PANASONIC LUMIX G II Lens, 20MM, F1.7 ASPH., MIRRORLESS Micro Four Thirds, H-H020AK (USA Black)

Product Information

This focal length on a prime lens is mostly used for longer distance portrait photography. It is also the most challenging to use for landscapes. But when you get the opportunity and see a scene that it can work well in, the results are beautiful! Considering that this was a cosmetic redesign of existing optics, it begs the question "was this an epic screw-up, or is this a cynical ploy to design some cosmetic depreciation into their products to decrease resale values and increase the replacement rate?" The out-of-focus regions in this F1.7 shot show some purple fringing in front of the subject, aka longitudinal CA (LoCA) For a 20mm lens, we found the distortion control to be pretty good overall. In fact, unless you’re going to sit there pixel peeping (and it’s really dumb to do so when your clients are doing so) then that’s the only way that you’ll have a problem with this lens. Beyond this, most street photographers don’t sit there speaking about megapixels all day–instead they focus on capturing moments. Far more important is the optical performance of the lens. Its MTF resolution remains above the critical 0.25 cycles-per-pixel level from wide-open down to about f/14 and, though some colour fringing can be found if searched for, it is not a problem in real-world images. The only serious disappointment is its rather slow and slightly noisy AF mechanism.

While the Panasonic 25mm F1.7 shows some longitudinal CA wide open, it becomes much less noticeable when you stop down a bit. Still, at 100%, you can certainly spot some purple and green fringing in the out-of-focus regions on the left side of this image, in the vines and stems.

Lens body elements

Our conclusion about the Panasonic 20 mm f/1.7 v2 is unchanged from the first version. The Panasonic 20 mm 1.7, whether you’re talking about version 1 or 2, is a nice lens without major disadvantages. It is an attractively priced, bright, compact and light pancake with very good optical performance. The Panasonic GX7 test camera is probably the reason we measured a higher resolution for version 2 in our testing than for version 1 (with a Panasonic GH2 camera). From the measurements, the resolution in the outer corners always lags behind compared to the very high resolution in the center. In practice, this isn’t noticeable. Practice shots are rich in contrast, sharp and have a nice bokeh. At maximum aperture, the vignetting is correctable with software, in those situations where the disturbance is visible. The sharpness of the Panasonic 20 mm 1.7 II in the center is very high; this was the case for both our practice shots and our measurements. The Panasonic GX7 test camera is probably the reason that we measured a higher resolution for version 2 than in our testing of version 1 (with a Panasonic GH2 camera). The lenses I used in this article, along with the full frame equivalent focal lengths(in parentheses) are the following: I was learning how to anticipate the longer focal length by now, and started spotting scenes that would work well taken from a distance, with the sunlight coming through the trees, the image appearing more “zoomed in” or “cropped”.

Anyhow, the hallmark of any good nifty fifty, then and now, is a favorable ratio of quality to price. And Panasonic's modern take for Micro Four Thirds fits the bill nicely: though it's very affordable, it's capable of producing lovely images. The bokeh – or quality of the out-of-focus regions produced by this 25mm – is fairly pleasing. Panasonic takes pride in the smoothness/polishing of its aspherical surfaces/molds, and it shows here. The discs rendered by out-of-focus highlights are relatively Gaussian and free of distracting patterns like 'onion rings'. Only occasionally do they show the slightest hint of a hard edge (more noticeable as you stop down), but not enough to cause any concern. Just note that at f1.7 that your images won’t be as sharp as you may have come to expect. Color Rendition But maybe that’s a good thing. Quality over quantity. And I do feel that the quality of photos taken with a prime lens exceeds that of a zoom lens overall. Not just in sharpness and details, but artist’s creativity. Lens flare can cause some loss of contrast especially when shooting directly into bright light sources, while multiple ghosts of bright sources can manifest themselves as colored 'blobs' that get more defined the more you stop the lens down.

Overview

So far all I have talked about is how great this lens is. Frankly, there is not much more to say. The proof is in the pics. Wide open your focus point is sharp and while you will get some bokeh you do not get crazy shallow depth of field like you would with a 50 or longer lens. The 20 1.7 is great for everyday use as 40mm is in between the two great classic focal lengths, the 35 and 50. The diminutive 20mm F1.7 isn't the smallest lens currently on the market (the Olympus M. Zuiko Digital 17mm F2.8 Pancake shaves a couple of millimeters off in each dimension), but it's unusually fast for such a compact design, letting in a stop and a half more light than the above-mentioned 17mm (or Olympus's Four Thirds-mount Zuiko Digital 25mm F2.8). Construction is reassuringly solid, with high quality finish and a metal mount. The weight is just 100g.