Customer Reviews

Panasonic L-X025 Full 4/3 DSLR Panasonic 25mm Lens for select Lumix SLR Digital Cameras

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I got my lens yesterday! I am usually very lazy, but I was so excited about this lens, that i braved a clear windy day in Portland and shot some pictures at night. I am blown away by the performance of this lens. I was able to take night shots like I have never done before. The lens is fast, clear and the autofocus smooth and quick. The aperture ring is a joy to play with (if you have a Panasonic L1 or Leica Digilux 3) and the out of focus blur (bokeh) is remarkable. Its pricey, but its probably the best lens out there for the four thirds format! get it before its gone!

I agree this lens is brilliant - sharp, superb smooth bookeh, and great low light performance. This prime lens (i.e. it is not a zoom) forces you to be in the scene which makes for a more authentic almost immersive viewer perspective as the perspective is very close to the human eye. Similar to Leica street photography - by the way Leica Germany provided the algorithm for the lens design - this lens is based on the Leica f1.4 Summilux lens and also bears the Summilux name on the front - in a sense a Leica lens build by the Japanese to German quality standards. I have had the lens since 2007 and use it on my Leica Digilux-3 SLR (incidentally also build by Panasonic with some differences though). This great lens is my favourite lens and is almost permanently attached. The lens will work with all 4/3 standard cameras i.e. Panasonic L1, Leica D3, Olympus SLRs and for other brands one could possibly use a 4/3 adapter (not sure though). A really great lens, it will be a collector's item one day.

If you're looking at this lens, you know what it is. It's a classic, standard angle, fast prime lens. The low light performance at f/1.4 is great. AF speed is slow though on my E-600. I believe the internal mechanism on the lens itself is slow. It does lock on in some pretty low light situations though (just not quickly). There is some vignetting at f/1.4 and f/2. This is largely gone by F/2.8 or f/4. The lens is pretty sharp at f/1.4 and I would say as sharp as it gets by f/2.8. Diffraction sets in by f/11. I wish it has a DOF on the lens, but I guess you have to buy old glass these days to get that feature. It is on my camera 75% of the time.

I have some seriously mixed feelings about this lens. On the one hand, it's good, and I love shooting with it. On the other, its price is borderline obscene.

It's an oddity of the Four Thirds system that fast, normal primes are so scarce. There's so little competition that this lens almost wins by default: there's the Olympus 25mm f/2.8 Pancake Lens which is far too slow; the Sigma 24mm f/1.8 EX DG which has a fiddly AF/MF clutch mechanism, isn't designed for four thirds, and is even bigger than the Panasonic (despite being slower); and there's the µ4/3 only Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f0.95, which is almost as expensive as this lens, in short supply (you won't find here at Amazon or maybe anywhere), and is entirely manual in operation.

Of those options, it's obvious that they all have some serious flaws. Optically, the only competitor in the same ballpark is the Voigtländer, but it's µ4/3 only, its price is very close to this lens, and it's fully manual - an interesting lens no doubt, but one with only niche appeal. I wince a little when I say that the Panasonic probably represents a better value than the Voigtländer.

Some details:

- Optically, it's good, but don't expect miracles. Center sharpness is great even wide open, but there's some serious vignetting and corner softness at f/1.4 (perhaps that's really the fabled "Leica glow").

- AF Performance is OK. It focuses quickly enough, the noise isn't excessive, and (for me at least) it's dead-on accurate. I've heard horror stories on the 'net about needing focus adjustment for this lens, but mine is spot on.

- This thing works on µ4/3 too, where it's marvelous for video. I sometimes put it on my E-P2 with an adapter, and it natively uses CDAF (quite effectively, I might add). Of course if you're looking at this lens specifically for µ4/3, the Panasonic LUMIX G 20mm f/1.7 may give you what you need at a fraction of the price.

- The manual aperture ring seems cheap and gimmicky on such a costly lens. My view of it is somewhat tainted by the fact that I have Olympus bodies (and I can't even use it at all!), but this isn't a "real" mechanical aperture ring - it's just a dial. As somebody who shoots almost exclusively in A priority I like the idea of this retro control, I really do, but if you're going to do it do it *right*. It just doesn't feel good and I wouldn't use it even if I could.

- This thing is big. At least as big as a 50mm f/1.4 lens from the film era. Whatever size advantage the Four Thirds system purports to have is just not evident with this thing.

Reading this review, I worry I come off as a bit too negative on this lens. Let me be clear: it's a good lens, and I'm glad I own it, especially considering the lack of other options available. It feels to me, though, that Panasonic is asking far too much for this thing. Maybe I'd think it was justified for an f/1.2, or if there was no corner softness, but given what this lens *is*, I can only conclude that the "Leica" branding makes up about 25% of the price.

*** Update 07/2011 ***

Word on the street is that this lens has been discontinued, although it's still available on Amazon from 3rd party sellers as of the time I'm writing this. There's also a µ4/3 native version of this lens on the way, though it's not yet available here on Amazon - MSRP on the µ4/3 native version looks to be a good bit cheaper than this lens. As with everything Four Thirds, the future is uncertain.

My take is this: if you're a Four Thirds DSLR shooter and you don't see yourself jumping ship to µ4/3, then you might want to buy one of these up before they disappear forever. On the other hand, if you're a µ4/3 shooter (or thinking of becoming one), you should probably wait for the cheaper, smaller native version that's just around the corner.

So I know that the 20mm f1.7 is a covetted lens on all M4/3 camera users gear list. I recently sold mine to take a chance on this lens. I was heavilly rewarded. The kicker for me was a the speed of the lens. I shoot predominantly in low light or in the always difficult varying lights in the house. I find this lens on my camera more than anyother. The color rendition is almost dead on even with the auto white balance and the f1.4 allows me to keep my ISO setting low which as we all know with the m4/3 cameras is a needed compnoent of capturing tack sharp images. This lens functions beyond my expectations, I could be imagining things but I even feel the manual focus is sharper and more accurately responsive than previous generations of lens. The cost is more but the benefit is evident from the first pictures. I am only shooting on a GH1 and I am anxious to move to a G3 or GH2 to really see what this lens is capable of, even with my 2 generation old G series camera body the auto focus is quicker than my families other DSLR with kit lens (Rebel T2 and Nikon D3100) obviously a prime lens will have less range to pan through but I never miss a shot and constantly field requests for files of family functions.

I recently took the 25mm f1.4 on an evening train ride through some Christmas lights in Scottsdale AZ and captured amazing images even from a moving train car in pitch black outdoor conditions. If you do not have the 20mm and are thinking about one or the other I highly recomend the 25mm over the 20mm. If you already have the 20mm and size is't the driving force behind your lens choice this lens is exponentially sharper, faster and totally silent in both video and still focusing. In low light I couldn't imagine a better auto focusing lens available right now. The closest I have is the Oly 45mm f1.8mm but I find the focal length too long for most indoor situations, except tight portraits. The 46mm lens threads are also a convenient diameter since the 20mm filters and hoods will function perfectly on it.

If you are in the market and it is available buy it. I hesitated and when I was ready had to wait a week to order it, and miss a few opportunities where it would have been perfect, I also searched endlessly for a great price and no one could beat Amazon, especially with a prime account and the free 2day shipping.

Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 45mm f/1.8 Lens for Micro Four Thirds Cameras

I bought this lens a few months ago from Amazon for my four thirds Olympus E5,E3 and E330 cameras and could not be happyer!!It is fast focusing,and works great in low light and also a great prtrait lens.The price is ok at $899.95 which I paid for it,but I think the $1325.50 is a bit off!!!It is a big lens,but most modern auto focus lenses are much bigger than similar hand focusing(film camera)lenses.

For four thirds the only other prime lens to considder in "normal"focal range there is the Sigma 30mm f1.4 which I understand is quite good too!!

Albert E

While this lens is not as sharp as the Olympus 50 f2, it's amazingly sharp at f1.4 and renders that Leica "glow" to photos. It provides some of the most beautiful and pleasant bokeh. Photos are creamy. Color is smooth with good contrast, but less pronounced than the Oly 50 f2. This is not a negative as not every photo requires that bite.

I have used it on a Panasonic L1, Olympus 420, 520, E3 and E5. It performs the best on the L1 and E5 (I assume it should be great on the L10). On the L1 and L10 it's aperture ring is active, on Olympus bodies it's not, which is a shame. You change aperture with the dials.

This lens is big and chunky, which works great on the E3/E5 (and E1 I assume), but seems oversized on other bodies. This of course is not a real negative considering the amazing image quality even wide open.

I hope Panasonic continues to make this lens for a while and that more 4/3 users have an opportunity to use it. If you can stomach the cost, it's amazing.