see also:

• wide angle to standard lenses for Micro Four Thirds
• 3x standard kit zoom lenses for Micro Four Thirds
• 3x telephoto zoom lenses for Micro Four Thirds
• 3-4x super-telephoto zoom lenses for Micro Four Thirds
• 10x super-zoom lenses for Micro Four Thirds
• lens adapters
• Four Thirds lenses
• legacy lenses for mirrorless cameras
• Micro Four Thirds system
• macrophotography for Micro Four Thirds cameras
• macrophotography
• comparison with lens availability for Sony NEX and Samsung NX
• Olympus website
• 2012 lens catalog (pdf)
• LensRental's quick sharpness comparison of wide angle lenses for MFT
• Camera Labs recommended lenses for Micro Four Thirds 2013

• 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-M5 camera
  • 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 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
• my highly recommended Micro Four Thirds mount lenses:
  • Olympus m.ZD 45mm f/1.8 portrait lens - a compact, fast AF, MSC (near silent for video) portrait lens which is also great for low light/indoors/art galleries/etc.
  • a wide-standard prime lens, we are spoilt for choices here:
    • Olympus mZD 17mm f/1.8 lens - fast AF, sharp, very nice bokeh
    • Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens - a very sharp, ultra compact pancake lens great for candid photography, parties, night street photography but AF is a bit slow and bokeh not so nice - you can buy this new in US for under $400
    • Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 ASPH lens - a very nice “standard” lens but bigger and more expensive than the 20mm f/1.7 and it can be a bit noisy on an Olympus body
    • Sigma 19mm f/2.8 EX DN asph lens for Micro Four Thirds - very sharp and cheap $199 with very nice optical qualities (great flare control, much nicer bokeh than the 20mm f/1.7 and faster AF), of these 4 lenses, this is the best value for money with great optics if you have an Olympus camera and already own the Olympus m.ZD 45mm f/1.8 portrait lens
    • Sigma 30mm f/2.8 EX DN asph lens for Micro Four Thirds - very sharp and cheap $219 with very nice optical qualities
    • Olympus m.ZD 12mm f/2.0 lens - this is a great wide angle lens with nice manual focus controls as well as fast, near silent AF. This allows hand held 1/2-1/3rd sec exposures when combined with the E-M5 camera's IS, and is thus great for night photography as well as flowing water photography when you don't have a tripod.
  • Olympus m.ZD 75mm f/1.8 lens - an awesome low light telephoto or bokeh king!
• 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.
  • AF Canon EF adapter:
    • Metabones Turbo adapter should be coming late 2013

• Nov 2012 - Olympus formally announce the 17mm f/1.8 lens
• Sept 2012 - Carl Zeiss Compact Prime CP.2 135mm/T2.1 MFT Mount full frame manual focus lens with Imperial Markings ($5,700)
• Aug 2012 - Olympus leaks news of a 15mm f/8 fixed focus (3 focus settings)/aperture lens to make an extremely small lens
• Feb 2012 - Olympus add a 75mm f/1.8 and 60mm f/2.8 weatherproofed macro lens
• Feb 2012 - Voigtlander announce a 2nd Nokton lens - the 17mm f/0.95 to add to the 25mm f/0.95 manual focus MFT lenses
• Dec 2011 - Olympus' new weatherproof power zoom macro kit lens
• Aug 2011 - Panasonic's new compact premium 3x zoom lenses - the X class

• 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.
  • 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

• 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.

• 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

• SLR Magic Nokton 12mm f/1.6
• Schneider Kreuznach Super-Angulon 14mm f/2.0 due end of 2013
• Cosina Voigtlander Nokton 17.5mm f/0.95
• Cosina Voigtlander Nokton 25mm f/0.95
• 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
• ShenyangZhongyi 35mm f/0.95
• Jackar 35mm f/1.8
• Schneider Kreuznach Makro-Symmar 60mm f/2.4 due end of 2013
• Zeiss Compact Prime CP.2 135mm/T2.1

• 15mm shift lens (rumour only at this stage
• 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

• see Four Thirds lenses - these will require an adapter but will autofocus on the newer cameras

• 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)
• 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 manual focus only and you need to manually adjust aperture on the lens

• 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 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 lens
• 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 Rokinon 85mm f/1.4 aspherical manual focus lens
• 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