Panasonic Lumix G 20mm/F1.7 Pancake Lens

Product Information

When shooting bright light sources at stopped-down apertures – like in the F16 shot above – the 'spikes' of the sunstar are soft-edged and not all that well pronounced. Lateral and longitudinal chromatic aberration (fringing)

Ultimately, though it's not optically perfect, for most folks, the Panasonic Lumix G 25mm F1.7 ASPH is going to be more than good enough. The diminutive 20mm F1.7 isn't the smallest lens currently on the market (the Olympus M. Zuiko Digital 17mm F2.8 Pancake shaves a couple of millimeters off in each dimension), but it's unusually fast for such a compact design, letting in a stop and a half more light than the above-mentioned 17mm (or Olympus's Four Thirds-mount Zuiko Digital 25mm F2.8). Construction is reassuringly solid, with high quality finish and a metal mount. The weight is just 100g. The bokeh – or quality of the out-of-focus regions produced by this 25mm – is fairly pleasing. Panasonic takes pride in the smoothness/polishing of its aspherical surfaces/molds, and it shows here. The discs rendered by out-of-focus highlights are relatively Gaussian and free of distracting patterns like 'onion rings'. Only occasionally do they show the slightest hint of a hard edge (more noticeable as you stop down), but not enough to cause any concern. Lateral chromatic aberration – or purple/green fringing near the edge of the frame in high contrast regions – is very well controlled for optically, and is further corrected for digitally in JPEGs and/or in your Raw converter. Here are uncorrected and corrected Raw conversions - as you can see the differences are minor.Sell the kit you’re not using to MPB. Trade in for the kit you need to create. Buy used, spend less and get more. Buy. Sell. Trade. Create.

BOTTOM LINE. With this little Panasonic 20 1.7 lens you have a high quality lens THAT WILL NOT BREAK THE BANK. You can do low light, shallow depth of field, and get great results. I say this as a hobbyist, not a pro. For 90% of what I shoot if I had to choose between the E-P2 and 20 1.7, D300s or Canon 7D then it would be the E-P2. Throw in the Leica X1 and I would have to take the X1 as I feel the IQ of the X1 beats all of the mentioned DSLR’s and the E-P2/20 combo, and its even smaller and sleeker. But I think I am done with all of those big DSLR’s for good. I really have no need for 8FPS shooting or 999 focus points. The Panasonic Lumix G 20mm f/1.7 II with a redesigned styling and metal parts, and this gives a very slight improvement in resistance to flare, as well as a slight improvement in contrast. The redesign has very slightly improved the position of the surrounding plastic closest to the lens, which results in a very slight improvement in shielding light from hitting the lens at oblique angles. The out-of-focus regions in this F1.7 shot show some purple fringing in front of the subject, aka longitudinal CA (LoCA) When combing all the programs together you get much of the functionality of the substantially more expensive Final Cut Pro.There is no need of upgrading the camera with DMW-SFU2 if upgrading with DMW-SFU2 was once done before. I am reading this review long after its was originally written. Possibly the best review (fit for human consumption :)) I have read while trying to understand the m4t camera and lens combination. I recently bought EP 3 after a long research but was almost questioning my decision after using it with kit lens 14-42. Somehow I was expecting bit more. I have been using Canon G9 all these years and quality from EP3 wasn’t too great. After reading your review I have made my decision to go with 20 (there is still some hope). There still is and always be a market for a DSLR for those who need those capabilities but I am speaking to those who want a carry around camera. In the recent past we did not have much choice for quality and today we do! There I go..ranting again! The review mentioned noise, which is more of a concern to me, as that could ruin its ability for video. Lens flare can cause some loss of contrast especially when shooting directly into bright light sources, while multiple ghosts of bright sources can manifest themselves as colored 'blobs' that get more defined the more you stop the lens down.

For settings and controls over the BGH1 via PC during IP streaming, LUMIX Tether for Multicam PC software should also be updated to Ver.1.1 or higher. The BGH1 is the LUMIX’s first box-style camera exclusively designed and developed for professional use. To support a growing need of live streaming, the BGH1 will provide an IP streaming function that enables distant, high-quality image transmission to the social streaming platform online with PC connection over wired LAN. Notably, the LUMIX BGH1 is a unique camera that can stream 4K 60p (50p) video in H.265. The H.265 realizes half the bitrate while keeping the image quality the same as H.264, which means it can provide 2x higher image quality at the same bitrate as H.264. Streaming in ultra-high definition 4K at low bitrate is possible even in the cases where the bandwidth is not broad enough. Over our review period, we’ve come to really appreciate the 20mm f1.7 II lens. It’s built and feels super solid with a metal exterior that works well with both the OMD EM5 and the GH4. When it comes to manually focusing though, you’ll only be working with a small sliver of a focusing ring. Granted, this lens isn’t weather sealed nor does it really need to be.Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. The quality of the Panasonic lenses are superb, both the 14-45mm & the 20mm are really sharp & better than “some lenses” from either Canon & Nikon that cost twice the price.