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no way this is a 400 bucks lens

the build is plastic the optical formula is a tessar-like very simple and been around for a century

in most ranges 1.7-1.8 normal ie 50mm lenses go for 100

check out Nikon 50mm 1.8 AFD

The optical quality of $100 Nikon 50/1.8 is almost identical to the $400 Panasonic 20/1.7, and if you stop down 1/3 of a stop (to compensate for the differences between APS-C and FT), then the Nikon is actually better:

http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/widget/Fullscreen.ashx?reviews=62,30&fullscreen=true&av=1.667,2&fl=20,50&vis=VisualiserSharpnessMTF,VisualiserSharpnessMTF&stack=horizontal&&config=LensReviewConfiguration.xml%3F2

$400 is an insane price for what is, basically, a $150 lens (at most).

Prog.

And when it comes to fall-off (vignetting), the Panasonic trails far behind the Nikon:

http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/widget/Fullscreen.ashx?reviews=62,30&fullscreen=true&av=1.667,1.667&fl=20,50&vis=VisualiserFallOff,VisualiserFallOff&stack=horizontal&&config=LensReviewConfiguration.xml%3F2

A whole stop darker in the corners. Correcting this in software is possible, but the result would be muddier, noisier and with less detail. There’s no free lunch.

Prog.

I used to read photozone reviews and obsess over the technical details, question is does the lens offer you the image quality that your after or not, might be expensive but try buying a lens with such specs from Nikon, ASPHERICAL+ ED….how about the 28 F1.4 or the new 24 1.4……
Another point, there is NOTHING wrong with software correction if done right. beauty is in the eyes of the beholder…

Prognathous and Forrester – you got it right – the point is price/performance ratio

Not output quality or practicality

by the way the sharpest Nikon 50mm is the f2 version; fast lenses are always softer wide open, like I guess well all lenses even Summiluxes….

Also the more I think about it and the more I wonder whether it all comes down to the lens design having to compensate for the sensor size, angle of view and DOF.

In fact a 20mm lens design is by definition more complex than 50mm – this may explain the Asph,

So basically given the sensor size, to get a 40mm lens (with min DOF f3.5) you have to design a 20mm f1.7 which is a more complex design and need to be corrected by asph and software

One word about Asph lens – I am no technician but I understand they come in many flavors: pure Asph require complex calculation and craftsmanship, we’re talking 1000$ and over. So called hybrid aspherical lenses are molded and combined with other lenses for correction and replacing more complex correction designs.

On the point of software correction, would this intervene also when the lens is used on Olympus bodies ? would it intervene also in Raw images ?

Also who makes these lenses – Matsushita is an electronista not an optician