Image courtesy: Pixelmania
The Dutch site Pixelmania posted a first comparison between the three 25mm MFT lenses. You can see the full size images taken at f/1.8 aperture here: Olympus lens (full size here), Panasonic lens (full size here), Voigtlander lens (full size here).
Pixelmania writes the Olympus has the best center to corner sharpness between the three lenses!
Store search links for the three lenses:
Olympus 25mm f/1.8 at [shopcountry 44854].
Panasonic 25mm f/1.4 at [shopcountry 16340]
Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 at [shopcountry 15659]
47 Responses
How does it go at f1.4?
Only two competitors remain in the light eating contest when they dialed the intensity to 1.4.
Photons… Yummy! The green ones taste best.
I want AF so the choice is PanaLeica or Olympus. I keep looking at the flame of the candle. It’s better with PL. Or is it just me? The flame on PL looks the same as on the Voightlander. Please help! Is it me or is the PL better?
Voor mij is de Olympus beter. Minder flare 😉
If one really needs F1.4 and AF than there’s no substitute for the Pana lens.
For me I will buy the 25mm F1.8, I like the flare resistant look.
I already have the Pana so I will see which will be left behind in the future.
If you have them both life is easy. ( als je ze alle twee hebben is het makkelijk zat) BTW thanks for your reaction!
You mean where the light is flared like you’re looking through a cloth? That is a bad thing.
No, I mean that the flame looks like it looks in the real world when the picture is taken with the PannaLeica.
the Olympus 25mm is an f/1.8 prime, so it doesn’t go =)
The same as the Panaleica at f/0.95.
Good 1! 🙂
It’s great to see the Zuiko perform well next to these other 25mm options, the price and size are instantly what impresses me . . . and as such a useful focal length, there are never enough choices, the mFT system gets more impressive at every release.
Note the red flare of the candle reflected in the label of the wine bottle from the Voigt and the Panny. Flare nonexistent from the Zuiko. I may have to trade out my 1.4.
depends on what you want. SLRgear reviews show the Oly to have better corner sharpness at f1.8 and of course it’s smaller, but in other ways the Pana trumps the Oly. Eg, the Pana can go to f1.4 with remarkable center sharpness, it has less distortion, less vignetting at f1.8 & f2, and sharpness of the Pana at f2.8 – f5.6 is better than anything the Oly provides at any aperture.
Oly 25mm: http://slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/1685/cat/14
Pana 25mm: http://slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/1439/cat/68
The two SLRGear results cannot possibly be comparable. The Panasonic lens was tested with an E-P1 and a sub-par 12 MP sensor, whereas for the Olympus lens a quite recent 16 MP imager in a GX1 was used.
Interesting that at f/1.8, the Olympus does appear slightly brigther than the Panasonic, which backs up Robin Wong’s findings. The Voigtlander is noticeably brighter at f/1.8 (I am assuming they kept Shutter Speed constant here – which may or may not be the case).
I was thinking of selling my Voigtlander to fund the purchase of the Olympus, but then I used it on Saturday night, and I do love the ability to go to f/0.95 from time to time.
Slightly brighter? Are you serious? The flare from the P/L and the Voightlander look very similar; real, while the Olympus flare/glow is is Clearly less!
On top of that, look at the overly-bluish flame on the Olympus. Again, it doesn’t match up to the other two pics. It’s like the jpeg is over saturated. It looks like a Pilot (Gas) flame, while the other two are natural flame.
I agree, the Olympus lens at f1.8 is quite different to the other two, there seems to be much less bluring as well. My preference is for the Voightlander, it is as sharp and produces a warmer feeling image.
Light from the candle is not stable. (sorry for my bad english. reaaly don’t know that i can use word stable in this case or not. hope you guys understand lol)
Very good point.. I didn’t think of that, silly me. Possibly the word ‘consistent’ is better for this use, but I understand your meaning 🙂
You need both of course 😀
Wonder why the field of view differences between the three 25mm lenses?
they probably put the camera on a tripod and just mounted the different lenses.
Depends on wether front element is moving during focusing.
The flare is the most noticeable difference…can’t really judge corner sharpness from these images though!
Comparing lenses sharpness at ISO 3200?
Thanks, but I’ll pass on such travesty.
+1 Really ridiculous indeed. What a waste!
Seems the Panasonic is the sharpest of all three lenses at f1.8, centre frame, judging from the three images. Look at the detail in textures and the text on the labels. Just as I thought, the PL25mm f1.4 is one of the sharpest prime lenses for m43, especially centre frame. CA holds up good as well compared to the other two, which surprises me. I wonder if the EM1 corrects for the PL25mm, like it does with the Oly 25mm?
No, Em1 does not correct PL25mm. You have to do it in post production and it’s easy to remove CA.
Most of these good primes are sharp enough for me in the center. I’m personally more interested in how much you need to stop down to get decent corners.
Why nobody has the SLR Magics on his radar?
They also offer a 25mm F0.95… And also a 12mm T1.6 (f1.4?) and 50mm F0.95….
Regards
those and the Voitlander are great for video but all big and heavy, sort of counter-intuitive to what we want M/4rds to be. Unless you are making movies, then I’d rent cine lenses.
M4/3 is all about many things for many users. There’s no set, fixed philosophy. That’s the beauty of the system!
The native M4/3 Voigtländers are great for BOTH stills AND video. They’re excellent and extremely flexible lenses. Night or day, inside or out, stills or video. You should really give one a try some time! It’s a whole different dimension from electronic lenses!
When using a 360g camera body, like the GX7, there’s plenty of leeway for using slightly bigger and heavier lenses. When using manual lenses, you ALWAYS support the lens with your left hand while focusing or adjusting aperture, therefore weight is even less of an issue. Good support and balance are given factors.
It’s really odd, because SLR Magic has a pretty impressive array of native mount M4/3 lenses that are well made, have excellent image quality and are a pleasure to use.
The 12mm T1.6 is is a fun little lens.
A good lens but as I wrote many times, it’s not worth to sell my PL and buy it. Now let’s see if that AF f1 patents can be applied to a 25mm lens. That, along with premium metal body, would make an interesting (of course more expensive) lens.
If you do videos, Vogitlander is your best choice among the 3.
Why?
aperture ring, clickless aperture control, manual focus…
Don’t the other 2 lenses also provide those options?
No.
The other 2 lenses don’t provide the option of manual focusing?
Manual Focusing: Yes
For aperture control, it depends on the camera. There is no aperture control (AC) on the lens. AC must be done on the body. On my GH1, that means using the clicky wheel on the front. Newer bodies give you the option of using the touch screen for AC, but that may cause you to shake the camera.
Really? One image at 1/50s and two at 1/60s? And at ISO 3200? In a flickering candlelight?
#comparisonfail
I definitely prefer the Panny and the Voigt over the Olympus. Which really isn’t surprising considering the size and price.
I have 2 different Voigts primarily for video…coupled with a powerful ND filter, shooting wide open @ F0.95 there is a noticeably shallower DOF vs F1.8, which goes a long way towards making your moving images pop, even in the dark. That extra 1 2/3 stop can be a deal-maker depending on your needs.
For strictly photography chances are you will be stopping down any of these lenses a bit for maximum sharpness so I would expect performance to be similar without pixel-peeping in the F1.8-F4.0 range.
Manual vs electronic focusing is personal preference. I believe manual lends itself to more fun, control and creativity – auto is certainly easier, depending on the subject.
PL 25mm is so suck for anti-flare lol
The battle continues on Pixelmania: http://www.pixelmania.nl/2/2163/MFT_25_mm_‘lens_battle’
More samples of the Oly, Pana and Voigtlander 25 mm lenses!