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The world's first Leica Micro Four Thirds lens, the Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm/F2.8 ASPH/MEGA O.I.S., features exceptional image quality in a compact size.
The Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm/F2.8 ASPH/MEGA O.I.S. (equivalent to 90mm on a 35mm film camera), features outstanding image quality that meets the renowned Leica standard. The new Leica lens uses both an aspherical lens and an ED lens comprised of fourteen lenses arranged in ten groups. This lens takes advantage of the Micro Four Thirds specifications to achieve a dramatic size decrease, while also minimizing distortion and glare. Panasonic's Mega Optical Image Stabilizer (O.I.S.) suppresses the blurring that is commonly caused by hand-shake, making it easy to shoot sharply-focused macro shots even in dimly-lit places without the need for a tripod.
The Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm/F2.8 ASPH/MEGA O.I.S. lens incorporates an inner focus motor system that makes action smooth and silent when capturing still and video content. By flipping a switch on the lens barrel, the minimum focus distance can instantly be changed to 150mm or 500mm (approximately 5.9 inches or 19.7 inches respectively). This lens excels when taking portraits, mid-range snapshots and landscapes, in addition to macro shots.
When mounted on Lumix G Micro System Cameras, the Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm/F2.8 ASPH/MEGA O.I.S. lens allows for use of the advanced contrast Auto Focus (AF) system, which includes Panasonic's Face Recognition functions. It's comprised of seven blades, which produce an attractive and smooth background blur effect when shooting at larger aperture settings. These lenses also feature a highly-reliable metal mount, and use multi-coated lens elements to minimize glare and further enhance optical performance.
The Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm/F2.8 ASPH/MEGA O.I.S. (equivalent to 90mm on a 35mm film camera), features outstanding image quality that meets the renowned Leica standard. The new Leica lens uses both an aspherical lens and an ED lens comprised of fourteen lenses arranged in ten groups. This lens takes advantage of the Micro Four Thirds specifications to achieve a dramatic size decrease, while also minimizing distortion and glare. Panasonic's Mega Optical Image Stabilizer (O.I.S.) suppresses the blurring that is commonly caused by hand-shake, making it easy to shoot sharply-focused macro shots even in dimly-lit places without the need for a tripod.
The Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm/F2.8 ASPH/MEGA O.I.S. lens incorporates an inner focus motor system that makes action smooth and silent when capturing still and video content. By flipping a switch on the lens barrel, the minimum focus distance can instantly be changed to 150mm or 500mm (approximately 5.9 inches or 19.7 inches respectively). This lens excels when taking portraits, mid-range snapshots and landscapes, in addition to macro shots.
When mounted on Lumix G Micro System Cameras, the Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm/F2.8 ASPH/MEGA O.I.S. lens allows for use of the advanced contrast Auto Focus (AF) system, which includes Panasonic's Face Recognition functions. It's comprised of seven blades, which produce an attractive and smooth background blur effect when shooting at larger aperture settings. These lenses also feature a highly-reliable metal mount, and use multi-coated lens elements to minimize glare and further enhance optical performance.
Product Description
This Panasonic H-ES045 F2.8 45mm (35mm camera equivalent) macro lens with built-in image stabilizer lets you take close-ups that capture your subjects in their actual size. It also greatly boosts mobility by serving as a medium-length telephoto lens for portraits, telephoto snapshots and landscapes.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
144 of 146 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
The Panasonic/Leica Elmarit 45mm F2.8 macros is a little bit controversial because of it's price. However there are a lot of considerations. Built by Panasonic but designed by Leica and built to Leica supervised quality standards.
This lens is quite small and light, a perfect match for the mFT (Micro Four Thirds) cameras as size and weight are design considerations to match the systems. It is very well built solid construction with a blend of plastics and metal. Compared to better quality Macro lenses it is smaller and lighter by a good margin. It is most often compared to the Olympus Zuiko 50mm F2 which is one of the finest macro lenses built for the four thirds sensor systems or any system for that matter. The 50mm is heavier, larger and requires an adapter to be used on mTF cameras. On olympus mTF 50mm autofocus works erratically, on Panasonic mTF autofocus of the Olympus 50mm does not work at all, you must use manual focus . Auto aperture works with both. This same applies to any other "legacy" macro from other manufacturers. You can get adapters for about 90% of all legacy lenses made to use them with mTF cameras but most will be either fully manual, standard four third lenses will work with auto aperture but only some will provide autofocus. However, as of this writing, the 45mm F2.8 Elmarit is the only macro lens designed and built specifically for the mTF system cameras (Olympus and Panasonic). Some mTF zooms provide some very close focusing but none of the zooms provide true macro.
The 45mm is an internal focus lens. This means that regardless of focus distance the front element of the lens never extends or changes position. The 50mm Olympus, is an extending design (as are most macro lenses), so the front element extends out farther the closer you get to the subject. While I don't have the ability to perform a technical comparison, generally this may means that at 1:2 magnification, an internal design, the front lens element may not be as close to the subject as an extending design. For most photography this is not significant but for macro it is. The actual focus point is internal to the lens optical system, not the front lens element. The closer the front lens element is to the subject, the more it blocks the light reaching the subject (because you are very, close). So internal focus lenses may provide the maximum possible clearance for the front element making it easier to light the subject. There can be exceptions so this is not a hard rule.
Another consideration is "Effective focal length". You may read where advertisers promote a lens or camera based upon "effective focal length" Effective focal length is relative to a 35mm film camera or a full frame digital camera. On a full frame 35mm or digital camera, the optical focal length and effective focal length are the same in most cases, so the field of view is relative to the effective focal length. The shorter focal length, the wider the field of view (wide angle) the longer the focal length, the narrower the field of view (telephoto). Most digital sensors are smaller then full frame and are said to have a crop or magnification factor. For Four Thirds and micro four third sensors, the crop factor is 2X. Therefore the effective focal length of the 45mm is 2X or 90mm. This is a short telephoto and the advantage is it provides a longer working distance for macro shots.
The 45mm also makes an excellent short telephoto and portrait lens. The 45mm has a focus limiter switch on the lens. When turned on under normal use this allows you to restrict focus range to normal distances so the lens does not search through the macro range. It speeds up auto focus in these circumstances.
So there are some top end legacy macro lenses that are technically sharper then the 45mm F2.8 and some that are faster. They are also larger and heavier and currently cannot provide some auto focus or in some cases auto aperture with mTF systems. It is important to understand that this does not make the 45mm a bad lens, quite the Contrary, the 45mm F2.8 is an excellent pro grade lens. It is very sharp, well built, focuses quickly at normal ranges, will search some at macro, typical for almost all lenses in the macro range. I love the lens and it is to me worth every penny.
The lens will focus to 1:1 magnification (life size) directly without an extension tube. Many macro lenses will only focus to 1:2 including the 50mm F2 Olympus lens and therefore require an extension tube to get all the way down to 1:1 magnification. (extra cost, size and weight)
IImage quality for both telephoto, portraits and macro is very good to Excellent wide open at F2.8 to F11. Some deterioration at F16 to F22 due to diffraction but still good to very good (this is common for most digital sensors smaller then full frame and is an excellent performance overall)
Vignetting: (corners darker then center) is noticeable (mild) wide open but insignificant stopped down 1 stop. (Very good)
Distortion: There is none which is optically excellent and better then most. (Excellent)
Chromatic Aberration: Color fringing is very mild at most apertures and not significant or detectable to most people. (very good)
Bokeh: The term bokeh is the blur or the quality of the blur in out-of-focus areas of an image, or "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light or highlights. Ideally they should be very smooth and blended with no significant sphering or octagonal shapes. There is no technical specification for Bokeh. It is a subjective evaluation made by the viewer or photographer. For me, the 45mm Bokeh is "Very Good" but not excellent.
Focus speed: I can only evaluate this as used on the GH1 as I haven't used it with other mTH bodies. Extremely fast, almost instant in good light. Fast in low light, Searches some in very dim light or if the subject(s) are of very dark (black) or of very low contrast in low light. Overall, as fast or faster then my Olympus E3 DSLR with 12-60 lens. (an excellent performance) -- I don't shoot much video but did a brief test in my apartment with low to dim lighting, using only 2 60 watt bulbs in one corner, bounced off the wall. I found the video focus to be better then most but not instant. The 45mm has virtually silent autofocus so the autofocus lens produces no noticeable noise when
Overall for features, internal focus, size, weight, match to the system, image quality, focus speed and versatility I rate this lens as Excellent with some exceptions for vignetting wide open, very slight color fringing and Bokeh. Not matter how you measure it, it still comes up as a true professional quality optic.
This lens is quite small and light, a perfect match for the mFT (Micro Four Thirds) cameras as size and weight are design considerations to match the systems. It is very well built solid construction with a blend of plastics and metal. Compared to better quality Macro lenses it is smaller and lighter by a good margin. It is most often compared to the Olympus Zuiko 50mm F2 which is one of the finest macro lenses built for the four thirds sensor systems or any system for that matter. The 50mm is heavier, larger and requires an adapter to be used on mTF cameras. On olympus mTF 50mm autofocus works erratically, on Panasonic mTF autofocus of the Olympus 50mm does not work at all, you must use manual focus . Auto aperture works with both. This same applies to any other "legacy" macro from other manufacturers. You can get adapters for about 90% of all legacy lenses made to use them with mTF cameras but most will be either fully manual, standard four third lenses will work with auto aperture but only some will provide autofocus. However, as of this writing, the 45mm F2.8 Elmarit is the only macro lens designed and built specifically for the mTF system cameras (Olympus and Panasonic). Some mTF zooms provide some very close focusing but none of the zooms provide true macro.
The 45mm is an internal focus lens. This means that regardless of focus distance the front element of the lens never extends or changes position. The 50mm Olympus, is an extending design (as are most macro lenses), so the front element extends out farther the closer you get to the subject. While I don't have the ability to perform a technical comparison, generally this may means that at 1:2 magnification, an internal design, the front lens element may not be as close to the subject as an extending design. For most photography this is not significant but for macro it is. The actual focus point is internal to the lens optical system, not the front lens element. The closer the front lens element is to the subject, the more it blocks the light reaching the subject (because you are very, close). So internal focus lenses may provide the maximum possible clearance for the front element making it easier to light the subject. There can be exceptions so this is not a hard rule.
Another consideration is "Effective focal length". You may read where advertisers promote a lens or camera based upon "effective focal length" Effective focal length is relative to a 35mm film camera or a full frame digital camera. On a full frame 35mm or digital camera, the optical focal length and effective focal length are the same in most cases, so the field of view is relative to the effective focal length. The shorter focal length, the wider the field of view (wide angle) the longer the focal length, the narrower the field of view (telephoto). Most digital sensors are smaller then full frame and are said to have a crop or magnification factor. For Four Thirds and micro four third sensors, the crop factor is 2X. Therefore the effective focal length of the 45mm is 2X or 90mm. This is a short telephoto and the advantage is it provides a longer working distance for macro shots.
The 45mm also makes an excellent short telephoto and portrait lens. The 45mm has a focus limiter switch on the lens. When turned on under normal use this allows you to restrict focus range to normal distances so the lens does not search through the macro range. It speeds up auto focus in these circumstances.
So there are some top end legacy macro lenses that are technically sharper then the 45mm F2.8 and some that are faster. They are also larger and heavier and currently cannot provide some auto focus or in some cases auto aperture with mTF systems. It is important to understand that this does not make the 45mm a bad lens, quite the Contrary, the 45mm F2.8 is an excellent pro grade lens. It is very sharp, well built, focuses quickly at normal ranges, will search some at macro, typical for almost all lenses in the macro range. I love the lens and it is to me worth every penny.
The lens will focus to 1:1 magnification (life size) directly without an extension tube. Many macro lenses will only focus to 1:2 including the 50mm F2 Olympus lens and therefore require an extension tube to get all the way down to 1:1 magnification. (extra cost, size and weight)
IImage quality for both telephoto, portraits and macro is very good to Excellent wide open at F2.8 to F11. Some deterioration at F16 to F22 due to diffraction but still good to very good (this is common for most digital sensors smaller then full frame and is an excellent performance overall)
Vignetting: (corners darker then center) is noticeable (mild) wide open but insignificant stopped down 1 stop. (Very good)
Distortion: There is none which is optically excellent and better then most. (Excellent)
Chromatic Aberration: Color fringing is very mild at most apertures and not significant or detectable to most people. (very good)
Bokeh: The term bokeh is the blur or the quality of the blur in out-of-focus areas of an image, or "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light or highlights. Ideally they should be very smooth and blended with no significant sphering or octagonal shapes. There is no technical specification for Bokeh. It is a subjective evaluation made by the viewer or photographer. For me, the 45mm Bokeh is "Very Good" but not excellent.
Focus speed: I can only evaluate this as used on the GH1 as I haven't used it with other mTH bodies. Extremely fast, almost instant in good light. Fast in low light, Searches some in very dim light or if the subject(s) are of very dark (black) or of very low contrast in low light. Overall, as fast or faster then my Olympus E3 DSLR with 12-60 lens. (an excellent performance) -- I don't shoot much video but did a brief test in my apartment with low to dim lighting, using only 2 60 watt bulbs in one corner, bounced off the wall. I found the video focus to be better then most but not instant. The 45mm has virtually silent autofocus so the autofocus lens produces no noticeable noise when
Overall for features, internal focus, size, weight, match to the system, image quality, focus speed and versatility I rate this lens as Excellent with some exceptions for vignetting wide open, very slight color fringing and Bokeh. Not matter how you measure it, it still comes up as a true professional quality optic.
90 of 92 people found the following review helpful
By Noirist
Amazon Verified Purchase
I've had the Panasonic 45mm/f2.8 lens for a month now and have taken many thousands of pictures with it on my GH1. Macro photography is challenging, but I've gotten some great macro pictures of insects and plants and even some marginal 1080p24 macro movies of insects in action. And with minimal effort I have gotten by far the best indoor and outdoor portraits of any that I've taken with the 14-140mm kit lens or the 20mm/f1.7 lens.
Initially I purchased this lens for macro purposes after seeing Microcosmos for the umpteenth time but over the past month it has become my favorite all-around micro 4/3rds lens. It's faster than the GH1 kit lens and it does not have the wide angle distortion of the 20mm/f1.7 or the 7-14mm/f4.0. It has the best color rendition and the most pleasing bokeh of those other lenses. This lens provides the best portraits and the best macro shots, so it's my favorite walk-around lens. I still use the 20mm/f1.7 for extreme low light and confined quarters, but I have developed an aversion to the way that its 20mm focal length distorts people's faces.
As a macro lens, the 45mm/f2.8 provides 100% magnification, autofocus, and autoaperture. I don't use the autoaperture for macro shots because the camera prefers f2.8 which results in slight vignetting and unusably shallow depth of field. Nor do I use the autofocus for extreme 100% magnification macro shots because it hunts too much and manual focus is more effective for such situations. I use autofocus for more moderate 25-50% magnification macro shots and for portraits and other non-macro pictures. Autofocus hunts at macro distances but is fast and accurate at regular (non-macro) distances with the focus limiter.
This lens is better used for macro stills than macro movies. To achieve maximum 1.0x magnification with this lens, your subject must be at the mininum focus distance of 6 inches. At that distance, the depth of field is roughly 1/16" at f6.3 (where the lens is sharpest), and 1/5" at f22 when the lens is fully stopped down (where the lens is softest due to diffraction). As a result, taking in-focus macro movies with this lens ranges from challenging to impossible, depending on the size of your subject, the available light, and the degree of magnification you desire.
The real strengths of this lens are its small size (225g), beautiful color rendition, and pleasing bokeh. The 100% magnification macro capability is a bonus. I don't think the Olympus 50mm f2.0 macro is a real competitor to this lens because that lens is much larger when used on a micro 4/3rds camera (300g for lens + 150g for EX25 extension tube to get 100% magnification + 100g for adapter = 550g) and it is reputed to have "nasty gritty barbed wire bokeh".
P.S. According to lenstip on 2011-02-25, this lens has the highest center resolution of any micro 4/3rds lens, a whopping 80 lpmm at f4.0. It's already 75 lpmm at f2.8, which confirms my personal experience with this lens -- it's good for macro and an absolute winner for portraits.
Initially I purchased this lens for macro purposes after seeing Microcosmos for the umpteenth time but over the past month it has become my favorite all-around micro 4/3rds lens. It's faster than the GH1 kit lens and it does not have the wide angle distortion of the 20mm/f1.7 or the 7-14mm/f4.0. It has the best color rendition and the most pleasing bokeh of those other lenses. This lens provides the best portraits and the best macro shots, so it's my favorite walk-around lens. I still use the 20mm/f1.7 for extreme low light and confined quarters, but I have developed an aversion to the way that its 20mm focal length distorts people's faces.
As a macro lens, the 45mm/f2.8 provides 100% magnification, autofocus, and autoaperture. I don't use the autoaperture for macro shots because the camera prefers f2.8 which results in slight vignetting and unusably shallow depth of field. Nor do I use the autofocus for extreme 100% magnification macro shots because it hunts too much and manual focus is more effective for such situations. I use autofocus for more moderate 25-50% magnification macro shots and for portraits and other non-macro pictures. Autofocus hunts at macro distances but is fast and accurate at regular (non-macro) distances with the focus limiter.
This lens is better used for macro stills than macro movies. To achieve maximum 1.0x magnification with this lens, your subject must be at the mininum focus distance of 6 inches. At that distance, the depth of field is roughly 1/16" at f6.3 (where the lens is sharpest), and 1/5" at f22 when the lens is fully stopped down (where the lens is softest due to diffraction). As a result, taking in-focus macro movies with this lens ranges from challenging to impossible, depending on the size of your subject, the available light, and the degree of magnification you desire.
The real strengths of this lens are its small size (225g), beautiful color rendition, and pleasing bokeh. The 100% magnification macro capability is a bonus. I don't think the Olympus 50mm f2.0 macro is a real competitor to this lens because that lens is much larger when used on a micro 4/3rds camera (300g for lens + 150g for EX25 extension tube to get 100% magnification + 100g for adapter = 550g) and it is reputed to have "nasty gritty barbed wire bokeh".
P.S. According to lenstip on 2011-02-25, this lens has the highest center resolution of any micro 4/3rds lens, a whopping 80 lpmm at f4.0. It's already 75 lpmm at f2.8, which confirms my personal experience with this lens -- it's good for macro and an absolute winner for portraits.
31 of 31 people found the following review helpful
I will keep this quick as well - I have used many truly excellent lenses for my DSLR(s), and like prime lenses for their clarity and bokeh. In micro 4/3, I currently use the Lumix GF1 - and love the Panasonic 20 mm lens for use with it - a sharp, excellent lens that amounts to a 40 mm effective length in use (highly recommended).
I like taking portraits of people, and wanted a little more reach than the 20 provides - admittedly, I did not purchase the lens for strictly macro work - I like head-and-shoulders images.
The lens is fantastic, ultra sharp with terrific colors - small, fast-focusing and VERY accurate in focus. Bokeh looks great, and I am now torn when going out trying to decide which lens to have on the camera - this really says a lot, as the 20 mm is so very good and has been the one to use up to this point. IF you are wondering if this lens is really worth the higher price, I have to say that yes, I am sold - color, clarity, sharpness, speed - all tops.
Also, I am a bit surprised about how much I like the OIS - it works very well, and really helps a lot - I have more "keepers" in tougher, lower shutter speed situations. I feel that anyone who wants to get closer but keep the narrower depth of field this f 2.8 lens provides will really like this lens - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED -
Steve
I like taking portraits of people, and wanted a little more reach than the 20 provides - admittedly, I did not purchase the lens for strictly macro work - I like head-and-shoulders images.
The lens is fantastic, ultra sharp with terrific colors - small, fast-focusing and VERY accurate in focus. Bokeh looks great, and I am now torn when going out trying to decide which lens to have on the camera - this really says a lot, as the 20 mm is so very good and has been the one to use up to this point. IF you are wondering if this lens is really worth the higher price, I have to say that yes, I am sold - color, clarity, sharpness, speed - all tops.
Also, I am a bit surprised about how much I like the OIS - it works very well, and really helps a lot - I have more "keepers" in tougher, lower shutter speed situations. I feel that anyone who wants to get closer but keep the narrower depth of field this f 2.8 lens provides will really like this lens - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED -
Steve
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best
I needed a macro lense and also a faster short telephoto. I already have the 45-200 but it's max aperture is f4. This is 2.8 and much more useable. Read more
Published 22 days ago by A Gottschald
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Impressive!
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Published 1 month ago by 5D Mike
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I recently converted my setup from a Canon DSLR to the Lumix 4/3 Micro system. This 45m Macro (90mm Equiv) is even better then my Canon 100mm Macro which was a fantastic lens. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Floyd O.
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Met my expectations
Love the size and the picture results were fabulous. Took it to Costa Rica, so many amazing shots. I would recommend!
Published 2 months ago by D. Bernath
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It gets better as you get used to it.
I will not repeat all the technical information already included in previous reviews, for me - average amateur - it is more important the IQ and process to get it. Read more
Published 3 months ago by reader
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Sharp Semi-fast Lens
This is a wonderfully sharp Portrait and Macro lens. It's also decently fast at 2.8, though obviously not as fast as the Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 45mm f/1. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Chatoyer
5.0 out of 5 stars
The is the lens to have: portrait and macro all in one
This lens is amazing because of two simple reasons:
1) it have a very close focus distance for macro shots and the AF speed is very fast
2) it is optically equal... Read more
1) it have a very close focus distance for macro shots and the AF speed is very fast
2) it is optically equal... Read more
Published 4 months ago by NCHammer
5.0 out of 5 stars
All those pictures I missed
I recently started getting slightly more serious with photography with a Panasonic GF-2. But there were a lot of pictures I tried to take, and just couldn't. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Scott Rubin
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Why did I wait so long to buy this lens?
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Published 11 months ago by foxtail_too
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Lens
I purchased this lens for my GF1. It is soo sharp. I also own the 20mm, 45-200mm and 7-14mm and I would have to say I love this lens the best. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Golden Mustang
