nikon has a 15mm eq f2.8, so that’s roughly 7 or 8 in mft terms. I trust olympus can do as good
In tems of size, even the samyang 8mm F3.5 is smaller and faster, no af though and it’s a fish..
But you get thye point, smaller and faster can be done… pricce we’ll, almost nanything is cheaper than the panny 7 right now… eveen the oly 12mm is cheaper by 2/3rds the price!
ph
8 months ago |If we consider m4/3 a serious system, the availability of a zoom (in any range) can not be an argument against the release of a prime (within that range).
Palau Blue
8 months ago |Where’s the Samyang Fisheye?
Anonymous
8 months ago |It’s there, it’s listed under Bower. The lens is produced under several different names.
Mike
8 months ago |The name of the company is Samyang. The other names (Bower, Rokinon, Opteka) are used in the USA because of a trademark dispute with Samsung.
Arnoud van Houwelingen
8 months ago |you forgot the slr magic lenses. I have a SLR Magic HyperPrime Cine 12mm F1.6 myself.
Arnoud van Houwelingen
8 months ago |i’m sorry .. the slr magic lenses is also called noktor .. my bad
Eric
8 months ago |Sorry Palau and Arnoud, I went with the shorter names to keep the columns thin. I actually bought the fisheye under the Rockinon name!
And if that new E-M5 firmware had added focus-peaking, I’d have ordered the Noktor 12mm. I know others have had good luck manually focusing on the E-M5 without focus-peaking, but I’m not so sure about ME. That’s one reason I bought the MF fisheye, but its a little too “different” to be used to judge my ability with other, much more expensive lenses. I’ve thought about renting something to find out, but I don’t have any experience with that either.
Miroslav
8 months ago |Two more m4/3 / 4/3 resources:
http://hazeghi.org/mft-lenses.html – The Complete Micro 4/3 Lens List
http://www.the-meissners.org/olympus-flash2.html – Olympus External Flash Support
michaelfromoz
8 months ago |Have you seen the four thirds site which allows you to see all FT and MFT lenses and cameras and you can also match them up etc. and see what they look like mounted.
http://www.four-thirds.org/en/index.html
Michael Hobart
8 months ago |Glad that you mentioned the official site, I was going to point it out if someone had not done so.
The charts there are useful as they graphically show the focal length (or range for zooms). They also include all discontinued lenses.
SteveO
8 months ago |Nice job, Eric. I find the overall chart a very helpful quick reference that you can easily update now that it’s built.
I would suggest adding in 4/3′s lenses, at least the basic “golden oldies” (9-18, 14-54 MkII, 12-60, 25, 35 macro, 50 macro, 40-150, 70-300) that many, including myself, use for their excellent optics, lower cost and simply because we already have them. Maybe they could be in a color to easily differentiate them, but helpful to have included as a reference.
I know, where do you stop, so appreciate what you’ve already accomplished.
hiplnsdrftr
8 months ago |What about the 14mm and 20mm by Panasonic?
Vianney
8 months ago |Here is another very well made MFT lenses database with a lot of details, color codes (for quick comparison) and links to lens reviews.
http://hennigarts.com/micro-four-thirds-lenses.html
The Master
8 months ago |Nice effort and thanks, but I would have to consider minimum focus distance as one of the most important items of a M4/3 lens, specially the fast ones. That’s really the only saving factor for shallow D.O.F. vs larger sensors and one of the first things l look for when shopping for lenses. If the 25 1.4 pany, only focused at 18 inches, like most 50 mm lenses for full frame, then it would be much more difficult to get shallow D.O.F. shots and the same goes for portrait length lenses. Focus distance is as or more important than aperture size with small sensors, in my opinion. But, that was awfully nice of you to go to all that work and thanks again.
Dossen
8 months ago |Seems like everyone has their own way of tracking lenses. I have my list for MFT lenses down here: http://dosx.eu/lens/mft/
It’s inspired by Dirk Hennings MFT page also mentioned here, but available for all purely mirrorless systems.
Feel free to use them, those lists are usually up to date with lots of alternative lenses and up to four reviews per lens.
Here’s the main page linking to the other tables: http://dosx.eu/lens/
PS: the lists are sortable too. If close focus distance is important to you, just click the column to re-sort the table.
PPS: image scaling of lenses is comparable across systems to allow visual size comparisons.
David
8 months ago |Eric great job.
Please think about creating a google doc that is open so we can download and edit.
Thank you
Miroslav
8 months ago |Here’s another useful link: https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p9kkgjwEQQQ-HJwvNDobeEw – C Mount Lens Compatibility List ( for micro four thirds )