Klaus from Photozone (Click here) posted a new Panasonic 45-175mm lens review on Photozone: “The Panasonic lens is a good albeit not superb telephoto zoom lens as some might have hoped from its “X” designation“. The problem is that the X lens has huge vignetting and pronounced Chromatic Aberration. But overall Klaus says: “There is much to like about the Panasonic lens – also from a price/performance perspective.”
Digi163 (Click here) posted a Nanoha lens review. The bad news is that the review is made in Japanese and google translation tool doesn’t work on that website. But you can still look at the nice image samples!
Felix from ThePhoBlographer (Click here) tested the Zeiss 50mm Planar ZM on the E-P1 and G1: “The colors, contrast and bokeh are equally pleasing when used on Micro Four Thirds as they are on the Leica.“. The lens can be found [shoplink 30081 ebay]here on eBay[/shoplink].
Our french colleagues from Hybridcames (Click here to read the translation) also published a new Panasonic GX1 review.
15 Responses
The reason Google translation doesn’t work with Digi163 is that the website is in Chinese 🙂
The Yasuhara 180 review is in Chinese, not Japanese.
Yeah…I’m just about to say that…
Regarding the 45-175mm lens, Photozone review seems to largely confirm the statements made in the reviews that were uploaded to this website (which don’t seem to be currently visible). Resolution is roughly on a par with the 45-200mm lens, and as I said in my review, there is little visible sign of chromatic aberration- it is successfully removed by software corrections. The principal reasons for buying this lens are the size and weight.
Regarding the 45-175mm review….I sold my 45-200 to buy the X lens because I was unhappy with the contrast of the of the 45-200. It just seemed to lack “snap” to me. I think the X lens is better in the contrast department, perhaps because I am using it on Panasonic bodies. although that is just my opinion with no scientific data. Does the lens have the snap and contrast of say my Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II…well, no..
I do have to say…for the price of the lens, its small size and reach (it’s two biggest attributes) and its focusing speed on one of the newer camera bodies is nothing short of amazing. If you put it next to the 45-200 and see the size difference and also realize that it zooms and focuses internally…it is kind of incredibly small for what it delivers. I am not a fan of the power zoom (and manual “zoom-by-wire”)…but even with that I think the lens is a keeper because it has a great balance of price-performance-size. Its a great travel companion.
Thanks for the link to my review on hybridcams ! But there seems to be a problem with the link, the correct one is : http://www.hybridcams.fr/2012/03/26/test-de-lappareil-photo-hybride-panasonic-gx1/
Klaus was not the tester, but Sebastian Milczanowski. Give Cesar what is his. I find particularly interesting the issue that it has the edge with Panasonic cameras because of the Autocorrection, a feature which I think is one of the things the makes must get together and discuss about having a standard and be compatible between them. What is the point of having the same lens mount if correction data cannot be shared between them? If m43 is going to be a mainstream standard, it has to be with all that needs to go with it, not just merely being able to put the lens on.
I totally agree with you. I was wondering about this issue and why they don’t add it to their cameras. I shoot RAW but for those who don’t, it would be great to have this feature.
This is their way to make you stick to one brand.
Sigma 30mm lens with 43 mount tested by LensTip.
http://www.lenstip.com/index.php?test=obiektywu&test_ob=335
The Digi163 review is of the Nanoha x5 not the Yasuhara 180
Admin – I think your characterization that this X lens has huge vignetting and pronounced chronic aberration is far from what this review actually says.
“this lens show average vignetting characteristic”…this lens show low chronic aberration which is easily removed by Panasonics firmware.
Why the deliberate attempt to downgrade this lens? High vignetting is only apparent at 45mm wide open. Again while resolution decreases some at the telephoto end compared to 45mm as do all tele lenses this lens shows less drop off then either the 45-200 or 14-140 lenses.
Some seem to discredit the lens simply because of its dependence on software to some extent to correct aberrations. However one should note this lens is optimized for use with Panasonic cameras with its OIS while Olympus cameras have other tele alternatives which again without IS are less desirable when used with Pany bodies.
Looking at those samples, it’s quite good under 100mm, but those longer shots look very soft and unimpressive.
Not sure if it’s just the lens, air pollution or both.
Digi163 is a Chinese site,not japanese.
That Zeiss has very creamy bokeh. So much better than the little Oly 45. 🙁
On the other side the Oly has 0,5m MFD which makes it a better choice for close-ups:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/miklosrabi/7029773873/in/photostream/
interesting…the shot you post here with the Zeiss has creamy bokeh with the Zeiss…but ALL of the shots on the PhoBlographer have, what I want to call an extremely “nervous” bokeh. I personally do not see it as creamy or smooth..like one would get from say a Canon 85mm f/1.2. The Zeiss bokeh looks distracting…. Quite a difference.