see also:

• the Micro Four Thirds lens range photos
• wide angle to standard lenses for Micro Four Thirds
• 17mm "wide angle" street photography lenses for Micro Four Thirds
• 25mm "standard" lenses for Micro Four Thirds
• 45mm "portrait" lenses for Micro Four Thirds
• 3-5x standard range zoom lenses for Micro Four Thirds
• 3x telephoto zoom lenses for Micro Four Thirds
• 3-4x super-telephoto zoom lenses for Micro Four Thirds
• 8-10x super-zoom lenses for Micro Four Thirds
• wide aperture telephoto in 135-150mm range for Micro Four Thirds
• lens adapters
• Four Thirds lenses
• legacy lenses for mirrorless cameras
  • super telephoto mirror lenses
• Micro Four Thirds system
• macrophotography for Micro Four Thirds cameras
• macrophotography
• comparison with lens availability for Sony NEX and Samsung NX
• Olympus website
• Olympus website's "lens adviser" web interface
• 2012 lens catalog (pdf)
• LensRental's quick sharpness comparison of wide angle lenses for MFT
• Camera Labs recommended lenses for Micro Four Thirds 2013
• Olympus website: Zuiko Pro lenses
• http://www.mirrorlessdb.com/index.html#microfourthirds
• MyOlympus.org's listing of lenses which is partly derived from my list below
• Olympus lens promo eBook (pdf)
• MFT and Four Thirds lens catalogue as of Jan 2017 (pdf)
• Olympus lens promotional booklet 2017 (pdf)
• http://www.m43lenses.com/

• the Micro Four Thirds system is blessed with not only a superb range of dedicated AF lenses, but via an adapter, able to access the superb range of Four Thirds lenses whilst still maintaining aperture control, EXIF data and in most cases with the new cameras, autofocus capability, although not continuous AF.
• an awesome high quality, compact camera kit for enthusiasts:
  • Olympus OM-D E-M10 mark III camera or Olympus OM-D E-M5 II
  • Olympus m.ZD 12mm f/2.0 lens - wide angle lens - great for night handheld urban shots without a flash
  • Olympus mZD 17mm f/1.8 lens - for street photography
  • Olympus m.ZD 25mm f/1.8 standard lens - lovely “standard” general purpose and low light lens
  • Olympus m.ZD 45mm f/1.8 portrait lens - for portraits
  • Olympus m.ZD 60mm f/2.8 macro lens - for macro but could also do portraits although ability to blur the background is more limited
  • Olympus m.ZD 75mm f/1.8 lens - for fashion, portraiture, shallow depth of field (DOF), short telephoto work, one of the best lenses ever made
  • and a zoom lens for general daytime work
• weathersealed pro kit
  • Olympus OM-D E-M1 mark II
  • Olympus mZD 12-100mm f/4 IS PRO lens general purpose travel zoom lens
  • Olympus mZD 8mm f/1.8 Pro fisheye lens- great for creative imagery or Milky Way astroscapes
  • Olympus mZD 17mm f/1.2 Pro lens
  • Olympus mZD 25mm f/1.2 PRO lens
  • Olympus mZD 45mm f/1.2 PRO lens
  • Olympus mZD 40-150mm f/2.8 pro lens sports lens
  • Panasonic Leica DG Elmarit 200mm F2.8 Power OIS lens
• if that is not enough, the short lens flange distance means that nearly any lens ever made can be adapted to fit, but you will obviously not have AF capability, nor camera-controlled aperture, nor EXIF data.
  • see legacy lenses for mirrorless cameras for examples of such lenses which can be used
  • in particular, I would highly recommend the following if you are happy to use manual focus only:
    • Rokinon 85mm f/1.4 - buy it in the Nikon mount (new under $US300 from Amazon.com) so it can be used on almost any camera
    • Olympus OM 135mm f/2.8 - nice and cheap - look for them on Ebay - great for video of indoor or low light events.
    • Canon EF adapter with aperture control:
      • Metabones Turbo adapter

• Aug 2013: the Olympus OM-D E-M1 has sensor based phase detect AF as well as CDAF and thus has fast AF even with Four Thirds lenses which are not optimised for CDAF.

• Olympus Australia website for PEN lenses
• none of the Olympus lenses have optical image stabilisation as all Olympus bodies have this built-in.
• Panasonic nomenclature:
  • HD = near silent continuous AF and stepless aperture for optimum HD video
  • X = premium class with nano coatings for reached flare, and a high level of edge-to-edge optic quality. These are also HD.
  • Power OIS = in addition to usual Mega OIS, ability to counter large, slow movements
  • Mega OIS = normal optical image stabilisation
  • PZ = power zoom control on the lens
• Olympus nomenclature:
  • m.Zuiko = designed for Micro Four Thirds
  • Zuiko Digital (ZD) = designed for Four Thirds
  • OM = designed for Olympus OM film SLR cameras - you will need an adapter to use these, and these are manual focus only.
  • OM-D = digital Micro Four Thirds system cameras with in-built EVF and design reminiscent of OM SLR film cameras
  • ZERO = new coatings (presumably nano) to further reduce flare
  • R = revised lens with silver instead of black finish
  • MSC = AF designed for motion and still BUT there is variability in how quiet and fast these lenses auto-focus.
  • EZ = power zoom on the lens

• Kenko AF Extension Tube Set for Micro 4/3rds:
  • 10mm and 16mm tubes with all the contacts and circuitry to maintain communication between the camera body and the lens.
  • AF (within the limited macro range) and auto exposure are maintained, although with some lenses AF may not function.
  • focal length of the lens should be longer than the focal length of the tube for proper operation.
  • stacking of the tubes is not possible with the Panasonic 45MM Macro and PZ 45-175MM lenses, and potentially with other lenses.

• these are lenses that mount on the front of another lens via a bayonet mount to either make it wide field of view, more telephoto, fisheye, or more macro.
• Olympus MCON-P01 Macro Converter - designed for M. Zuiko 14-42mm MkII/R, 14-150mm, and 40-150mm lenses
• Olympus WCON-P01 Wide Angle Converter - converts M.Zuiko 14-42mm MkII kit lens into an 11mm ultrawide-angle lens
• Olympus FCON-P01 Fisheye Converter - converts M.Zuiko 14-42mm MkII kit lens into a fisheye lens.
• Olympus converter lens compatibility chart (pdf)
• Panasonic DMW-GWC1 Wide Conversion Lens - converts 14mm to 11mm for use on 14mm f/2.5 and the LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 14-42mm
• Panasonic DMW-GTC1 Tele Conversion Lens - 2x zoom - converts 42mm to 84mm for use on the LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 14-42mm
• Panasonic DMW-GMC1 Macro Conversion Lens - for use on 14mm f/2.5 and the LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 14-42mm
• Panasonic DMW-GFC1 Fisheye Conversion Lens - for use on 14mm f/2.5 and the LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 14-42mm

• SLR Magic Anamorphot 1.33x - 50 adapter
  • 1.33x squeeze factor uses the entire 16:9 sensor area to achieve the desired 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
  • fits onto lenses with filter sizes Φ62, Φ58, Φ52, Φ49 via stepping rings
  • ~$899
  • 20-85mm focal length taking lens should be used for mFT sensor
  • EOSHD.com review

• see also: teleconverters for Micro Four Thirds
• these are small adapters which mount BETWEEN the camera and a lens
• also called tele-extenders
• they usually are 1.4x or 2x
• a 1.4x teleconverter effectively gives a field of view of a lens with focal length 1.4x that of the actual focal length at a cost of 1 stop of aperture (a 2x teleconverter comes at a cost of 2 stops aperture)
• Olympus MC 14:
  • announced in Sept 2014; 1.4x teleconverter; $399
  • designed for, and only compatible with the Olympus mZD 40-150mm f/2.8 pro lens, Olympus 150-400mm f4.5 pro zoom with built-in 1.25x TC and Olympus mZD 300mm f/4 PRO lens
• Olympus MC 20:
  • released June 2019; 2x teleconverter;
  • designed for, and only compatible with the Olympus mZD 40-150mm f/2.8 pro lens, Olympus 150-400mm f4.5 pro zoom with built-in 1.25x TC and Olympus mZD 300mm f/4 PRO lens
• Panasonic DMW-TC14 1.4x TC
  • designed for and bundled with the Panasonic 200mm f/2.8
• Panasonic DMW-TC20 2x TC
  • compatible with Panasonic 200mm f/2.8

• Panasonic also make a stereo 3D lens - a 12.5mm f/12 (H-FT012) which weighs only 45g and can be used to create true 3D HD Panasonic videos.

x

• MFT experimental lens kit
  • fisheye lens + 12mm f/8 lens + 24mm f/8 lens
• Olympus 15mm f/8 “body cap” lens
• LensBaby lomo lenses
• LensBaby Trio 28: 3 lenses in one - sweet spot, velvet glow, twist petzval swirling bokeh
  • http://mirrorlesscomparison.com/micro-four-thirds-lenses/lensbaby-trio-28-for-micro-four-thirds-sweet-vs-velvet-vs-twist/
  • Thingyfy Pinhole Pro lens with variable pinhole sizes

• Samyang / Rokinon 7.5mm f/3.5 manual focus fisheye for Micro Four Thirds
• Olympus 9mm f/8 fisheye bodycap
• Sakar Kodak 8mm f/3

• Laowa 50mm f/2.8 2:1 super macro ultra macro APO
  • announced Aug 2020
  • close focus down to 5.3“ or 13.5cm with working distance of 44.45mm and a focus throw is 215°;
  • electronic contacts for recording EXIF data and changing aperture but no AF
  • 7 blade diaphragm; aperture down to f/22
  • 14 elements in 10 groups incl. 3 ED “eliminating CA”
  • 79mm long; 240g;
  • $US400
  • https://www.venuslens.net/product/laowa-50mm-f-2-8-2x-ultra-macro-apo/
  • review: https://petapixel.com/2020/08/22/review-the-laowa-50mm-f-2-8-macro-for-m4-3-is-small-and-sharp/
• ZY Optics Mitakon 20mm f/2 4.5x super macro lens
  • announced 2016
  • $US199
• NANOHAx5(M):
  • 4-5x ultra-macro lens with special USB-powered macro lighting unit to manage the close working distance
  • working distance 11mm!
  • target holder
  • $US479

• Voigtlander Nokton 10.5mm f/0.95
• SLR Magic Nokton 12mm f/1.6
• Kowa Prominar 12mm f/1.8
• Schneider Kreuznach Super-Angulon 14mm f/2.0 due end of 2013
• Cosina Voigtlander Nokton 17.5mm f/0.95
• ZY Optics Mitakon Speedmaster 17mm f/0.95 9 blades,58mm filter,close focus 30cm,461g, announced Sept 2020 $US399
• Sakar Kodak PV 25mm f/0.95
• Cosina Voigtlander Nokton 25mm f/0.95
• FZeros 25mm T 0.95 Cine with 11 blades
• 7Artisans 35mm f/0.95 $US250 released Dec 2020
• Handevision IBELUX 40mm f/0.85 manual focus lens
• Cosina Voigtlander Nokton 42.5mm f/0.95
• MS-Optical Sonnetar 25mm f/1.1
• Schneider Kreuznach Xenon 30mm f/1.4 due end of 2013
• Mitakon Zhongyi 35mm f/0.95
• Jackar 35mm f/1.8
• Ibelux 40mm f/0.85 mark II
• Sakar Kodak 50mm f/1.1
• Schneider Kreuznach Makro-Symmar 60mm f/2.4 due end of 2013
• Meyer-Optik-Goerlitz Trioplan 100mm f/2.8 MFT lens - gives soap bubble-like bokeh, 15 blades, expensive
• Samyang 135mm f/2.0

• Venus LAOWA 15mm f/4 shift macro lens
• B.I.G 15mm f/4.5 shift lens (based on the Voigtlander Heliar 15mm f/4.5)
• GoShotCamera 50mm f/2.0 tilt shift lens
• Fotodiox shift adapters – Canon FD, Minolta MD, Contarex
• Adriano Lolli tilt adapters – most 35mm camera lenses
• Flashpoint tilt adapter – Nikon lenses
• Lens Baby tilt transformer (pdf) - converts any Nikon lens into a tilt lens
  • dpreview.com

• Laowa 7.5mm T2.1 MFT CINE
  • 226g; close focus 12cm; $US599
• Rokinon 16mm T2.2:
  • aspherical; close focus 7/9”; standard gearing for focus and iris; de-clicked aperture ring; $529
• Zeiss CZ.2 28-80 T2.9:
  • 95mm filter; 196mm long; full frame lens but optimised for 4K Super 35 standards; 2.5-2.8kg; $19,900
• Samyang 14mm T3.5 Xeen Cine full frame
• Samyang 20mm T1.9 Xeen Cine full frame
• FZeros 25mm T 0.95 Cine with 11 blades
• Samyang 35mm T1.5 Xeen cine full frame
• Samyang 135mm T2.2 Cine
• Zeiss Compact Prime CP.2 135mm/T2.1
• Veydra Mini Prime Micro 4/3 Mount Cinema Lenses:
  • see kickstarter
  • $US3695 for the set: 16mm, 25mm, 35mm, and 50mm T2.2 lenses ($US2499 if kick in with kickstarter)
  • also 12mm T2.2 coming June 2015 (?$US1200 but $US699 if kick in with kickstarter)
  • 85mm T2.2 coming 2015
• Irix 150mm T3.0 Macro Cine lens
  • announced mid 2019 “11 blades, superb high resolution to meet 8K video, nearly zero chromatic aberration and has almost no visible distortion” on a full frame mount it will give 1:1 macro, so on MFT's you get double that

• a 1.8x anamorphic lens squeezes the image to allow you to shoot 2.39:1 footage on a 4:3 sensor
• Vazen say their lenses give a butterly smooth oval bokeh, signature blue, but not over saturated, horizontal flare and the widescreen cinematic look with outstanding sharpness, even wide open.
• Vazen 28mm T2.2 1.8x anamorphic
  • announced Feb 2020
  • 77mm filter; 720g; close focus 0.82m; 80 x 107mm (3.2 x 4.2“)
  • $US3250
• Vazen 40mm T2 1.8x anamorphic
  • announced June 2019; 1.8kg; $US3250;
  • see https://vzlens.com/
• Vazen 65mm anamorphic
  • announced June 2019

• reinvention of the 1910 Emil Busch Glaukar 3.1 Anastigmat Lens
  • Kickstarter campaign
  • the original was designed for portraiture and was a “fully corrected photographic lens, which besides solving spherical aberration, corrected coma and astigmatism … It was characterized by the homogenous transfer from sharpness to the more fuzzy areas. Very important: the chromatical aberration was extremely low for the time. ”
  • this new re-invented lens is a 97mm f/3.1 full frame lens and uses the same classic three-lens-design of the original Glaukar lens, focuses down to 1.5m, has a 37mm filter thread, weighs 410g which they expect to sell online for $US2000 but early adopters can get it for around $US799

• see Four Thirds lenses - these will require an adapter and will autofocus on the newer cameras (albeit slowly unless the lens is CDAF compatible or the camera has phase detection AF such as the E-M1)

• ie. designed for CD AF (“High-Speed Imager AF support”) and will have faster AF with Micro Four Thirds cameras than those which don't have this technology (those without may take 2-3 seconds to AF on stationary subjects unless you have a camera like the Olympus OM-D E-M1)
• lens may require a firmware update for this compatibility see Olympus compatibility document (pdf)
• Olympus ZD 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 II zoom lens version II only
• some of the newer consumer lenses such as:
  • 9-18mm f/4-5.5 ED
  • 18-180mm f/3.5-6.3
  • 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 ED
  • 25mm f/2.8 pancake
  • newest 14-42mm
  • newest 40-150mm

• see legacy lenses for mirrorless cameras - these will require an adapter but generally, manual focus only and you need to manually adjust aperture on the lens, although some adapters do allow AF and electronic aperture control with modern lenses

• Flickr - my photo set
• All of Flickr tagged with "Micro Four Thirds"
• photos added to the Micro Four Thirds group on Flickr
• photos added to the Micro Four Thirds using legacy or alternative lens group on Flickr

• my JAlbum photos by lens used on a GH-1 including OM lenses
• my Jalbum photos by lens used on a Four Thirds dSLR including OM lenses

• the kit zoom lenses are great all purpose lenses for general use during daylight hours when you are not sure what you will be photographing, or you really do not want to be changing lenses much such as when on travel to strange places.
• they are NOT so good indoors or after the sunsets - you are far better off using a wide aperture prime lens in those situations

• if you want the smallest zoom available, this is it, only 27mm long and 95g but packs a lot of optical quality despite its size when compared to other consumer zoom lenses
• DxOMark lens review - “a winner” - achieves scores equivalent to entry-level kit lenses mounted on APS-C-sensor cameras, easily beats the Nikon 1 Nikkor 10-30mm lens.

• a very good quality 10x zoom with OIS designed for HD video but reasonably heavy and long for a M43 lens
• Flickr - my photo set

• a much more compact and affordable lens than the Olympus Four Thirds super pro version

• Flickr - my photo set

• a premium quality wide angle lens (equivalent to 24mm on a full frame camera), optimised for HD video, with ZERO (nano coatings) and a wonderful manual focus functionality with an analog-like manual focus ring mode with DOF markings - perfect for hyperfocal style street photography.
• great for travel, indoor interiors, landscapes and night photography but it is expensive at about $700
• it is not going to give as shallow a depth of field as a much more expensive 24mm f/1.4 pro lens on a Canon or Nikon full frame dSLR, but when combined with 5EV IS of an OM-D body will give better low light performance for stationary subjects such as interior shots of palaces, etc on your holidays.
• DxOMark tests show at f/2.0 it is sharper in the central 1/3rd but less sharp in outer 1/3rd than a Canon 24mm f/1.4L II lens on a Canon 5D Mark II at either f/1.4 or f/2.0 click on link for more details and comparison with the Nikon 24mm f/1.4 lens
• Review by Photozone.de - slight distortion, moderate vignetting, very sharp, some CA in corners, overall, an impressive lens with nice manual focus capability and silent for video
• see my Flickr set of photos taken with the 12mm lens
• see Olympus m.ZD 12mm f/2.0 lens

• a lovely pancake lens offering almost 1 stop more aperture than the kit zoom lenses but not as much as the 20mm pancake
• internal focusing with faster, less noisy AF than the 20mm pancake and just as sharp in the centre
• some CA in the corners and like the 20mm pancake, bokeh is not that great
• pronounced barrel distortion which as with the CA is corrected in camera by Panasonic cameras
• m43photo review

• a large lens and expensive but if you want shallow depth of field in a 17mm lens, this is it.
• see Cosina Voigtlander Nokton 17.5mm f/0.95 for Micro Four Thirds

• nice small lens for street photography in particular
• much better than the 17mm f/2.8 lens and with faster AF but it is bigger and more expensive
• faster, more silent AF than the Panasonic 20mm lens

• nice small pancake lens for street photography

• see Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens
• this is a brilliant party lens!! a must have unless you can afford the 25mm f/1.4 lens.
• Review on photozone.de - some distortion and CA on Oly cameras, moderate vignetting, very sharp, especially in the centre, although bokeh not the nicest
• Flickr - my photo set

• a lovely manual focus lens but you would be better off with the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 pancake

• Review on photozone.de - heavy vignetting, soft edges until f/4, minimal CA, f/1.4 seems best for bokeh
• Flickr user SoundImagePlus

• see Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 ASPH lenses
• much smaller, lighter and more affordable than the Four Thirds version but lacks the aperture ring

• see Panasonic Leica-D Summilux 25mm f/1.4 lens for Four Thirds
• Flickr - my photo set
• Flickr - my photos of artworks in art galleries of Denmark
• Flickr - my photos of artworks in art galleries of New York and Philadelphia

• a beautiful compact affordable lens with fast, silent AF and lovely background blurring for portraiture
• see my Flickr set of photos taken with the 45mm lens
• see Olympus m.ZD 45mm f/1.8 portrait lens
• DxOMark lens tests - not as sharp in the centre as the incredibly sharp centre of the 12mm f/2.0 lens. Well controlled distortion, CA, and vignetting. A very nice lens indeed for its size and price. Not as sharp wide open as the much more expensive combination of Canon 85mm f/1.8 on a Canon 5D Mark II but sharper than the Nikon 85mm f/1.4G on a Nikon D700 at f/2.0. It has less vignetting and distortion than either of these lenses at f/1.8-2.0.

• On Flickr

• see Olympus ZD 50mm f/2.0 macro lens
• Flickr - my photo set

• see Olympus m.ZD 75mm f/1.8 lens
• coming in late 2012
• silent, fast AF and promises awesome background blurring capability in a medium telephoto (150mm) field of view while the fast f/1.8 aperture allows for low ISO and fast shutter speeds, and when combined with 5EV IS of the OM-D you have a brilliant combination indeed
• another great portait/fashion lens and will be fantastic for indoor sports and concerts
• depth of field and background blurring becomes close to what is possible with a 70-200mm f/2.8 IS L lens on a full frame dSLR which is the main lens for many professional photographers, but of course this lens is a fixed focal length and far smaller and cheaper.

• see Samyang / Rokinon 85mm f/1.4 lenses
• this is a personal favorite because it renders images very similar in aesthetic quality to my Canon 135mm f/2.0L lens on my Canon 1D Mark III 1.3x crop camera
• buttery smooth bokeh, sharp, and cheap (under $400 new) but it is manual focus
• Flickr - my photo set

• see Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8 tilt shift lens
• this manual focus tilt shift lens is a superb lens and makes a great close up lens on Micro Four Thirds as one can alter the plane of focus to assist with shallow depth of field, but at present one cannot adjust its aperture whilst mounted on a M43 camera - must be preset on a Canon camera.

• an awesome lens but big and heavy (but much smaller and lighter than any equivalent from Canon or Nikon)
• the most telephoto reach you can get into most commercial sports events such as AFL football, Australian Open tennis which are restricted to 200mm lenses.
• Flickr - my photo set

• this is great for low light / indoor concerts from a distance with its 200mm field of view yet f/2.8 allows hand holding while the lens is small enough to be allowed into most commercial concerts

• this is great for low light / indoor concerts from a distance with its 270mm field of view yet f/2.8 allows hand holding while the lens is small enough to be allowed into most commercial concerts
• my Jalbum set

• Review on photographyblog.com - no CA, very sharp, esp. at 75mm, nice bokeh for a zoom
• Greg's examples at a baseball game - very sharp even at 300mm!

• Review on photographyblog.com - faster AF on moving subjects on a GH2 and wider apertures than the Oly lens on an E-P2 but seems it is not as sharp as the Oly lens
• Review on photozone.de - decent consumer grade lens but not the sharpest and has CA and vignetting

• this is too big for Micro Four Thirds other than the OM-D series with optional grip and IS built-in