After beeing in Stock (and Sold-Out) at BHphoto
and Amazon
UPDATE: Amazon US has the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 Lens in Stock (via Adorama)
After beeing in Stock (and Sold-Out) at BHphoto
and Amazon
UPDATE: Amazon US has the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 Lens in Stock (via Adorama)
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10 Responses
no way this is a 400 bucks lens
the build is plastic the optical formula is a tessar-like very simple and been around for a century
in most ranges 1.7-1.8 normal ie 50mm lenses go for 100
check out Nikon 50mm 1.8 AFD
delta loydd, the 20/1.7 has aspherical elements which increase edge sharpness considerably. Its construction feels solid enough. All in all it is a solid performer with excellent sharpness wide open (unlike the Nikon and Canon offerings).
The optical quality of $100 Nikon 50/1.8 is almost identical to the $400 Panasonic 20/1.7, and if you stop down 1/3 of a stop (to compensate for the differences between APS-C and FT), then the Nikon is actually better:
http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/widget/Fullscreen.ashx?reviews=62,30&fullscreen=true&av=1.667,2&fl=20,50&vis=VisualiserSharpnessMTF,VisualiserSharpnessMTF&stack=horizontal&&config=LensReviewConfiguration.xml%3F2
$400 is an insane price for what is, basically, a $150 lens (at most).
Prog.
My main comment is about the price
see review by photozone
http://www.photozone.de/olympus–four-thirds-lens-tests/464-pana_20_17
They conclude
“….. we do also feel that it’s a bit over-hyped especially considering its rather high price point and the need to correct some of its design problems via auto-correction during post-processing. “
And when it comes to fall-off (vignetting), the Panasonic trails far behind the Nikon:
http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/widget/Fullscreen.ashx?reviews=62,30&fullscreen=true&av=1.667,1.667&fl=20,50&vis=VisualiserFallOff,VisualiserFallOff&stack=horizontal&&config=LensReviewConfiguration.xml%3F2
A whole stop darker in the corners. Correcting this in software is possible, but the result would be muddier, noisier and with less detail. There’s no free lunch.
Prog.
being an X nikon user, I can tell you the 20mm f1.7 runs circles around nikon’s best 50mm @ f1.4. with the 1.4 lens I had to bump it up to F2.2 to get reasonable sharpness and contrast, shooting with it was tough also because with full frame the depth of field is very narrow wide open. the panasonic is amazing wide open,sharpness and contrast are up there, no need for anything….
I used to read photozone reviews and obsess over the technical details, question is does the lens offer you the image quality that your after or not, might be expensive but try buying a lens with such specs from Nikon, ASPHERICAL+ ED….how about the 28 F1.4 or the new 24 1.4……
Another point, there is NOTHING wrong with software correction if done right. beauty is in the eyes of the beholder…
The point is price! These Micro Four Thirds cameras have NO INEXPENSIVE LENSES. $400 for a 1.7 is madness (1.4 maybe). I’m sure the quality is great, but we need a honda not a ferrari. wake up Oly and Pan… please… pretty please.
Prognathous and Forrester – you got it right – the point is price/performance ratio
Not output quality or practicality
by the way the sharpest Nikon 50mm is the f2 version; fast lenses are always softer wide open, like I guess well all lenses even Summiluxes….
Also the more I think about it and the more I wonder whether it all comes down to the lens design having to compensate for the sensor size, angle of view and DOF.
In fact a 20mm lens design is by definition more complex than 50mm – this may explain the Asph,
So basically given the sensor size, to get a 40mm lens (with min DOF f3.5) you have to design a 20mm f1.7 which is a more complex design and need to be corrected by asph and software
One word about Asph lens – I am no technician but I understand they come in many flavors: pure Asph require complex calculation and craftsmanship, we’re talking 1000$ and over. So called hybrid aspherical lenses are molded and combined with other lenses for correction and replacing more complex correction designs.
On the point of software correction, would this intervene also when the lens is used on Olympus bodies ? would it intervene also in Raw images ?
Also who makes these lenses – Matsushita is an electronista not an optician
On the point of software correction: yes and yes.
By the way Delta, a Tessar has four elements, this has seven.