Panasonic LUMIX G Lens, 25mm, F1.7 ASPH, Mirrorless Micro Four Thirds, H-H025K (USA Black)

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This wide-angle prime, a recent effort from Panasonic, is a solid addition to the kit bag of any landscape photographer using Micro Four Thirds. It impressed across the board in our testing, delivering sharp results in most shooting scenarios that we subjected it to. It’s also worth noting that this is an autofocus lens, which somewhat sets it apart in the MFT system – generally, for something this wide (18mm equivalent), your options are manual focus only.

For all there is to like about mirrorless systems – particularly their compact size and light weight – one legitimate area of criticism has been the relatively high cost of many lenses. Aside from a few honourable exceptions, genuinely affordable optics have been in short supply. This is a shame, as adding a lens or two is always the best way to make the most of an interchangeable-lens camera, with fast normal primes at the top of the list of useful additions. Autofocus is, in the grand scheme of things, very accurate, regardless of whereabouts in the frame the focus area is positioned. However, during the course of my testing I came across a slight catch; the lens’s plane of sharp focus shifts forwards fractionally on stopping down, which is a symptom of residual spherical aberration. Because Micro Four Thirds cameras normally focus with the aperture set wide open, this can result in the edge being taken off the sharpness when you’re shooting at f/2.8, particularly with close-up subjects. However, while this effect was easily measurable in our studio testing of the lens, it’s not something many users are likely to notice during normal shooting. Panasonic Lumix G 25mm f/1.7 Asph – Image quality

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Yes, Olympus and OM-System Micro Four Thirds lenses will fit Panasonic Micro Four Thirds cameras, and perform with full functionality of electronic features such as autofocus. Stabilisation is a slightly more complex thing – generally if you want the most powerful stabilisation effect, it’s best to use cameras and lenses from the same brand as they are calibrated to work together. Otherwise, you can feel free to swap between makers at your discretion. The Olympus 8-25mm F4.0 also accepts slightly smaller 72mm filters, rather than the 77mm filters of the Leica lens. And while we've not yet fully tested the Leica's performance, its stepping autofocus motor likely won't be quite as swift as the extremely fast linear motor of the Olympus lens. Above: Place the Olympus on the left and the Leica 10-25 on the right, both at 25mm and their respective maximum apertures and unsurprisingly the latter is delivering larger blobs at f1.7, albeit almost all of them rendered as ovals until the aperture is closed to f2.8 or smaller. I’d also say the style of the Leica 10-25 blobs isn’t particularly smooth or outline-free here either. Finding a lens for a Micro Four Thirds camera isn't hard—there have been hundreds of different types over the years. But there are some things to take into account. The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 8-25mm F4.0 Pro doesn't exhibit too much barrel or pincushion distortion, as you can see in the photos below.

It also takes an even smaller, more affordable 67mm filter size, but opts for a stepper motor-based autofocus drive. And once again, the 8-25mm F4.0 Pro offers noticeably better macro specifications. Regarding design, build quality and features the Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 25mm 1:1.2 PRO is similar to the other Olympus Pro lenses. The build quality is very good as the lens barrel is made of metal. The lens hood is made of plastic but is high quality regardless. LEICA DG SUMMILUX 25mm / F1.4 II ASPH. (H-XA025) with High-Speed AF Compatibility in Splash/Dust-Resistant Rugged Design *35mm camera equivalent: 50mm ThePanasonic Lumix G 25mm f/1.7 ASPH has a closest focusing distance of 0.25m / 0.82ft and a maximum 0.14x magnification rating.The lens is weather resistant (against dust, rain, and frost). It also features a L-FN button and Olympus manual focus clutch, which provides real manual focus with a depth of field scale and hard stops. The latter is extremely useful for shooting video and close-up images. The out-of-focus regions in this F1.7 shot show some purple fringing in front of the subject, aka longitudinal CA (LoCA)

Other features of note include an internal-focus design, with a minimum focus distance of 30cm. Like the rest of Olympus’s Pro line-up, the lens also benefits from weather-sealed construction for shooting outdoors in tough conditions. The 62mm filter thread is shared with the other F1.2 primes, and surrounded by a bayonet mount for the deep cylindrical LH-66B lens hood. Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 25mm F1.2 PRO Build and Handling Despite a very solid, all-metal construction which would satisfy professional photographers, the 8-25mm tips the scales at just 411g (14.5oz). That gives it just enough heft to balance nicely without being front-heavy both on more compact bodies like the E-M1 III and larger ones like the E-M1X. Interchangeable lens cameras offer a lot more creative flexibility and control than smartphones and point-and-shoots. Buying a camera with swappable lenses lets you change your angle of view, and take advantage of specialty optics for macro and fish-eye shots.

Mirrorless technology has grown a lot in the time since. Today's models leapfrog SLRs in autofocus speed and video capabilities. Many, including those at the entry level, feature in-body image stabilization, too. Above: Next here’s the Leica DG 10-25 at 10mm f1.7 on the EM1 Mark II using sensor shift IBIS only and the first thing you’ll notice is the shallower depth of field – and lower noise – thanks to the f1.7 aperture, but while there’s less warping than the Olympus at 8mm, there’s still some visible in the corners. Choose IBIS with extra digital stabilisation and you’ll again crop the image a little. This time any warping has been essentially eliminated, although now the field of view is looking a little tight for handheld vlogging.

Above: In terms of style and controls, the 8-25mm looks like other models in the Olympus Pro series, but actually becomes the first in that range to employ a retracting barrel for a reduced size during transportation. As one should expect at the price point, this 25mm offers a bare-bones feature-set. There's no optical stabilization, though this shouldn't matter for the vast majority of shooters, as almost all modern Micro Four Thirds bodies have internal IS. Nor is there an aperture ring or custom buttons. What the lens does offer is a sizable focus ring. Manual focusing is possible in a focus-by-wire fashion. This should not put you off using it as it feels pretty natural in use, and actually enables the camera to display a magnified view of the subject automatically, i.e. without your having to press a dedicated button or enter the menu. The focus ring is quite wide and more than adequate for the job. Chromatic Aberrations To illustrate the differences in focal length and aperture, I photographed a portrait at night from a tripod, with the subject’s right eye positioned under the upper-right cross-section of the 3×3 alignment grid as framed at 25mm.

Just below the zoom ring at the base of the lens is a function button, marked L-Fn, which can be customised via the camera's main menu to control a number of different actions. One useful function is depth of field preview - this allows you to see how your image will look at the selected if you hold down the L-Fn button, and is particularly handy when working with narrow apertures. The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC DN is part of a range of bright f/1.4 lenses designed for APS-C and Micro Four Thirds mirrorless cameras, along with the 56mm f/1.4, there’s also a 16mm f/1.4 lens available. The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 gives a 60mm equivalent field of view, making it slightly longer than the “standard” 50mm lens. With an f/1.4 aperture, it’s also a good choice if you need to shoot in low-light conditions.