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Micro Four Thirds lenses

introduction

  • 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:
  • my highly recommended Micro Four Thirds mount lenses:
  • 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

news

Micro Four Thirds mount 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

macro extension tubes

  • 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.

conversion 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.
  • 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

stereo 3D lenses

  • 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.

lens listing for Micro Four Thirds mount lenses

lens focal length in 35mm terms OIS C-AF HD filter length weight price in US
Pan. 7-14mm f/4 H-F007014 14-28mm N Yes No N/A 83mm 300g $980
Rokinon 7.5mm f/3.5 fisheye MF only 15mm fisheye N N N N/A $299
Pan. 8mm f/3.5 fisheye H-F008 16mm fisheye N Yes No rear 52mm 165g $629
SLR Magic Nokton 12mm f/1.6 MF only 24mm f/1.6 MF N N N $499
Oly. 12mm f/2.0 24mm f/2.0 N Yes MSC 46mm 43mm 130g $799
Pan. 12mm f/12 3D stereo 24mm 3D stereo $210
Oly. 9-18mm f/4.0-5.6 18-36mm N Yes MSC 52mm 57mm 155g $699
Pan. 14mm f/2.5 H-H014 28mm N Yes No 46mm 21mm 55g $370
Olympus 15mm f/8 ultracompact 30mm N MF lever No 9mm 22g $60
Cosina Voigtlander Nokton 17.5mm f/0.95 35mm f/0.95 N MF only! No 58mm 80mm 540g ~$1500
Oly. 17mm f/1.8 34mm f/1.8 N Yes MSC 46mm 35.5mm 120g $499
Oly. 17mm f/2.8 pancake 34mm N No No 37mm 22mm 71g $249
Sigma 19mm f/2.8 EX DN asph 38mm N 46mm 46mm 140g $219
Pan. 20mm f/1.7 H-H020 pancake 40mm f/1.7 N No No 46mm 26mm 100g $340
Cosina Voigtlander Nokton 25mm f/0.95 50mm f/0.95 N MF only! No 70mm 410g $999
MS-Optical Sonnetar 25mm f/1.1 50mm f/1.1 N MF only! No g $650
Pan. 25mm f/1.4 50mm f/1.4 N Yes No 200g $580
Sigma 30mm f/2.8 EX DN asph 60mm N 46mm 39mm 135g $219
ShenyangZhongyi 35mm f/0.95 MF only 70mm f/0.95 MF N MF only N
Pan. 12-35mm f/2.8 X HD weatherproof 24-70mm Y Yes HD 58mm? ?$1200
Oly. 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 EZ MSC weatherproof 24-100mm + macro No Yes MSC 52mm 83mm 211g
Pan. 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 X PZ Asph 28-84mm Power Yes HD 37mm 27mm 95g $399
Pan. 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II 28-84mm Mega Yes “fast” 46mm 49mm 110g $
Oly. 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 28-84mm N No No 40.5mm
Oly. 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II collapsible 28-84mm N Yes MSC 37mm 50mm 112g $299
Oly. 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 IIR collapsible 28-84mm N Yes MSC 37mm 50mm 113g
Pan. 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 H-FS014045 28-90mm Mega Yes No 52mm 60mm 195g $280
Oly. 14-150mm f/4-5.6 28-300mm N Yes No 58mm 290g $520
Pan. 14-140mm f/4-5.8 H-VS014140 28-280mm Mega Yes HD 62mm 84mm 460g $649
Pan. 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 late 2013 28-280mm Power Yes HD 58mm mm g $
Tamron 14-150mm f/3.5-5.8 III VC 28-300mm Yes 52mm 85mm 280g
Pan. 35-100mm f/2.8 HD weatherproof (2012) 70-200mm f/2.8 Power Yes HD 58mm 100mm 360g $1200-1500
Oly. 40-150mm f/2.8 mid-2013? 80-300mm N Yes MSC mm mm g $
Oly. 40-150mm f/4-5.6 80-300mm N Yes MSC 58mm 83mm 190g $299
Oly. 40-150mm f/4-5.6R 80-300mm N Yes MSC 58mm 83mm 190g $299
Pan. 45-150mm f/4-5.6 OIS 90-300mm Mega Yes 52mm 73mm 380g $299?
Oly. 17mm f/2.8 pancake 34mm N No No 37mm 22mm 71g $249
Pan. 45-200mm f/4-5.6 H-FS045200 90-400mm Mega Yes No $250
Pan. 43mm f/1.2 portrait 2013-14 85mm f/1.2 portrait ? No ? ? ?
Pan. 45mm f/2.8 macro H-ES045 90mm macro Mega Yes No 46mm 63mm $669
Oly. 45mm f/1.8 portrait 90mm f/1.8 N Yes MSC 37mm 46mm 115g $399
Sigma 60mm f/2.8 EX DN ART 120mm N 46mm 56mm g $239
Oly. 60mm f/2.8 macro weathersealed 120mm 1:1 macro N Yes MSC 46mm 82mm 185g $499
Oly. 75mm f/1.8 150mm f/1.8 N Yes MSC 58mm $899
Oly. 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 150-600mm sharp, silent N Yes MSC 58mm 116mm 430g $799
Oly. 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 II 150-600mm sharp, silent N Yes MSC 58mm 116.5mm
Pan. 100-300mm f/4-5.6 H-FS100300 200-600mm Mega Yes No 67mm 126mm 520g $599
Zeiss Compact Prime CP.2 135mm/T2.1 270mm No MF only No 1,600g $5,700
Pan. 150mm f/2.8 HD 2013-14 300mm f/2.8 ? No ? ? ?
Tokina 300mm f/6.3 mirror lens MF 600mm + 0.5x macro at 0.8m No MF only No 55mm 300g

other specialised manual focus lenses in Micro Four Thirds mount

super macro lens

    • 4-5x ultra-macro lens with special USB-powered macro lighting unit to manage the close working distance
    • working distance 11mm!
    • target holder
    • $US479

extremely fast aperture MF lenses for shallowest DOF

tilt-shift lenses

Four Thirds lenses

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

fast CDAF compatible

  • 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)
  • 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

legacy lenses

image galleries of photos taken with Micro Four Thirds cameras

image galleries of specific lenses on Micro Four Thirds or Four Thirds cameras

kit zoom 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

Panasonic LUMIX G X VARIO PZ 14-42mm

  • 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.

Panasonic Lumix 14-140mm HD OIS

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

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wide angle

Panasonic 7-14mm f/4

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

Olympus ZD 7-14mm f/4 Four Thirds super pro weatherproofed

Olympus m.ZD 12mm f/2.0

Pansonic Lumix 14mm f/2.5 pancake

  • 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

Cosina Voigtlander Nokton 17mm f/0.95 manual focus

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Olympus m.ZD 17mm f/2.8 pancake

  • nice small pancake lens for street photography

Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7 pancake

Olympus OM 21mm f/3.5

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

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"standard" 50mm FOV lenses

Cosina Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95

Panasonic Leica-D 25mm f/1.4 M43 version

Panasonic Leica-D 25mm f/1.4 Four Thirds version

short telephoto lenses

Olympus m.ZD 45mm f/1.8 portrait lens

  • a beautiful compact affordable lens with fast, silent AF and lovely background blurring for portraiture
  • 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.

Cosina Voigtlander 50mm f/1.1 in Leica mount

Olympus OM 50mm f/1.4

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Olympus ZD 50mm f/2.0 macro for Four Thirds

Olympus ZD 50mm f/2.0 macro with 2x EC20 teleconverter

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Lens Baby Composer

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Olympus m.ZD 75mm f/1.8

  • 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.

Rokinon 85mm f/1.4

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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.

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medium telephoto lenses

Olympus ZD 50-200mm SWD Four Thirds lens

  • 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.

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with 2x EC-20 teleconverter to give hand holdable 800mm field of view

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Olympus OM 100mm f/2.8

  • 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

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Olympus OM 135mm f/2.8

  • 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

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Olympus OM 200mm f/4

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super-telephoto lenses (600mm FOV)

Olympus m.ZD 75-300mm

Panasonic 100-300mm OIS

Olympus OM 300mm f/5.6

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

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photo/microfourthirdslenses.txt · Last modified: 2013/05/03 01:27 by gary1