Lensrentals tests all fast 40mm MFT lenses

Lensrentals tested these fast 40-45mm MFT lenses:

– Olympus 45mm f/1.2 ED PRO
– Olympus 45mm f/1.8 ED
– Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.7 OIS
– Panasonic Leica 42.5mm f/1.2 OIS
– Panasonic Leica 45mm f/2.8 DG OIS Macro
– Voigtlander 42.5mm f/0.95 Nokton

The conclusion:

Well, I learned that no matter how much I hate Voigtlander, the company, I sure do admire Voigtlander lenses. The performance of the 42.5mm f/0.95 is spectacular. Of course, you also have to be OK with manually focusing, but still, that’s a lens worth considering.
If you want a f/1.2 lens in this focal length, well, let’s face it, it will probably come down to whether you want Power OIS or not. If you don’t, the Olympus 42.5mm f/1.2 PRO is slightly less expensive and has less variation. But a good copy of the Panasonic 42.5 Noctitron is excellent.
Both of the less expensive lenses in this range deliver a lot of bang for the buck. They have very good image quality, and if you don’t need the widest aperture, they give you a lot for 1/3 the price of the wide-aperture duo. If I were most interested in this focal length for portraits, I’d probably want the Zuiko Digital f/1.8; that field curvature will help throw everything other than the subject out of focus. For landscapes or architectural shooting, the flat field of the Panasonic f/1.7 would be an advantage.