Image courtesy: ThePhoBlographer
ThePhoBlographer (Click here) posted a Leica 15mm f/1.7 first impression article. it also contains the first full size image samples. This is their first impression:
So far looking to be quite awesome. The version we played with initially focused quickly, offers punchy colors, feels great, and begs to be attached to your camera all day
What do you think so far about the lens quality?
Lens preorders:
Black lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Wex UK (Click here), Amazon Japan (Click here).
Silver lens at Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Amazon Japan (Click here).
92 Responses
Seems to have a lot of longitudinal chromatic aberration, which spoils the fun of the fast glass, but is pretty sharp.
Well yeah, it’s a pre-production Panasonic lens on an Olympus body. Olympus doesn’t do any in camera CA correction on any of the existing Panasonic lenses. Why would this one be any different? Olympus would rather you buy their 17mm f1.8.
Olympus does take care of CA on some Panasonic lenses. The first firmware update for the E-M1 covered this for example: “Chromatic aberration caused by LUMIX G VARIO 14-140mm 1:3.5-5.6 ASPH/POWER O.I.S (H-FS14140)”
If DonTom says that, it must be true…
*longitudinal* chromatic abberation, not lateral one. It’s the ones where different colors focus at different planes. Exceedingly hard to correct in post-production (no bodies do it, not Panasonic, not Olympus). It looks like colored edges/haze on out of focus areas, which makes bokeh look ugly.
CA is problem of all Panas fast prime lenses (on Oly bodies)… I could write a story about Summilux 25/1.4. I love this lens but sometimes i really hate it because of heavy CA.
Does the aperture ring work on the OM-D series cameras? Why the heck doesn’t the review address this obvious question?
Because it’s not a review, and the question has been answered at length elsewhere many times. No.
Hmm. I would think someone showing photos of the lens with an EM5 and raving about the aperture ring would mention this, which made me wonder if the claim it won’t work was wrong. I suspect you are right but I guess I’m hoping you’re wrong!
Aperture ring is a retro gimmick anyway.
I would have loved to have the ring as an extra (configurable) dial.
But if the dial is hardcoded to control aperture, then it is quite literally useless. Max ISO for auto ISO, or shutter speed, or exposure compensation/program shift – all might have been something totally cool, though. Aperture? Not so.
That brings another point up: the focus ring on m43 is by-wire.
That means that it is controlled by camera and can be via firmware made to control something else. Since most shoot in AF anyway, the focus is ring is literally wasted for all intents and purposes.
BUT via firmware update the m43 cameras can turn it into a dial!!!
That’s a very cool idea.
Focus-by-wire is one step short of useless, so why not turn it into something useful. Exposure compensation comes to mind.
I don’t think it’s a bad idea to add aperture rings to electronic lenses. Just set the aperture on the lens. Done. There’s no need to use A mode, either.
One of the reasons I prefer mechanical over electronic lenses is the aperture ring. It’s simple, direct and intuitive.
I see where you’re coming from, but I quite like manual aperture dials. I’m a youngin’ and only recently started shooting on film cameras, so it’s not like I’m coming from decades of shooting with manual aperture rings, but it’s really nice to be able to just glance and go right to an aperture. Also, ergonomically, I like having the dial on the lens and not top of the body.
I am with you. I think I will be surprised if the aperture ring doesn’t work on Olympus cameras based on the comments from the user. Guess we will know soon enough
Olympus has had the chance to support compatible lenses with aperture rings for about 8 years now. I wouldn’t wait for it to happen.
One of the main reasons I’d spend more on a quality prime is for its low light performance. So this isn’t entirely confidence building:
“But we need to shoot with it in better lighting situations than what Grand Central can offer.”
Is spend more for a f1.2.
Their sample shots of the Nocticron at the same location weren’t much better…. Don’t blame the lens, it’s the location lighting.
Half the shots I’ve ever seen of Grand Central Station are showing people in blur, rushing across the main floor, as though almost no one can get good shots. The station looks bright enough but it really isn’t. Most photos seem too bright, as if they’ve been tweaked in post processing.
Probably poor lighting but shouldn’t a large aperture lens excel? I found the sample photos are not particularly sharp.
The photos definitely are not too sharp.
First, I apologize for being harsh in my first post. Second, assuming you looked at the full screen samples you will see they were not shot at base ISO. Last, it was obviously sharp enough to cause moire artifacting in the grey tie here http://3zgehi1uaxi23dphbrgqa50r6z.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Chris-Gampat-The-Phoblographer-Panasonic-15mm-f1.7-first-impressions-images-8-of-8ISO-16001-40-sec-at-f-1.8.jpg
That one’s taken at ISO 1600, 1/40sec, f1,7, Not really a reference for presenting sharpness! A bit of noise reduction during PP and the result looks quite good. Apart from this like some others here I like the rendering. That’s what will make this lens so special in the end! The mtf chart of the lens is accordingly promising.
Agree that this one is one of the sharper ones. As a person who has pre-orderd this lens, I am still now a little aprehensive about it based on these photos. I thougth some were at ISO 200 but still lacked sharpness. Given what I have read about the LEICA influence on quality control and specifications along with what looks like an excellent MTF chart that was published, I have high expectations for this lens. Hopefully this batch of photos is not representative.
Yep not so sharp. Thats the problem with an 30mm F3.4 on a tiny sensor At a higher iso than 400.
F*ck off, Troll.
There is a nice scientific article on trolling by Erin Buckels: Trolls want to have fun:
https://www.academia.edu/6016545/Trolls_just_want_to_have_fun
The implications drawn on personalities of those subjects are quite severe.
Interesting article, thanks Eric. Further reading on sadism shows that many sadists are also masochists, so any kind of response will satisfy them. “Don’t feed the trolls” indeed…I often “bite and fight”, sadly!
Agree. That’s why I ignore them. It’s not that they’re stupid or ignorant, they simply seek attention and repeat the same (wrong) idea like a broken record. Sometimes it’s hard to ignore them but it’s the worst thing you can do to them 😉
Do you often need to read pseudo-scientific articles to find out the simplest things? Were you educated in the USA? I am asking because I am doing my own research on forum sociology.
Do having “Scientific” as a name and asking implied judgemental questions make you feel better or smarter than everyone else?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism
And keep quoting someone else. Better than your own total vacuum, quote wikipedia… US education?
Wow that hurt. So insightful.
Thanks for the link. Admin should give it a look and perhaps realize that the distructive psychotic comments from these guys bring nothing good to his site and our community. (I did not think trolling would imply such bad things)
This is almost better than the “Tomatotopic Organization in the Soprano”, the glorious spoof by George Perec
http://pauillac.inria.fr/~xleroy/stuff/tomato/tomato.html
http://www.fast.u-psud.fr/~moisy/misc/cantatrix.pdf
The scary bit is that this one might be for real – unless whoever wrote it took also the trouble of building a whole alternative world of spoof sites with spoof articles in the bibliography.
@Viezevure: f/3.4 on a full frame sensor.
15mm f/1.7 on a four thirds sensor at ISO 400 is equivalent to 30mm f/3.4 on a *full frame* sensor at ISO 1600.
You can’t go and do an equivalency, and then take the worst of both worlds and combine them together. It is either f/1.7 ISO 400 on a four thirds sensor *OR* f/3.4 ISO 1600 on a full frame sensor. Not some magical combination of the two. Get your facts straight, troll.
You should add: to achieve same DOF, AOV and exposure. Because f-stop stays f-stop. But I know what you mean.
Now you put the bad guy in his place! Stand up for your tiny sensor Mike!
Looks like noise reduction city
What’s it like having a tiny brain, Seizure?
Seizure….I think I hear your mother calling……
As she yells to him down the basement stairs……..
As the guy writes, he could use the lens for just a couple of minutes, therefore it’s just a quick impression, not a full review. I would take that with a grain of salt and wait before judging sharpness and other factors.
What I noticed was the green fringing around highlights, but it could be the “difficult” scene. I don’t even like the yellowish color of photos, due to a wrong, IMO, white balance setting.
Having said so, the lens looks nice, the price seems right, the aperture ring is cool and I would like it to be useful on Olympus cameras.
Already owning a Voigty 17.5mm and MZuiko 17mm f1.8 I won’t buy it. The zuiko lens is fast and sharp enough. When I need more IQ I use the Nokton. 15mm is an odd focal lenght to me, I canmt get used to 28mm either.
I agree with you Marco, 15mm is an odd length. It’s almost as if they chose it only because there was a hole in the lineup there! Would have been better to choose 14mm as a classic Leica prime length.
Maybe Leica don’t want internal competition in the classical lengths (28, 35, 90mm) now that they are bringing out their own small AF system, might explain the PL 42.5 as well. The Panny 25/1.4 was probably out the gate before Leica’s current plans took shape, so luckily we have a PL “Nifty Fifty”.
Panasonic designs and manufactures ALL m43 Leica lenses. Leica has nothing to do with it…other than advice and making sure the quality of the lens is sufficient to be a ‘Leica’ lens.
Yes, that’s how Zeiss works with Sony too.
Mind you, I’m thinking of buying the GM1 for my wife. She does well with a prime lens, this is the combo I’d chose for her I think. It would be a handy social lens/camera combo as well.
Hi DonTom, I don’t think Leica fears m43 format to the point of changing their classic focal lenghts. 42.5mm is an 85mm and there are classic examples of that focal lenght (I tried the Zeiss Planar 85mm f1.4 on Nikon d3s last week: great piece of glass but hard to use it due to the thin DOF). I think this 15mm is simply a final result. Perhaps 28mm FOV was the original goal but they ended with a 30mm and that is.
I love the idea behind GM1, but I would like it to have at least a top dial (two would be even better), since I don’t like using the touch screen that much. It makes a great combo with this lens.
I totally agree; there was enough room for at least one top dial (and a hotshoe) and one or two extra buttons on the back, possibly even a dial on the back, at the same place where the top back dial is placed on the LX7. Even as it is Panasonic could have put a control ring round the trigger, instead of the on/off switch and a control dial instead of the focus switch (there is plenty of room for that at the front of the camera). Who knows, maybe they will – when they build the GM2!
But even as it is, it is still a little gem.
Just googled and found an interesting note: http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/24642/what-is-the-crop-factor-for-four-thirds-cameras-considering-aspect-ratios
Given that this is true and the Leica engineers computed the focal length based on a 4:3 aspect ratio then the true crop factor for an m43 lens is 1,85x and not 2x. So this 15mm jewel would be a true and maybe the first real 28mm/ff equivalent m43 lens!
28 or 30mm equivalent makes no real difference to a real photograph. These just represent a slight difference in FOV. There is no magic at 28mm and a good 30mm lens will make photos just the same… If 30 is no good compared to a traditional 28mm FOV then a 35mm equiv lens would really be a bad option.
One point I have noticed, the PL 25mm acts more like a 26mm. It is narrower than both the Oly 25mm and the Pan 12-35mm at 25mm. 25mm vs 26mm does not seem to matter, people love the PL 25.
It makes no sense, as usual. Did you type “wife” instead of “mother” by accident?
Does the aperture ring actually work on a EM-5 or any Olympus body?
Jalo, from what I read on the web, no. I hope it’s a “not yet”, and I hope for a firmware update from Olympus. I love the aperture ring on Voigtländer lenses and it ‘s a pity it does not work on olympus cameras.
working aperture ring on the lens would be great, I hope Olympus starts to support it. Even when I mostly shoot with AF my left hand is under the lens supporting the camera/lens. So that’s where my hand is by default 🙂
looks good to me, considering they only had 3 min(!!) time to shoot. I like the focal lenght and its rendering.
They could have stepped outside of any exit for a plethora of amazing natural light opportunities, inside and outside grand central are some of the great photo palettes in the world. If you can’t make interesting images there time to turn in your SSD cards.
I am not usually an @ss about things like this, but I really don’t know how Phoblographer ever built a successful site. Every review or product first look I’ve ever seen has been horrible. Just taking subject composition into consideration, this site consistently puts out throw away photos. I know they had 3 minutes, so OK, I don’t expect a gallery of fine art. But I would rather see one fine example rather than a handful of garbage snaps. What is the point of their post? All they are saying is, “Hey, we got this cool new lens. It’s really nice. It’s so nice that we are going to post a bunch of horrible photos that say nothing about the lens and everything about our (lack of) ability as photographers.” Why?
Edit: the first black and white isn’t atrocious. It’s not good, but it’s passable for a first looks on such a highly trafficked site.
Agreed 100% garbage content. They probably make decent money due to great SEO and traffic generated by sites like 43rumors, unfortunately.
They had the lens for 10 minutes and fell in love with the aperture ring.
’nuff said. ?
No, wait a minute.
They need to test this f 1.7 lens in better lighting conditions.
For love of the aperture ring?
If this lens is as excellent as this piece of text is incredibly ridiculous, it may well be worth the price.
…..now remember..he fell in love with an aperture ring that did not even function on the camera that he was using…..
I am thinking that these images look a little soft due to hurried operator error…i.e. combo of Hight ISO and perhaps a shutter speed that was just one-off from fast enough….Ya gotta know this lens will be sharp….I have had this happen to images of mine when I thought that they were sharp..so it can happen to anybody..he had 3 minutes! LOL!
I appreciate phoblographer’s work and them giving us who lust after gear something to look at but it seems more and more of their first impressions always have in the body ‘We only had 3-5 minutes to use this piece of equipment’. Is that disclaimer put in purposely to excuse subpar images? Sure seems that way .
OK..here are some sharp images…scroll down to middle of the page…
http://www.dkamera.de/news/preview-panasonic-lumix-dmc-gh4-beispielaufnahmen/
Very sharp. Looks like my next lens.
If anybody cares…B&H discontinued their pre-order and listing of the silver version of the 15mm, saying that it was discontinued…(and the product is no longer on their website), I don’t know it that means that they are not shippin the silver ones to the US…(wouldn’t THAT be a reversal of fortune!)or what…….too bad…the silver lens kind of has a really rich, Leica-Like patina to it……….
(I know..I know…you couldn’t possibly do any street shooting with it….WALOBC).
We had a 15 in titanium at the walk with the hood. It’s real.
Why couldn’t anyone admit that this lens is not good under dim lighting? A bright sharp lens should be able to turn in some reasonably sharp snapshots under those conditions. Is it only because this is a Leica branded lens so everyone is giving it the benefit of the doubt? Stop making excuses by speculating the person taken the photos! Why not take the results as it is?
You’re basing this ridiculous opinion on a single set of mediocre images, from a single shoot with a single model of this lens? Go home, boy — there are adults who are actually interested in photography here.
Fanboy! Ask yourself why this entire set of photos is mediocre! I judge by photo samples, not the label and price of the lens. It is what it is. Not a single shot is sharp there! Couldn’t the photographer fluked out on just providing one sharp shot? A few soft shots maybe aberration or user incompetence, the entire set is a trend.
well, I’ve seen this happen before lots of time (even the nocticron 42.5mm 1.2).
You need to calm yourself down, and wait to other reviewers to review this lens.
PS.If you want to see the sharpness of any lenses, don’t judge it in high ISO condition, especially when the NR is used.
Adults like you? Trolling a geeky photo site? LOL
Thomas….looks to me like operator error….nothing more…I bet the lens was fine. Has nothing to do with the lighting or the lens…. I have had this happen…you are using IS, you are guessing at the shutter speed because it is always slightly nebulous with IS…even if you are skilled and know your way around….so I think that is what happened here…thing is..what Phoblographer should have done…is looked at the images, saw they were mostly “off” and not run the article…I have gone out and shot and said..hey…I got nothing here…you HAVE to be a tough editor…you get judged on what you show…classic error is …”I just put 5 hrs. into that. So …because you put the time in and you KNOW you did not bring home the bacon…because you “did the work”, you show it anyway. That is a classic error. Either the work is up to snuff or it isn’t and when it isn’t you don’t show it ….even if you spent a week producing it…That is how you get a reputation. Severe editing and holding your standard to the utmost. 🙂
Chill Thomas. I let Chris use the Leica for a few minutes in a dimly lit Grand Central. If he was just setting up shots that would be one thing but he had to gather up the 30+ people from the walk to head to the next stop. I’m sure when there’s a proper review you’ll get a better sense from Chris and the team at The Phoblographer how good this lens is.
In a nutshell its a mini nocticron and you should see it in titanium too – beautiful.
Poor judgement to run an article of a photo website to show premier product with soft images. Very poor judgement. Just is. You should chill…its not cool.
Cool well let us know when your review is up. I’m sure you’ll show everyone how its done. Multinational corporations will come to you for advice, wars will end, dolphins will be saved, no one will go hungry…
Why are you such a dork?
…and stupid dorks like this Sciorio will shut up.
What is your gut feeling on this lens? Do you think it will be one of the top m43 performers?
It’s built like a mini Nocticron but my time with the lens ended up being The Phoblographers time with the lens since I handed it over to him. If I were to guess I’d say IQ and character wise it will fall between the Leica 25/1.4 and the Nocticron.
Thanks for the insights. I have this on order and wanted to get another first hand account from someone who actually held the lens and spent some time with it.
Yes ask him, he knows sh_it…
Yes, sure, you’re right, let’s all admit it, no need to wait for a full review, with that leica label on it, it’s very likely this is a terribly unsharp lens, and you should definitely decide not to buy it. Not even at half price.
well, I’ve seen this happen before lots of time (even for the nocticron 42.5mm F1.2).
You need to calm yourself down, and wait to other reviewers to review this lens.
If you want to see the sharpness of any lenses, don’t judge it in high ISO condition, especially when the NR is used.
However, this lens is like a pancake lens, so I don’t expect that it will show the same performance as 42.5mm/1.2 lens (and its cost is just around 600$)
PS. At least I know about the shallow depth of field and bokeh of this lens from this review.
My antivirus (AVG free) just pop on first link
My antivirus (AVG Free) just pop on first link
I like. slash drool
Just googled and found an interesting note:http://photo.stackexchange.com…
Given that this is true and the Leica engineers computed the focal length based on a 4:3 aspect ratio then the true crop factor for an m43 lens is 1,85x and not 2x. So this 15mm jewel would be a true and maybe the first real 28mm/ff equivalent m43 lens!
This implies that other native m43 lenses have a wider field of view than what’s written on the barrel? That would be strange…
(Just ordered a Nocticron by the way, I hope Olympus will make the aperture ring useful!)
Well, by now we know this new Panasonic is a decent performer and the best fast moderate wide angle AF prime available for the system. There’s a good comparison with the Olympus 17mm f/1.8 on the cameralabs website. It’s slightly sharper than the Olympus 17mm f/1.7 and it has better contrast. Certainly usable wide open. It’s sharper in the corners than the Panasonic 14mm f/2.5, but then again, most lenses are. Vignetting and distortion are rather high. The Panasonic 17mm is not perfect, but certainly very good. Good enough for me as an all round compact and lightweight walk around lens anyway. Bye bye Olympus 17mm.