{"id":3314,"date":"2014-03-30T09:35:14","date_gmt":"2014-03-30T14:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=3314"},"modified":"2014-10-02T19:15:59","modified_gmt":"2014-10-03T00:15:59","slug":"olympus-25mm-f1-8-vs-panasonic-leica-25mm-f1-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/olympus-25mm-f1-8-vs-panasonic-leica-25mm-f1-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympus 25mm f\/1.8 vs. Panasonic Leica 25mm f\/1.4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another lens battle today…just a quick one. \u00a0I have the new Olympus 25mm f\/1.8 in for review this week and I thought I’d put it up against the venerable and outstanding Panasonic Leica 25mm f\/1.4 DG Summilux. \u00a0These two lenses are both priced relatively similarly, given the difference in maximum aperture. \u00a0The Olympus comes in at $399, while the Panasonic Leica charges a bit more for that 2\/3 stop of extra light, at $529.<\/p>\n

\"Olympus<\/a>
Olympus 25mm f\/1.8 (left), Panasonic Leica 25mm f\/1.4 (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Lenses<\/h3>\n

The normal prime space in Micro 4\/3 is becoming a crowded area. \u00a0On the wide end of normal, Panasonic has had their excellent pancake design 20mm f\/1.7 for years. \u00a0They later released the Leica branded 25mm f\/1.4 tested here. \u00a0That lens has been a mainstay in the system for some time, and really the only choice for a 50mm equivalent lens with fast aperture and autofocus. \u00a0Voigtl\u00e4nder has also had a player in this range for a few years as well, with the manual focus and very fast 25mm f\/0.95 Nokton. \u00a0Olympus has been strangely absent from the normal focal range until now, with the release of the 25mm f\/1.8.<\/p>\n

While the new Olympus sacrifices 2\/3 stop of aperture against the Panasonic, it comes with the benefit of being considerably smaller. \u00a0The Olympus 25mm is a tiny lens and can easily fit in a jacket pocket. \u00a0The Panasonic 25mm f\/1.4 is a fair bit larger, but is still a relatively small lens. \u00a0The Panasonic (200g) is about 50% heavier than the Olympus 25mm (136g).<\/p>\n

Both lenses have very fast and quiet autofocus and both are relatively well-built, though the focus ring on the Olympus 25mm feels a little less robust than the nicely gripped rubber focus ring on the Panasonic.<\/p>\n

The Test<\/h3>\n

I’m using a similar setup to many of the other lens battles I’ve tested….a high detail target to provide information on resolution, with a faceted glass decanter in the background to provide specular highlights and help in evaluating bokeh. \u00a0The test camera, the Olympus OM-D E-M5, was set on a tripod, triggered with the 2 second self time to avoid movement from pressing the shutter, and in-body IS was set off. \u00a0Images were taken starting at f\/1.8 and stopping down in one stop increments to f\/5. \u00a0The Panasonic also was tested at f\/1.4. \u00a0 When switching lenses, the camera was left on the tripod in the exact position while the lenses were swapped out.<\/p>\n

Some notes: \u00a0As you can see in the images below, despite both lenses being marked as 25mm lenses, the Panasonic Leica has a slightly longer focal length. \u00a0I can’t say whether the Leica is longer than 25mm or the Olympus is shorter than 25mm, though in comparison to other lenses I own, I’d lean towards the Olympus being slightly shorter than marked.<\/p>\n

As a result on the Panasonic being slightly longer, the 2\/3 stop aperture difference between the lenses is actually slightly more significant than would be expected. \u00a0Below are the full shots of both lenses wide open. \u00a0While the difference in depth of field and background blur isn’t huge, it is certainly noticeable, especially in the far reaches of the background. \u00a0As you’ll see in the bokeh comparison on Page 2, the Panasonic seems to enjoy closer to 1 stop of depth of field advantage over its Olympus sibling.<\/p>\n

It is worth nothing that this is a single test at a single focus distance. \u00a0I have not had a chance to do a formal test at further focus distances, but this test was chosen to give a nice balance between focus distance and shallow depth of field abilities. \u00a0Focus distance was approximately 0.7m, which is somewhat close, but well short of the minimum focus distance of both lenses (0.25m for the Olympus and 0.3m for the Leica).<\/p>\n

\"Full<\/a>
Full Scene – Olympus 25mm f\/1.8 @ f\/1.8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Full<\/a>
Full Scene – Panasonic Leica 25mm f\/1.4 Summilux @ f\/1.4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sharpness<\/h3>\n

Below are 100% crops taken from the center and near the upper right corner of the image frame. \u00a0As the Panasonic is slightly longer, the corners don’t exactly match up, but that isn’t fully required for evaluation. \u00a0To see the crops at full size, click the image, then click the green arrow at the bottom to enlarge to 100%.<\/p>\n

\"100%<\/a>
100% crops – Olympus 25mm f\/1.8 vs. Panasonic Leica 25mm f\/1.4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the widest apertures, we have a bit of a split result. \u00a0Both lenses are already very sharp from wide open across the frame. \u00a0This is, in and of itself, a very nice result for both lenses. \u00a0However, the Leica 25mm shows slightly higher resolution in the center, even at f\/1.4, (and more noticeable by f\/1.8) than the Olympus 25mm. \u00a0However, as we get to the edges, the Olympus takes the lead, with a clear advantage in the corner at f\/1.8. \u00a0The Olympus’ cross frame sharpness at f\/1.8 is rather remarkable. \u00a0There is extremely minimal falloff in resolution as you get to the edges.<\/p>\n

As we get to smaller apertures, the Panasonic retains a slight lead in the center at f\/2.5, but by f\/3.5, the lenses are just too similar to worry about. \u00a0Likewise in the corners, the Olympus stays visibly sharper throughout, though by f\/3.5 the differences are extremely small.<\/p>\n

Overall, the two lenses are both very sharp at all apertures, with the Panasonic having a slight edge in the center and the Olympus having an edge towards the image borders.<\/p>\n

One other thing that is visible from these crops is the relatively higher level of vignetting on the Olympus. \u00a0While both lenses are notably darker in the corners wide open, the Panasonic eliminates most of that corner shading by f\/1.8, while the Olympus has to be stopped down much further to bring the vignetting to negligible territory.<\/p>\n

Let’s take a look at how out of focus areas are rendered:<\/p>\n

Continue: Bokeh<\/a><\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

Bokeh<\/h3>\n

To evaluate bokeh, I took 600×600 pixel crops that contain the top of the decanter (located about 2 feet behind the target book) and the chair in the background, which is about 10-12 feet behind the focus point.<\/p>\n

Again, click on the image to enlarge and then click on the green arrow at the bottom of the screen to view full size:<\/p>\n

\"100%<\/a>
100% Crops – Bokeh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As I mentioned earlier, there is a noticeable difference in the amount of background blur between the two lenses when wide open. \u00a0While this difference will probably not make or break a shot, it is worth noting that the Panasonic will provide greater subject separation for a given shot when both lenses are wide open. \u00a0If you’re after the most subject separation, this may be important. \u00a0You can also see that even with both lenses at f\/1.8, the Panasonic Leica 25mm f\/1.4 still provides slightly more blur due to its slightly longer true focal length.<\/p>\n

As far as the bokeh itself goes, both lenses have relatively pleasing renderings here, but neither are perfect. \u00a0Both lenses show a green ring from longitudinal CA around the specular highlights, with the Olympus showing it a bit more prominently. \u00a0The Panasonic also has a gentler transition of tones, leading to a slightly creamier appearance.<\/p>\n

As the lenses are stopped down, both lenses start to correct that green fringing. \u00a0The Panasonic maintains a little smoother tonal transition in the background, but as the apertures get smaller, the Olympus shows slightly rounder specular highlights.<\/p>\n

As I see it, this is a (very slight) win for the Panasonic Leica. \u00a0However, evaluation of bokeh is an extremely subjective measure, so don’t take my word for it and simply evaluate the images yourself.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n

The Panasonic Leica 25mm f\/1.4 has been a mainstay of the Micro 4\/3 system for some time. \u00a0This excellent lens has been on the must-have list for serious photographers shooting Micro 4\/3 since it came out. \u00a0The new Olympus 25mm f\/1.8 challenges this lens and matches up very, very well. \u00a0While I find the extra 2\/3 stop and slightly better bokeh of the Panasonic Leica more important\u00a0for my own shooting, the Olympus 25mm is going to be the better choice if cross-frame sharpness is critical at wide apertures, or simply if size is of utmost importance. \u00a0The Olympus is a significantly smaller lens that only gives up a little speed to its more expensive brother, and that makes it a great lens to have in the system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another lens battle today…just a quick one. \u00a0I have the new Olympus 25mm f\/1.8 in for review this week and I thought I’d put it up against the venerable and outstanding Panasonic Leica 25mm f\/1.4 DG Summilux. \u00a0These two lenses are both priced relatively similarly, given the difference in maximum aperture. \u00a0The Olympus comes in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shop"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/25s.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p28RGq-Rs","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3314"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4148,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3314\/revisions\/4148"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}