Micro 4/3 Advice: m43 lenses with great rendering?

[Nosfer42]

Hi guys,

As a relative newcomer (Pana GX9, Pentax shooter before/still) I am trying to understand which are the must have (AF / camera aperture) lenses for M43, with regards to rendering.
Rendering could refer to sharpness, bokeh, color, bokeh transitions etc etc. But to not get bogged down in detailed comparisons and so, I think you could summarize it as:

"Those lenses that you could point at almost anything, and most of the time the resulting image looks "good""

Primes and Zooms, all of interest, but preferably not too bulky / heavy lenses, and mostly in the street photography, wide angle - short tele range.
Budget: Regardless of rendering, I can't see myself ever purchasing a lens for above $1500 new. 💸

In Pentax terms, I am trying to find the FA Limiteds, A 35-105 f3.5, DA35macro and such. 😊
But also fully AF / camera aperture lenses with artistic rendering, like that of Helios 44/ Meyer Görliz Trioplan would be awesome.

 

[JensM]

The Pana-Leica primes and zooms should be straight up your alley.

9/15/25 and 45Macro to mention the small(ish) ones. Never had the 45mm, but the rest is proper good. The zoom trio of 8-18/12-60 and 50-200 is also solid performers.

 

[Nosfer42]

The Pana-Leica primes and zooms should be straight up your alley.

9/15/25 and 45Macro to mention the small(ish) ones. Never had the 45mm, but the rest is proper good. The zoom trio of 8-18/12-60 and 50-200 is also solid performers.

Thanks!

Yes, the 9mm is already on my radar 🙂 Looks awesome from what I have seen.

15mm also looks good, but think it is too close to my current Oly 17mm?

12-60 Pana, the Leica or both?

 

[JensM]

Thanks!

Yes, the 9mm is already on my radar 🙂 Looks awesome from what I have seen.

15mm also looks good, but think it is too close to my current Oly 17mm?

12-60 Pana, the Leica or both?

There is only one, with the fear of sounding fastidious, the other one is a Lumix.

Both are good, but having had the P-L for a few years when the Lumix came along with a second hand body, the latter didnt do much for me. That said, I have quite a few Lumixes and put them to good use as well as the Pana-Leicas.

In regards of the 15mm, I had shot quite a lot with the Oly 17 and rated it quite highly, but was curious about the 15mm. It took all of one outing with the P-L15 for me to put up the 17 mm Oly in the classifieds.

 

[sasquatchphotog]

From personal experience - agree with JensM about the PanaLeica 50-200 (noting though that you're after wide/short tele lenses).

Would also chuck in the Oly 45 1.8. The only Oly lens I've used that I really like - has a similar "softly sharp" quality as the PL 50-200, IMO. Even though I feel the PL 42.5 1.2 Nocticron beckoning - some day - I reckon I'll still keep the Oly 45 around, given it's so cheap, compact and still lovely in rendering.

 

[agentlossing]

The recommendation of the "Pana-Leicas" is a good one. They're a cut above, so they come close to being similar to Pentax Limiteds in performance. I will say that the Limited lenses are designed to be "quirky" in addition to being awesome optics, while Micro 4/3 lenses mostly stick to more traditional aspects of focal length, rendering and sharpness. That said, some of them really emphasize bokeh, colors, contrast, all the good stuff.

I haven't owned either the 25mm f1.4 or the 15mm f1.7, so my experience with them are quite limited, but I will say they seem to render very well. Another I'd recommend is the Olympus 25mm f1.8 - not an expensive or top-shelf lens, but it renders in a wonderfully organic way, with creamy bokeh.

 

[arkitect]

I'll throw these two into the ring:

Not expensive and not stamped with any Leica symbol 😉, but they do render beautiful images.

M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.8
M.Zuiko 75mm f/1.8

 

[PacNWMike]

The 12-100/4 is pretty much glued to the front of my EM5iii

 

[Moonraker]

Mzuiko 75mm, and 17mm f1.2 pro, imho

 

[rloewy]

The Lumix 20mm 1.7 has great IQ, but the AF is a bit slow. The15mm and the Oly 17mm 1.8 are very close, I think I get more great photos with the 15mm, but when you get great photos with the 17mm 1.8 - it is great as well. I think both can stay in my collection.

Of course, if you don't have to have AF, the Voigtlander 0.95 lenses are fantastic (well, at least the 17.5, 25 and 42.5, I did not try the others). Another MF lens I really like is the SLR Magic 35mm 1.4, fwiw

 

[Nosfer42]

Good to see several recommendations of the 45mm f1.8, as that is the other one I currently have (and the 12-32 that came with the camera) 🙂

And yes I like it a lot, would be nice if it could focus a tad closer, but awesome value imho.

 

[arkitect]

Good to see several recommendations of the 45mm f1.8, as that is the other one I currently have (and the 12-32 that came with the camera) 🙂

And yes I like it a lot, would be nice if it could focus a tad closer, but awesome value imho.

Those are my two favourite M43 lenses.
I have often written on this and other places how much I love that little 12-32 lens. It will be the last lens I sell. 🙂

 

[gryphon1911]

OK, here is my list:

olympus 12-100/4 Pro OIS
Pana-Leica 12-60/2.8-4
Panasonic 12-35/2.8
Panasonic 35-100/2.8 II

Olympus 75/1.8
Z Optics 25/0.95
Olympus 45/1.8

 

[WhidbeyLVR]

If you need macro/closeup, flat-field focal plane, and sharp to the corners, the Olympus 60mm macro is an excellent lens in a small package.

I have both the Lumix 20mm f/1.7 and the Oly 25mm f/1.8. Both are sharp. I prefer the rendering and FOV of the 20, but the superior focus speed of the 25.

I love my Oly 75mm, but struggle to find a reason to carry it for travel. Too long for landscape or indoors, and too short for wildlife.

The prime that gets the most use is my Oly 300mm.

I have also enjoyed my Laowa 10mm f/2 Zero-D, but maybe only because I don't have the Lumix 9mm. It's not too hard to manually focus and gives great results.

 

[wee-pics]

Olympus 12-100/4, Olympus 8-25/4 and Olympus 75/1.8 are definitely my favorites and most used ones.

 

[rayvonn]

Off the top of my head:

1) Lumix 14/2.5;
2) "Panaleica" 25/1.4;
3) Oly 17mm F2.8 (not F1.8); and
4) Any of the native m43 Voigtlander lenses.

I'm mentioning these under your criteria of rendering, not what's technically "best". I'm also applying my criteria of images that can't be confused with those produced by an iPhone which imo is the case with a lot of mirrorless setups. There are likley other lenses that fulfill these criterias but from my own experience the above mentioned lenses definitely do and FWIW, subjective as this is, render very pleasing images. But don't take my word for it, just have a cursory glance at Flickr which I suppose applies to any of the lenses mentioned here.

 

[mnhoj]

When I think of rendering..
PL25 1.4

Utility and sharpness..
O12-100

Mid tele value..
Sigma 56 1.4

There are so many others. Dangerously so.. 🙂

 

[Panolyman]

Off the top of my head:

1) Lumix 14/2.5;
2) "Panaleica" 25/1.4;
3) Oly 17mm F2.8 (not F1.8); and
4) Any of the native m43 Voigtlander lenses.

I'm mentioning these under your criteria of rendering, not what's technically "best". I'm also applying my criteria of images that can't be confused with those produced by an iPhone which imo is the case with a lot of mirrorless setups. There are likley other lenses that fulfill these criterias but from my own experience the above mentioned lenses definitely do and FWIW, subjective as this is, render very pleasing images. But don't take my word for it, just have a cursory glance at Flickr which I suppose applies to any of the lenses mentioned here.

As a bit of a cheapskate, I'm delighted to have recently got hold of lenses 1 and 3. 😉
I've put the 14/2.5 on my E-PM2 and have been wowed by the results I've got from such a small and budget set-up.

Since my Oly 14-42 EZ packed in a few weeks ago I've resorted to the 17/2.8 which I tried out on my misty coastal walk a few days ago.
Again, I'm surprised with it's quality for a £120 lens.

 

[rloewy]

I admit that I forgot the little 14mm, I still think the 15 1.7 is just a little bit more special, but it's a damn good lens

 

[Panolyman]

I admit that I forgot the little 14mm, I still think the 15 1.7 is just a little bit more special, but it's a damn good lens

And twice the price. 😉