Panasonic-Leica 25mm f/1.4 gets reviewed at Photographyblog!
There is the next Panasonic-Leica 25mm review at Photographyblog (Click here). The lens gets Highly Recommended by the reviewer: “£548.99 / $599.99 is undoubtedly expensive for a 50mm lens for any system, but given the excellent results, creamy bokeh and snappy performance, we feel that it’s just about justified and a good investment for Micro Four Thirds who have patiently waited for a fast standard prime.”
The lens worldwide shipment starts on July 22th.And those are my affiliate search links if you want to check if it is available for preorder in your country!
Australia: Amazon, BHphoto, Digitalrev, eBay.au
Austria: Amazon.at, Pixmania.at, eBay.at
Belgium: Pixmania.be, eBay.be
Canada: Adorama, B&H, eBay.ca
China: Amazon.cn, Digitalrev, eBay
Denmark: Pixmania.dk, eBay
Finland: Pixmania.fi, eBay
France: Amazon.fr, Pixmania.fr, eBay.fr
Germany: Amazon.de, Pixmania.de, eBay.de
Hong Kong: Digitalrev, eBay, Amazon, B&H
Ireland: Amazon.uk, eBay.ie
Italy: Amazon.it, Pixmania.it, eBay.it
Japan: Amazon.jp, eBay
Netherlands: Pixmania.nl, eBay.nl
Norway: Pixmania.no, eBay
Poland: Pixmania.pl, Redcoon.pl, eBay
Singapore: Digitalrev, eBay
Spain: Redcoon.es, Pixmania.es, eBay.es
Sweden: Pixmania.se, eBay
Switzerland: Amazon.de, Pixmania.ch, eBay.ch
United Kingdom: Amazon.uk, Pixmania.uk, eBay.uk
United States: Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay
P.S.: Feel free to add your link if you find the lens somewhere else!!!
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Recent comments
Comment from Nick Clark: Lol I'm sure the 55mm does :)...
Comment from Per: For me it is in total incl VAT and custo...
Comment from kesztió: OMG! Leica is 50 mm EQV!
Sorry, just ...
Comment from jules: I'll take AF over A-ring and distance sc...
Bob B.
11 months ago |MFT is getting BETTER & BETTER!!! Pretty exciting these days…so WHEN is the real breakthru MFT sensor coming??????? That would really do this lens justice…and have DSLR owners looking toward ebay to sell their gear!
Jedd
11 months ago |It make sense for GH2 owners. For GF line 20mm f/1.7 still seems to be a better choice for portability and price.
twoomy
11 months ago |Now that the new primes are becoming available, maybe the GH2 might be readily available sometime?
It’s only been a year since its announcement.
Allan K
11 months ago |Small sensor will never get the creamy bokeh of their counterpart large sensors. The bokeh looks so so even for a Leica (I blame the sensor not the lens).
kesztió
11 months ago |???
The difference between – say – Canon APS-C and MFT is minimal so not sure what are you speaking about. This lens has already very narrow DOF wide open. The DOF is even smaller than the one of the Voigtländer 25/0.95…
sneye
11 months ago |kesztio,
The 25 Nokton has far thinner DOF than the 25 Leica due to its larger maximum aperture and closer focusing. In fact, I can’t think of many format/lens combinations which beat it for thin DOF. The absolute minimum depth of focus for the Nokton is only 1.1mm whereas for the Leica it’s 5.6mm (check it yourself at http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html).
Of course, my point is only academic.
kesztió
11 months ago |You are wrong.
Just calculate for the SAME OBJECT DISTANCE.
Anonymous
11 months ago |I’m confused, are you saying that for the same object distance the pana f1.4 will have thinner dof than the voigt f0.95?
kesztió
11 months ago |Yes, definitely.
Just check on http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html:
Subject distance: 10 feet for both cases;
focal length: 25 mm, aperture F1 (Voigtländer): DOF = 1.46 feet
focal length: 50 mm, aperture F1.4 (Leica DG): DOF = 0.51 feet!!!
Don’t forget: the double focal distance is a huge difference!
sneye
11 months ago |But the Leica is 25mm too.
kesztió
11 months ago |OMG! Leica is 50 mm EQV!
Sorry, just purchasing a 50 (actually 55) mm F1.4 lens, that’s the confusion came from.
(BTW the 55/1.4 REALLY has much smaller DOF!
)
Nick Clark
11 months ago |Lol I’m sure the 55mm does
Nick Clark
11 months ago |The sensor is just recording whatever hits it, so the size makes no difference to bokeh…
dan
11 months ago |It’s still not listed on Amazon in the US
Stupig
11 months ago |Am I the only one who thinks its border performance crappy?
JoelH
11 months ago |To me, the edge-sharpness examples look simply a bit out of focus, not really like a loss of sharpness or resolution. A couple of issues to consider:
1) A shot that close at wide aperture has very shallow depth of field and very slight forward-back adjustments can move the subject out of focus with respect to the center. The book at the edge may not be at the same plane as the center book. The camera may not be set up perfectly perpendicular to the bookshelf and / or the book spines may not all be at the same depth behind the shelf edge. Furthermore…
2) The focus field is not necessarily a flat plane at the subject anyway. This lens is not advertised or designed as a process or copy lens, so minor field curvature is no real flaw in practical photographic situations. The f/1.4 lens is prized for its ability to isolate the main subject, and this does not include random peripheral features unless they comprise the targeted focus elements.
So there is reason to believe the book spine at the edge is simply not in the sharpest possible location. This test may or may not be telling us the real story about edge sharpness – it looks doubtful to me. A better test would be the old brick wall subject at a considerably longer distance – but still needing careful setup and checking for focus curvature.
Stupig
11 months ago |Look at the dot of the letter “i” — the blur is radially elongated. Astigmatism, perhaps?
GreyOwl
11 months ago |Very well stated, JoelH; these factors are usually overlooked by most people, which causes a lot of misunderstandings and wrong thinking.
Mick
11 months ago |I seriously mourn the loss of the aperture ring
Mr. Reeee
11 months ago |+1
The lack of an aperture ring kind of sucks. Focus by wire is even worse. It seems you give up a lot when so much of the basic control is given over for the camera to handle.
These are reasons why I prefer to use mostly manual lenses.
Nico Foto
11 months ago |I’d rather have some proper way of manually focusing with distance scales (like the new oly 12mm) than an aperture ring – for me at least the thumbwheel is just fine for setting aperture…and i’d also rather have the lens in the usd 600 range than in the usd 1000 range…every extra gizmo adds to the price tag…
Mr. Reeee
11 months ago |Me? I want both an aperture ring and distance scale. So, I guess that means I’m “stuck” with manual lenses like my Voigtländer Noktons, Pentax SMC Takumars and such. Gee, what a trade-off.
What extra gizmos? Stabilization or auto-focus?
jules
11 months ago |I’ll take AF over A-ring and distance scale any time of the week, twice on Sundays!
TempTag
11 months ago |+1 on loss of aperture ring and distance scale – happy to stay with the 4/3 version though curious how they compare in IQ…
sneye
11 months ago |The 25 Summilux looks like a very useful lens for just about any situation. If I needed a single lens for m4/3 this lens would be a leading candidate.
As it happens I have the 4/3 version so I won’t buy it.
YouDidntDidYou
11 months ago |I’m hoping the price of the original Four Thirds f1.4 25mm Leica drops in price
sneye
11 months ago |You must be joking. Discontinued lenses, especially quality glass, only go up in price. I suspect if you need one the best time to get it is now.
frank
11 months ago |I’d really have to try this lens before buying as I see quite a lot of CA in the pics. They do look nice as in the overall feel of the image. But e.g. in the picture of the cafe the lights closer have a red edge and the light sources further away (see the mirror reflections) have a green edge.
http://img.photographyblog.com/reviews/panasonic_leica_dg_summilux_25mm_f14_asph/sample_images/panasonic_leica_dg_summilux_25mm_f14_asph_27.jpg
As it stands now I’d say the 20/1.7 beats it by quite a margin. And .3 of a stop extra does not make up for the difference in image quality. And yes, the CA of the 20/1.7 is corrected in-camera and these are said not to be. So what, the pictures look better.
Per
11 months ago |Not a very well made review: What you need to know more about is how the lens “paints” the picture. Samples indicates that it has a lot better microcontrast compared to the very good 20mm. Just sharpness analyse and CA control (by firmware?) only tells us 50% of the story.
I will have one of these I think. A 12mm will arrive tomorrow. Together with my G3 this brings me a package superior to Fuji X100: Not as good sensor, but in any other sense (!) far more competent, flexible and without the concept cameras flaws of the X100.
Manual lenses work very well on the G3 too.
sneye
11 months ago |You’re right. There is so much more to a lens than sharpness and lack of aberrations. Microcontrast, the treatment of specular highlights and bokeh granularity are important to the feel of the image more than the obvious, easy to measure characteristics. Lenses with their own character are few and far between, but this one seems to be one of them.
Agent00soul
11 months ago |From where are you getting the 12?
Per
11 months ago |Ordered from B&H in US to Sweden. A Monday – Friday event.
Agent00soul
11 months ago |Cool, then I might do that too.
Agent00soul
11 months ago |Ouch, I just tried to order from B&H but the price including shipping to Sweden was going to be SEK 7765. Scandinavian Photo advertise it for 7990 so it’s almost the same price buying locally. OK, you will probably get it sooner from B&H but I’m not really in a hurry.
jules
11 months ago |8000 kronen, du säger!? Ouch…
Per
11 months ago |For me it is in total incl VAT and custom handling 6900sek
Nico Foto
11 months ago |True…it looks i finally have available all the pieces of my dream 3 lens travel kit…12mm, 20mm (or 25mm) and 45mm…all quality small primes…
Damn…now we need a true groundbreaking sensor improvement and this system will be killer!!!
Olympius
11 months ago |Per – you are wise soul…the G3 and the new Olympus 12mm, the Panny/Leica 25mm, and a few other well chosen lenses would make for an absolutely fantastic system, at a fraction of the cost compared to anything else out there, and it’s very portable as well.
In my opinion, the G3 is the camera to beat in 2011, and so far it seems as if Sony may be the only one to come out with a better, more capable body in the form of the NEX 7 and/or a77. But they just don’t have the lenses like Olympus and Panasonic do.
You can also put me among those who find the the new Panasonic Leica 25mm to be a better “all round” lens than the very nice little 20mm f.1.7, in terms of absolute picture quality. The 4/3 version of that lens is a legend, and from what I’ve seen, this new, tiny version will live up to it’s bigger brother’s reputation.
It’s a shame Olympus cannot figure out that some people actually prefer having a camera with a built-in EVF that they don’t have to pay extra for.
Anyway, in terms of Olympus 4/3 lenses that give you more than your money’s worth, there are several to choose from:
- 50mm f.2 macro
- 12-60mm SWD f.2.8-4 zoom
- 50-200mm SWD telephoto zoom
- 7-14mm Ultra-wide angle zoom
Which is why it’s important to stay in the DSLR business, as none of those lenses work well on micro 4/3 cameras.
And all four of those lenses are far, far superior to anything else out there, regardless of price or manufacturer.
Olympius
The Master
11 months ago |Does anyone else get annoyed with the photography blog website, the way the right hand side is always moving to catch up with ads as you scroll. Sometimes it just scrolls out of control. I guess I’ll wait for someone with decent website to review it.