Image courtesy: DSLRmagazine
The meticulous Spanish tester from DSLRmagazine (translation here) compared three amazing lenses: The new Nocticron, the Fuji 56mm and the Olympus 45mm lens. On the site you can see a full bokeh and resolution test. The conclusion from the reviewer says that the Nocticron is the best overall performer with the best contrast, sharpness and bokeh!
And here are some more new Nocticron tests:
Tomek: “I know you’re probably tired of Nocticron tests, but this one is a little bit different. I’ve added some comparisons, for example with Voigt. 42,5 mm or Olympus 45 mm. Pls take a look: http://www.m43.eu/obiektywy/test-panasonic-leica-dg-nocticron-425-mm-f12-apsh/7/
My conclusion is: Leica is not sharper or optically better then the other good, prime m43 lens, but it still worth to pay 1500 euro just because it’s brighter. I’ve also prepared a short but (I think so 😉 ) interesting movie about this lens. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGvAjksKyOE”
A German test of the Nocticron can be read at Blog.krolop-gerst.com.
You can buy the lens at Amazon US (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here). In UK at Wexphotographic (Click here). In Germany at Redcoon (Click here), Technikdirekt (Click here).
80 Responses
This picture illustrates how good Olympus is at keeping the size small. (Of course the other lenses have bigger apertures.) From OM days, Olympus has always been good at choosing a reasonable aperture and holding the size down to a minimum. (Now if only they could also standardize the filter sizes! I used to have a whole set of OM lenses all of which had the same 49mm filter size, from 24 all the way up to 200 mm.)
They also had a talent for fast lenses that were still small! The Olympus 21mm f/2, for example. Only two lenses have ever been faster at that focal length that I know of.
Couldn’t agree more. The Olympus obliterates the other two when it comes to value. Image quality beyond what is achievable by the 45mm f1.8 is a practice of severely diminishing returns on your dollar.
Value is a fuzzy concept. If someone has deep pocket and values absolute image quality over anything else regardless of format, then the Olympus is not in the discussion.
i dont think that an extreme fast lens is better in IQ, but it gives more in looks.
I think it’s because they are medical tech experts that use premier optics technology. From that knowledge transfer alone I trust their lenses.
Given size and price, it would be embarrassing that this lens doesn’t win on IQ!
Micro Four Thirds is by far thee best standard to ever grace the photography world… It’s my number #1 format of choice and what I recommend to all my fans and followers asking me for gear advice. Yes, that’s right… ya can’t beat M4/3 so might as well join ’em!
Totally agree! I am a professional and have shot only m43 for the past 3 years. I currently shoot the EM1 and EM5. Just picked up the EP5 which has been my favorite 43 camera so far. That says a lot being that I shoot the EM1. I feel so bad for the pros that carry around huge and unnecessary equipment.
+1 E-P5 rocks.
+100
yup,.despite The E-P5 is more simple than E-m1,.but my silver E-P5 with GARIZ black leather case + black MZDF1.8/17mm or silver MZD 75/1.8,.is always caught attention for many people,.,.they always thing,; Excuse me , is that a film camera,.?,.lol is really rocks
I am sorry, if that is the reason for you to use an E-P5…
As I stated before in the past, it’s sad when people pass off cameras as jewelry.
If you need that kind of attention, just buy a Gold chain…
I think that one of the biggest reason M43 format is getting strong is the Lines up of beautiful lenses,.both Olympus and Panasonic, had produce several magnificent of lenses,.in a blunt word i just say,.HAVE EXCELLENT SHARPNESS @ WIDE OPEN,.whatever format is over there specially mirror less camera ,.they are not JUST AGAINST M43 system BUT AGAINST TWO COMPANY = OLYMPUS/PANASONIC , which in reality they are comparing, confronting, and competing each other,in the making of camera and lenses,.because,.and both of them now proved they are one of the world class glass maker.
The bad thing is we are the core-fans is always mocking each other,.but is fun though,..lol
Have you tried the original classic SHG 4/3 lenses? The most amazing things in this world…
I really loved 4/3rds and I knew m4/3rds would be great, but the more I used other brands/models within the same competitive market I have a deeper appreciation for the 4/3rds standard. Although, my wife will kill me once she see/signs for this package…
why are married men always afraid of their wives?
Because their only reason to get up in the morning is to control their husbands… 🙂
Because being in the dog house is terrible; however, this is worth it. 🙂
LOL!
Because we afraid they don’t let us squeeze them!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wife_acceptance_factor
I’ve been a m4/3 user since pretty much the beginning of mirrorless, and yes, IMO m4/3 is the best MIRRORLESS system, but saying it’s the best thing since the beginning of time is just hyperbolic nonsene or simply ironic trolling. No system is better than another, they’re different paths to different needs, and photography can have many different set of needs and requirements which no system will answer wholly. There’s no existing system appropriate for all and every photographic requirement, and probably never will (just because of ergonomics alone). FF DSLRs not the best at low profile work, medium format is not good for high fps action, P&S are not good at high ISO and shallow DOF. What m4/3 has going for it is versatility and diversity: there’s no other system with this range of bodies and this level of adaptability towards most requirements. Also most of its drawbacks can be countered in some way (¨deep¨ DOF? slap a f0,95 ; 2x crop a problem ? BAM! speedbooster) unlike other formats (FF lenses cannot become smaller than image circle or DOF augmented without loosing light, same for APS-C, medium format will never be pocketable, P&S are pretty much dead)
You’re on a pro-micro four thirds blog so I dont think it constitutes trolling. I was stating my opinion. I’m a huge advocate of open standards and it’s incredible; m4/3…
I don’t think about systems like that. I always look from the lens perspective. For the 24mm and 150mm equivalent focal lengths, yes, I think Micro Four Thirds is the best mirrorless system available today. The 12/2 and 75/1.8 are unbeaten at the moment. They offer a size and IQ combo that is unbeatable.
However, at the 35mm and 50mm equivalent focal lengths, there are far better mirrorless options than Micro Four Thirds. The new Sony Zeiss 35/2.8 and 55/1.8 are leaps and bounds better than the Olympus 17/1.8, Panasonic 20/1.7 and respectively Olympus 25/1.8, Panasonic 25/1.4 lenses. The difference in IQ is so dramatic it isn’t even funny.
So rather than being a fanboy for system A or B, I rather look from the lens perspective and attach the appropriate body to the appropriate lens.
Just trying to avoid being a gear head and losing thousands of dollars extra not being satisfied with what I have already. Micro Four Thirds is way more adequate than anything I could have hoped for ten years ago! Do I like Sony, Yes… Do I like the Sony full-frames? YES!
The question always is, can I make use of it, do I really need it to earn my money. Does a 55/1.8 make me a better photographer (aside from feeling better because I have a better gear)? The 55/1.8 is a great lens (and more expensive) maybe better than the Pana/1.4 or Oly 1.8, but when not printing large I don’t see the difference. There is a nice comparison of 50s and other focal lengths at 3D-kraft. Looking at the pictures, tonal changes and color are the things I look to first. When I zoom in to 100% (wall sized prints) I see that the eye brows are sharper with the Sony that with a Mitakon, for example. Is it relevant for me? Nope.
To the lenses you mentioned: usually when looking at line pairs/mm of good m43 lenses you have higher values for 4/3 lenses (depends on camera and sensors used), to account for the smaller sensor area. But scaled to the picture hight you have of course much larger values for full-frame or APSC. Taking the Sigma 35/1.4, a highly regarded lens, photozine gives about 3300 lp/ph in the center and for the 17mm/.18 m43 lens 2686/ph. Just using the longest side of the sensor to bring this down we get around 90lp/mm for FF vs. 155lp/mm for m43. These values vary depending on the metric used, it’s just a first comparison and shows, that the resolution characteristics of m43 lenses are not bad at all. It’s the larger sensor: by projecting the image on a larger area thereby giving the possibility to resolve more detail FF has an advantage. But now MP come into play. To make use of, say 3300lp/ph the theoretical resolution you need is at least 6600 pixels to resolve the detail (more better, because if you shift it half a pixel you get just grey color). So the A7r/D800 can make use of it. Look at the LL-article on whether lenses are out resolved by processors.
The larger sensor is the trump card in that you don’t need to magnify your picture that often to achieve a certain print size, when paired with good glass.
But this shows, if you print not large, you can easily live with it.
Eh, you are the one looking at test charts and numbers to prove some point.
I am using the Sony lenses side by side with the Olympus and Panasonic lenses almost every day, in real-world use. In these particular cases (35/2.8 and 55/1.8) my results are much, much better than what I get from my roughly equivalent Olympus and Panasonic primes.
And that’s not just sharpness, all of these lenses are plenty sharp.
You said they are far better, but didn’t say how you meant that. Better in what terms? Image quality is determined by lenses, but also by other factors like noise dynamic range… I just concentrated on lenses without taking the whole system into account and the lenses themselves are not too bad; maybe the output is more limited by noise or other factors. I, too, have a FF system along my m43 system. I can’t say that there is such a huge difference in IQ when looking at prints side by side. And it’s not just me, there are numerous people commenting on it who are far better and experienced than me. I see these differences at 100% but for A4/A4 prints? Not at all. All the extra resolution you gain is most of the times not visible at all. Paper quality
and printer are of equal importance. I want FF for it’s ability for shallow DOF, high ISO and dynamic range. But this is mostly sensor specific. The Panasonic 25/1.4 gives me really great pictures and whether a 55/1.8 is sharper doesn’t bother me at all. It’s the picture which counts and it’s hard to see when not pixel peeping.
There is a nice comparison of an old Canon 1.2 vs. the Sony 55/1.8 over at http://verybiglobo.blogspot.de. The Sony is great on paper but field results are very close.
You have fans and followers? LOL
Yeah, http://instagram.com/talking_tree – and all the other social networks I utilize.
Oh that… Many vacuumwits have fans there, it does not matter a bit. Cold shower? Sorry, better now than never.
And that is why I would never seek unbiased advise from you…
Or maybe I’m just trying to help the admin of 43Rumors inflate their comment count!? 😉 The title should read Panasonic eats Fuji for breakfast!? Nah, I’m not biased! 😉
The Nocticron just reached my place yesterday & I still consider if I really need to rush for it .
Come on , Kai , where is the review like what you did for Leica DG Summilux with GF2 .
More reviews needed to motivate the purchase since I’m not working right now .
Well…it doesn’t beat the Fuji or the f/1.8 on PRICE. Is it really worth 4x the price of the f/1.8?
REALLY?
If you are an Olympus body user, you are also paying for an aperture ring and image stabilization that is of no value?…these two realities make that sticker shock totally unpalatable to Olympus shooters.
I just wonder if the ois is sometimes better choice, like in critical framing, where IBIS can cause cut off parts like when you do a tight full body shot. Happened to me a few times , So I disabled IBIS in such situations. ANyone can confirm if OIS does have the same disadvantage here or not?
Sucks for Olympus shooters. Get a Panasonic.
No thanks…I already have a toaster.
Please stop with this ridiculous comparising. Maby the lens is a little bit better wich i doubt. Its also bigger and more expensive. But the real deal is that its a M43 tiny sensor lens. And the Fuji goes on a much bigger APSC sensor. Therefore the Fuji combo will be much better better in every way. Its a lada (m43) vs Mercedes (APSC) comparison but in this case the Lada is more expensive……….LOL.
Can’t we just ban this clow out of this site now? Admin please get rid of this troll, he has nothing to do on your website nor does he bring anything good to it. I took the time to look for the solution so you don’t waste more time on him: http://help.disqus.com/customer/portal/articles/466242-using-the-blacklist-and-whitelist
Fully agree that anyone critical and negative regading m43 should be banned.
Critical is fine, but repeating the same pointless idiocies every fucking day, that add nothing of value to any discussions… what’s the point of that?
If I were a PanOlympus rep, I’d post these comments just to see everyone come running to my defence. You guys shouldn’t be so easy to manipulate, it just makes trolling fun. Just saying…
I thought open and intelligent discussions are encouraged. Instead, some ignorant kids want to get rid of those few voices that speak common sense?
If Panasonic and Olympus want their marketing websites, they can set them up. Then, they can spread all the absurd lies they want.
I also suggest you clowns get a new job, M43 hasn’t got a bright future, notwithstanding the lies.
C’mon, don’t play dumb now, this isn’t about criticism and you know it, I myself am VERY critic of how m4/3 is being managed as a system but I
try to back up my criticisms and remain within factual reality instead of just spouting offensive one liners like a child with a tantrum. Don’t encourage the troll. I hate fanboys and trolls equally but trolls are far more active and destructive on this site, I’ve been here since the beginning and this site used to be a paradise of civil discussions, with valid criticism and everything. What Viezevure is doing is not constructive criticism at all, it is trolling at its best/worst and you know it. He along a couple of other autistic no-lives have been rampaging on this site for a couple of years now, day in day out, 24/7, they have only one discourse and that is APS-C/FF > m4/3 with no argument behind it besides sensor size, regardless of application…just that, just one idiotic line of argument. His last comment isn’t even within topic, he just came to sh*t over m4/3 for no logical reason. If you can’t recognize trolling maybe you’re more part of the problem than the solution.
LOL…..Lets also get rid of all those fanboys/girls who keep repeating every day on this site that M43 is the best and is much better than point and shoot and that M43 sensors are almost as big as APSC and that M43 is still small and affordable.
O and i forgot one…….And that M43 is made for pro’s.
…but MFT sensors ARE special. They are made from fairy dust and are able to give better IQ than Nikon D800E…so why do you come here and spout your lies when you KNOW that MFT has inexpensive, smaller, lighter bodies and lenses that far exceed FF (we do not even consider APS sensor to be worth mentioning) in image quality, style and lens choices. We live in the splendor of MFT World here…so shoo fly….
Why do people keep coming with these pointless car comparisons?
First of all APS-C is only marginally larger than M43.
Secondly, not all lenses are created equal. That’s why one 50/1.8 can cost 10x more than another 50/1.8. The Panasonic/Leica lens clearly has a far better character of bokeh and rendering, which easily justifies the 50% higher price tag. This pricing clearly puts the lens in a niche market, but if you need this FL on a M43 system, it is the best you can get.
I also vote to kick this viezevure clown off the commenting system.
Today i went to Adorama and they have the only one Nocticron and i tried on my E-P5, just want to compare it with the result from yesterday when i also tried another copy of The Nocticron in B&H on my E-M1,.i found on my E-M1 is little bit softer,.[ i believe i have to Re-Calibrate my E-M1 Fine Tuning], btw after i tried on my E-P5,. i can see that the Nocticron is sharper than my Fuji XT-1+ 1.2/56mm,. but NOT ONE OF THEM CAN TOUCH THE SHARPNESS OF THE OLYMPUS F1.8/75mm,.both The NOCT 42,5 and Fuji 56mm,. still can’t beat the sharpness of olympus 75mm,..yup,.this Guy is still the King of Sharpness
Yes , the M.ZuikoDigital ED 75mm F1.8 is my top lens for portraits .
Bokeh wise , I pretty sure it definitely have more bokehs than the Nocticron ,
Sharpness wise , they are equal according to Lenstip .
More reviews in various aspects needed to justify the Nocticron if worth that most expensive tag price .
Out of curiosity, how many more ¨bokehs¨ are your seeing ?
Usually after having had six Ouzo’s I see lots and lots of bokeh.
i was curious at the first time when i heard about the sharpness of this lens, and also so many reviews and some of them they compared it head to head against Fuji 56mm. i honestly wanting this lens since the AF combo of my XT1& 56 is not as is fast and reliable as the M43 combo,., but again $1600 is a lots of money and my money just got suck in when i purchased Fuji XT1 plus 56mm,.,.I was wished that the Xt-1 could satisfied me ,.but,.damn,.the thing is that i get used to it with the FASSST AF speed,from.my nikon olympus=panasonic in the past.
well Fuji need a lots of firmware update to catch the speed demon of M43,..sorry guys ,.side track,.anyway,.i might be wrong about which one is more sharper between the Nocticron or Olympus 75mm,.but i already tried this three times already,.both on my E-M1 & E-P5,.maybe i need to try the Nocticron on Panasonic body,.
Looking at the picture, the size difference between the Olympus and the Panasonic puzzles me.
I wonder how big would the Olympus 45mm be at f1.4? Can different f1.4 designs lead to different lens sizes at the same focal length? Or is it all just the i.s that adds so much to the size? Not that size matters anyway. He said 🙂
An important difference lies in the fact that the Panasonic/Leica is not corrected in software. The correction is all optical, hence the larger elements.
The Oly 45mm has almost no barrel distortion. So there is also no need for software correction.
Actually it does, it’s automatically corrected in the camera.
Why does Disqus have their threads in an ass about way, you read an opener to a comment then you continually have to go up and down the thread to follow it’s path, it’s impossible to follow a thread logically, you have to continually check the time it was published crap system.
Disqus/friends are optimized for posting comments. And social integration. That’s why the “reading comments” part is an afterthought. Even formatting: narrow space between lines certifiably (yes, there was research done about it) makes comments hard to read.
Doesn’t alter tha fact that Disqus is a heap of shit that Admin seems hypnotised by and is slowly killing runours, used to be a time I’d open a thread anc catch up now it’s mainly read the top comment and close it, come on Ale open your eyes and see what is happening before it is to late.
Yeah I hate the new system too 🙁
I’m fed up of complaining about it as I believe all complaints are vetted by the system and Ale sees none of them.
Uninstall Firefox if you have it, deleting all the settings if prompted. Install the latest Firefox from http://www.mozilla.org. Try again.
I don’t have much experience with disqus on other sites so I don’t know where all this bias comes from, maybe there are better alternatives but I don’t know of any. IMO disqus is at least better than the old comment system, because now we, the community, can at least do /something/ about the trolls (again, admin please ip ban Viezevue) like down vote them and flag them, we have log in, etc… whereas in the past they were immune to anything and Admin had no tools except for manually modding comments 1 by 1.
In that case you might like to know that Disqus will not accept negative opinions, have you not questioned why you only see comments with a thumbs up, that is Disqus, as regards your comments Viezevure it is people like you who have made this site a boring monotonous diatribe of complaints about others.
Disqus is slowing my experience considerably. I misly read on android and you constantly must press reload cause it fails to reload.
Or i see the comments before Dusqus takes over and starts liading and reformating to their look.
Also they disabled simple comenting.
It doesnt even guess the username i used last.
I dont want a Disqus account cause it is not convinient and why would someine else other than this site have all the info.
Give a man a mask and he will tell you the truth…
Disqus is marginally better than previous comment system. The main bonus for Admin is that he doesn’t have to think about it anymore: it is all done by Disqus, with only few integration hooks on the web-page.
Well, that’s your opinion. I like Disqus and think it’s the best commenting system I know of.
I wonder what is your proposed solution?
To return to the old system that worked well enough for the majority of people, but admin was bullied into adopting Disqus, which has brought for more complaints that I see on screen but to make a complaint is blocked by Disqus therefore giving everyone the feeling all is well with it.
I like Disqus. Perhaps you should try a different sort of the comments; I use “Sort by Newest” and it works fine. I also like e-mail of replies to my comments.
Tomek’s test shows clearly that Sigma 60mm is highly under-appreciated. f/2.8 but affordable and very good.
Otherwise, 42.5mm is simply too expensive to me. Oly 45mm provides a balanced compromise to me: size vs. price vs. IQ.
And it’s not like I’m using primes as often anyway.
Can anyone explain what all those squiggly lines are supposed to mean in the Nokton, Nocticron, Oly and Fuji “comparison” article?
These types of things remind me a bit of audiophile equipment reviews, where it’s all about charts, graphs, blithering attempt to describe sound, etc.. Basically, listening to the gear, not the music. Any time I did that, it made me very unhappy.
I once told a hi-fi dealer:
No matter how much you spend on a hi-fi, it will NEVER sound like Carnegie Hall.
At least lenses are more quantifiable.
> At least lenses are more quantifiable.
Not true on so many levels. Color reproduction for example plays major role, but still largely un-quantifiable (or quantifiable, but few brains can grok the four-dimensional matrix of the result).
> No matter how much you spend on a hi-fi, it will never sound like Carnegie Hall.
That is patently false. Correct one: “No matter how much you spend on a hi-fi, it will never sound like live music.” 😉
I didn’t say totally quantifiable… but yes, color , rendering and other more subjective qualities count for quite a lot. Synergistically, they can count for much more than mere specs and test results.
Jeeze, I never thought of going to Carnegie and listing to a stereo system! 😉
Oh wait, that’s what most pop concerts are… listening to giant, loud, P/A systems, not the actual instruments, moving air. I heard the Vienna Philharmonic at Carnegie a few weeks ago. It sounded pretty damn live! 😉
lol, please, you guys just ignore Viezevure’s posts, I bet he is furiously wanking for each reply to his troll post, if you are here for some time, you would understand that he’s got some mental issue.
the lens is better, I can confirm. But you are putting good glass on micro sized sensor in m43 it is a waste. My Fuji kicks ass of my OM-D E-M5 for IQ. Everything else my OM-D wins, but IQ is substandard comparatively.
Who cares? Choose your system and stick with it, and be happy that if you need an 85mm portrait lens there’s one for you.
These two lenses are both absurd for their formats, anyway — personally, for my m43 cameras I prefer to stick with the smaller lenses. If I wanted an 85mm portrait lens with a 67mm filter size, I might as well just use my Contax Planar on Canon 5D. Why do I need to carry two cannons?