Review Panasonic Lumix 14mm f/2.5: The Mu-43.com Review

[Pelao]

Hmm... I think this lens has a LOT of character actually. :smile: It's just that way less people have this lens and therefore you'll find less of the really good photos taken with it.

I used to love my 20mm lens, but the 14mm has totally stolen the show and it's been on my camera about 95% of the time now since I've had it. Maybe it's the subject matter I like to photograph, but this is now my favourite lens. Probably my best photos are with this lens. It just keeps surprising me, like yesterday evening when I was planning to take pictures of a windmill but I started putting the flowers in the foreground into focus instead. I love the buttersmooth bokeh! Just makes me want to take more photos like this one.

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Dutch Nature by Janine4d, on Flickr

All my recent photos have been with this lens, if you want to see some more of it, feel free to check out my 14mm flickr set: Panasonic 14mm lens - a set on Flickr

That is a really, really nicely made photograph. You are making good use of what the lens and camera can do, but clearly you have a great eye.
Makes me want to rush outside with my GF1 and 14. All I need is a windmill...

 

[Janine4d]

Makes me want to rush outside with my GF1 and 14. All I need is a windmill...

Hehe living in the Netherlands does have its advantages, we don't have impressive mountains but at least we have windmills.

 

[maxsoul]

I thought the 20mm is small and this 14mm is even smaller. Wow!
BTW thank you for the review!

 

[PeterThomson]

14mm versus 20mm

I've got the 14mm on a GF2 and love it. But I agree with Kevin that the 20mm somehow has more of an analogue feel to it. It's probably down to the tighter feel on the subject.

For street photography a 28mm equivalent wide angle often suffers from the not-close-enough and not-far-enough effect. A 24mm is so wide that you feel like you are inside the action and a 40 or 50mm is long enough that you feel like you are getting a glimpse of something intimate. I think that's why the 12mm Oly and the 20mm Panny are so popular for street shooting.

There's nothing wrong with the glass on the 14mm, it's focal length just means that it doesn't have quite enough soul.

 

[Ray Sachs]

I've got the 14mm on a GF2 and love it. But I agree with Kevin that the 20mm somehow has more of an analogue feel to it. It's probably down to the tighter feel on the subject.

For street photography a 28mm equivalent wide angle often suffers from the not-close-enough and not-far-enough effect. A 24mm is so wide that you feel like you are inside the action and a 40 or 50mm is long enough that you feel like you are getting a glimpse of something intimate. I think that's why the 12mm Oly and the 20mm Panny are so popular for street shooting.

There's nothing wrong with the glass on the 14mm, it's focal length just means that it doesn't have quite enough soul.

Garry Winogrand shot almost exclusively with a 28mm. I don't thing it's too long or too wide for street shooting at all. The GRD3 is as close to a "designed from the ground up as a street camera" as I've come across and it's a 28mm equivalent. I'm comfortable shooting street with a 12, 14, and 17, with the 14 really kind of feeing like a sweet spot.

To each their own, but I don't find the 14 lacking as a street lens at all. The soul is in the shooter, not the glass.

-Ray

 

[Blue Esprit]

I recently bought a GF2 complete with the 14mm specifically have have something a bit lighter than my Nikon D300s and 20mm prime I usually carry around on travel assignments..Nikon 2lbs 10oz vs. GF2 13oz.

So far I'm really impressed with this lens and the possibilities of the m43 system. Made my first 14"x9" b+w print today using an Epson 2100 and the quality is not too far off the Nikon.

I does help to process the raw file as a 16bit tiff.

Also bought the Lumix VF1 Optical viewfinder which is a decent match for the field of view of this lens.

 

[Brian1954]

Thank you for this review Armando. So many lenses...so little time

Brian

 

[jpcairns]

Thanks for the review!

 

[Mogul]

just one (stupid?) question: what is a "Tessar-style format"?

i know "Tessar" only as the name of a lens design developed by the zeiss designer paul rudolph in 1902 (Tessar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). the characteristics of this design are four elements in three groups. as the lumix 14mm lens features six elements in five groups, it can impossibly be a tessar ...
so obviously, the author refers to something different, leading me back to my question.

The Wikipedia reference also states as follows (bolding is mine):
"Tessar are frequently found in mid-range cameras, as they can provide a very good optical performance at a reasonable price, and are often quite compact."

I suspect this is the reference basis for "tessar-type" (note lack of upper case "t" in "tessar", a common practice when comparing items).

 

[MAubrey]

The Wikipedia reference also states as follows (bolding is mine):
"Tessar are frequently found in mid-range cameras, as they can provide a very good optical performance at a reasonable price, and are often quite compact."

I suspect this is the reference basis for "tessar-type" (note lack of upper case "t" in "tessar", a common practice when comparing items).

This set of blog posts from LensRentals.com is really useful on this question:

LensRentals.com - Lens Genealogy Part 1
LensRentals.com - Lens Genealogy – Part 2