Indeed imso glad his family kept the videos up

I'm glad to hear that, Broseph and I appreciate your telling me. Thank you.

totally agree 👌

Broseph Stalin if David hasn’t reviewed it I’m likely not to bother going much further looking into buying it. Luv ya David!!!!

Hi Richard - the only remedy is to stop the lens down. If you are close to the dog's face head on, you'd need maybe f/8 to get reasonable depth of field. The problem with dogs is that they have long faces (mostly!) with the nose right on the end so the nose is in a completely different plane from the eyes. With humans, the nose is in a similar plane to the eyes and even in close up from the front f/2.8 would be just about OK. Of course, you could solve the problem otherwise by getting rid of the old dog and getting a pug or a chihuahua but please don't tell her I said that :-)

It's great when you enjoy using a camera so much. The GX8 is a big favourite with its users and the 25mm suits it well.

Pleased to hear the, Barry. Great lens at a great price. Like you, Like to laugh so it seems natural to not be too earnest about photography. It has to be fun too!

+Beardbrand it comes from the old frontier days of the fur trade when an entire deer hide was worth a dollar, so dollars came to be known as "bucks"

+Arctic Gator interesting. never thought to think of where the term came from.

+Beardbrand I never thought about that either. Very interesting.

Glad you feel that way, Paul. Thank you!

Not much I can say to that except - thanks very much!

Thanks - glad you found it helpful!

+biscuitsalive The only fast one is the Olympus 7-14mm f/2.8. I use the Panasonic f/4 7-14mm which is more compact. Both focus well and have excellent IQ. Neither have any serious distortion. Olympus do a 9-18mm as well but while wide, it's a long way off the 7mm.

Thanks, Jonathan.

Glad you find it so, Jan, thank you. The knowledge has been built up in decades of using cameras daily. It's great that through the internet I can share some of it.

+Andrew Atkins Great comment, Andrew, made me smile. Thanks. And if you have a partner, here I am conveniently placed take all the blame for your temptation :-)

+bajigurwedangronde Sometims when I mention that the 20mm is slow to focus, I feel the need to modify it to 'relatively slow'. After all, it still focuses much faster than any human being can!

You're welcome, Thomas. So good you bought it twice :-)

+Rikard Persson Tahnnsk Rikard! You really do like your 25mms.

+David Thorpe Seems silly, right? :) And its not even "my" field of view either - it's a bit to tight for me! Guess I got the 25-s to try to make that focal length/ field of view more interesting to me.. ..and perhaps you could call it a sort of training - photographing "through" first the Oly and the PanaLeica and get to the Pana 25mm 1.7 now being my go to lens! Love it - it is not the best of them but it represents the perfect mix of usability and portability!

+John Roberts Thanks John. With video, the 25m would be very handy for softening the background for the vlog or under similar circumstances. Probably need some ND filters, though.

Nice to hear a happy photographer, Joe! Yes, a sharp lens beyond its price.

Little question as I have a G7 too, how are you finding the stabilisation as neither the lens or the G7 have O.I.S?

+OvuOO STUDIO What can I say except - thank you?

It doesn't get better than free! Glad you liked the review.

It is low priced compared to competitors yet the lens isn't in any way inferior. I just hope Panasonic don't find out!

Glad it was helpful - exceptional value for money isn't it?

Thanks, Noelle.

+Gianna Lomax I'm glad you don't blame me, Gianna! And thanks!

+Ketsal Thankk you!

Excellent lens, as you say, and a bargain too!

+Michael Paz Yes, it's generally true that the value of fast lenses is only realized if you actually use them at wide apertures.

Yes, I find the 17mm a great all purpose all round lens because I like the slight wide angle but a 25mm is much better for portraits while also being a good all rounder. Of all the 25mms, the f/1.4 is undoubtedly the best and one of the best lenses in Micro Four Thirds as well.

+armaniusmaximus Thanks very much!

+barra650 Good to hear that, thanks.

+Dustinrhoades I think it is worth a look at this price. Also, I doubt you'll see much difference in IQ. DfD too.

You got a good price - even $250 is not unreasonable. Glad to hear you love it - that's what it's all about!

+Sir Sebastian I tried to upgrade the sound - it's really difficult but I was helped by Karol Walkowski who contacted me and offered to help. He's a professional with voiceovers and with his advice and post processing of my efforts it has really looked up.

+David Drinkall Yes, worth keeping even if only used occasionally.

Enjoying using a camera because it feels right is one of the most important things. As usual with Micro Four Thirds, there are no bad choices available.

Christopher Cox I had the same choice, the g85 WITH A LENS feels lighter because the ergonomics are so much better. I was thinking I’d go with GX but the protruding hand grip of the g85 isn’t a factor when (1) it’s about equal to any lens protrusion anyway, and (2) just feels SO much better:)

Thanks, Robert. I'd have thought the Panasonic 15mm f/1.7 would be a good match. It's wide-angle but not so that shots on it look wide-angle. I like, and always have the 17mm f/1.8 Olympus but it may not be quite wide enough. There's the Sigma 16mm f/1.4 but it is much bigger than the other two. Overall, the 15mm sounds like the best for you.

Thanks Rafaels! They are fittings for a strap, from Peak Design - amzn.to/2MxkwbZ - you can use them with your own strap or Peak design ones but they enable you to swap a strap from one camera to another in a jiffy. I sometimes use a wrist strap, sometimes a neck strap on several different cameras so with these fittings I can just chop and change in an instant.

Glad you like the videos, Rosnoi - I'm sorry to tell you but I doubt there will be a stabilized 25mm at all, apart from on the zoom lenses. With such a wide aperture you can normally get a high shutter speed and don't need stabilization. Also, a 25mm doesn't magnify hand movement at all as does a telephoto, so they are pretty easy to hold at slow speeds. And, of course all the new cameras have body stabilization. So, if you were going to buy a 25mm you might as well do it now, I don't see any stabilized one appearing.

Glad you like the reviews, Andy. Tiny it is, the Laowa. Such a great array of lenses for Micro Four Thirds these days.

Thanks David, yes we are spoilt for choice, not good for my bank balance though, I keep buying them! I think MFT will be around for a long time yet given the lens support!

+Brian Cullen I'm not overly find of ultra high speed lenses like the Voigtlander. They tend to need stopping down to get decent performance which nullifies the piont rather.

Thanks! At arms length it'll give you a close up head shot. 14mm is better for most arms length selfies, where you'd want to include some background. If, for your vlogging, you will mount the camera on a tripod and place it where you want, then the 25mm would be ideal.

Thanks, George!

Thanks Anthony! What I've always liked about Panasonic is that they start fresh rather than having a tradition in cameras, so their stuff tends to be more original in concept than Olympus. But that's personal, of course and where we are lucky is to have two great manufacturers competing while adhering to one standard. We photographers all benefit from that whichever marque we prefer.

Anthony Magliocco those ZS cameras are KILLER I never leave home without my zs30 (Which I much prefer over the newer ones!)

You are welcome!

+Diego Salvatierra Thanks Diego - much appreciated.

Thanks! I've never noticed any difference in performance between Olympus and Panasonic lenses on any give camera body. Panasonic bodies used to be a bit quicker on S-AF and in low light but newer Olympus bodies like the E-M1 II are as fast now. And for C-AF on moving subjects probably quicker. In everyday shooting, though, the light, the circumstances and settings will make far more difference than any technical prowess of the cameras. The E-M5 II focuses well but its C-AF performance is not in the vanguard. Nonetheless, the 25mm will focus as fast on this as will any other 25mm, focusing speed being mainly a matter for the camera body. With video, focusing needs to be slower , otherwise it looks awful so it is deliberately restricted. 25mm is a good focal length for video since it doesn't draw attention to itself by any obvious perspective effect, just looks natural.

@@DavidThorpeMFT thank you again David that's great to know. I am buying this lens 2nd hand rather than the 1.4 version, partly because I am concerned how versatile this focal length will be. The 17mm would be more versatile but I have that length covered twice already with my slow zooms so its a compromise decision in the end to fullfill a general purpose & low light lens requirement.

+B Rajagopal For that price it is worth buying for even the most occasional use.

Use your legs? I don't think that will catch on :-)

haha. more prime lenses for me then. :-) I have the opposite feeling about telephoto in any case. So all the money I save on wide zooms will go into telephoto ones. xD

Yes, a good all rounder for video. And plenty of speed for indoor use.

Thanks for that Cherrard.

Glad you liked it!

Hi Cody - I'm just waiting for Karol to do the audio fixes and I'll post it in the next couple of days. I'm really impressed with it.

+Kevin Davis No, I found it followed focus well - I use the tracking whenever I can but Panasonics do perform a bit better than Olympus where focusing is concerned.

+OzzieTech Thanks Ozzie, yes a real bargain.

Yes, provided you were careful, of course. The video electronic stabilization is particularly helpful with walking around stuff, too, at a slight loss of angle of view.

I can't think why the focus is inconsistent with the lens - shouldn't be any different to the Olympus 17mm really. Weird.

+Fabio Alves Rodrigues Thanks Fabio. With the low second hand prices nowadays, it's often worth keeping lenses even for occasional use. Trouble is, as you say, you then have to choose. I prefer the 20mm focal length too and the pocketability it can give is handy. In other words, like you, I wouldn't be able to decide :-)

Glad to hear that - thanks!

I don't know what to say about the volume, Steve. It is normal on all my devices and friends phones and tabs that I've tried it on and about the same as the ads that precede it. Sound is really difficult, much more so than video, I find. On your Olympus, turn the front or rear control dial (which one depending on your camera setting. That'll apply to all nearly all Micro Four Thirds lenses, actually.

Thanks David. I guess I’m more used to the manual lenses...I thought there might be a ring for aperture too :-) Cheers

Glad it was helpful, Miriam!

Thank you, Lakshay!

+Sion Hannuna As I say in the video, it;'s not my favourite focal length. I prefer 17mm. The 15mm is similar in character to 17mm, not so wide as to give everything a wide angle 'look' so is a decent all rounder.

Thanks for your excellent video's to start with. I have a few questions for you. You prefer 17mm. But is there a affordable 17mm prime on the market? There is the 19mm Sigma, but probably to wide for your personal taste? Any chance that you give this lens "a look on"? I myself doubt between the Panny 25mm F1.7 and the Sigma 19mm F2.8. The Panny looks more attractive though because it is faster. Maybe you could give some advice?

There's the Olympus 17mm f/2.8, which, stopped down to f/4 is a sharp as any other. Corners are less good at f/2.8 but that doesn't matter usually for a street lens. Unless you desperately want the extra angle, the Panasonic 25mm is a really good buy. I have always had a 17mm or equivalent and so have formed a habit but many people prefer 25mm. The Sigma is a great lens, all the Sigmas for Micro Four Thirds are but the Panasonic 25mm would be my overall choice. It's as sharp as the best lenses you can buy, can give decent out of focus backgrounds and focus fast.

+David Thorpe Thanks for your response.

I'd say the Panasonic. It's one of the sharpest lenses in Micro Four Thirds and the slightly longer focal length is likely to be more useful for concert photography where you probably can't get very near the act. In other words, unless you have a specific reason to buy a wide angle, the Panasonic should be better and would be my choice. It's smaller, too.

+STEHH87 Panasonic do seem to be leading that way right now, after a while when Olympus did. I'm trying a GX80 right now and the IBIS seems quite similar to Olympus's with a non-stabilized lens. I need to use it a lot more but I'm very impressed so far.

Thanks, Rick. No, I haven't come across the problem. I looked for it but didn't find it at all. It must be on some copies which is a bit worrying.

@@DavidThorpeMFT interesting Matt Sulanto--whose videos I watch along with yours--provided fairly significant affirmation of the risk so I instead went with Sigma 30mm f1.4, which I believe you also rated very highly. Thanks,

@@rickkoloian4179 I rate all the Sigmas. Sometimes the focal lengths are a bit a bit unusual because they are primarily designed for APS-C but 25 or 30mm is a matter of choice rather than better or worse. I've yet to come across a Sigma that was less than biting sharp, in no way inferior to Panasonic's own mechanically or optically.

+Beautiful Norfolk Thanks!

Hi Albert - yes, I'm always aware that other people see things differently from me, so I try to put the case for both. We're in a happy position with Micro Four Thirds lenses in that there aren't any bad ones so the choice is that balance between spec and price.

Thanks Vassilis! If I were in the market for a 25mm, this is the one I'd buy. You can pay more but you don't gain much - in practical terms hardly anything.

I was wandering if you would suggest another lens, maybe a bit more wide, at this price range. Unfortunately I do not have much to spare to go for the oly 17mm.

No, afraid not. It's a mark of what a bargain this lens is that it has no competition within £100. There are the Samyangs but they are £100 more and manual operation which is a bit of a waste of the Micro four Thirds technology. The only other real bargain is the Olympus 45mm f/1.8 but that's no good for what you want. So no, nothing comparable at this focal length, let alone wider.

It would be a great lens for the GF1., I don't see any problem at all.

Thanks, Jim! I've never found any material difference between focus speeds with either lens on either body. Panasonic AFS is generally better than Olympus, quicker and works to lower light levels. That applies with both makes of lens. The E-M1 Mark II caught up, though. Focusing is a function of the body rather than the lens. Some lenses are faster than others because of different motors or the movement of different elements but that applies to both bodies.

You should try the first 14-42 this is what is called slow ;)

Thanks Matthew! My pet hate is the reviewers in baseball caps who start of "Hi guys". It usually means the video is more about them than whatever they are reviewing.

Hi Vi - I like the Olympus 17mm f/1.8 for street. It's small and a bit more versatile than a 25mm in urban conditions. For my taste the 30mm Sigma is a bit too long for street but then some people like a 45mm for street, so it's personal taste and the type of pictures you favour that dictate what lens is best. If you really prefer a 25mm, the Panasonic f/1.7 is good value. The Panasonic/ Leica is one of the sharpest of all of the Micro Four Thirds but you'd be hard pushed to see the difference generally. But for me, the 17mm.

There is also the 15mm f1.7 Leica i use it with my gx80 for street, this combo is deadly ☺️ check My ig @double9yne photography

Unless you really want to spend more money, this lens is just as good as Olympus's 25mm. The alternative f/1.4 Panasonic is superb but your are paying a lot of money for an extra 1/2 stop speed.

Thank you David

That's very flattering to hear, Charrard, thank you. Your purse may think differently, of course :-)

+David Thorpe Well Dave it was all worth it. I am just waiting on the Panasonic Gh5 and the new Olympus EM

They'll be interesting because all the latest up-dates from other models are added and then anything new they can come up with. They won't be cheap though!

Saving my pennies as we speak.

For a prime I'd pick the 25mm over the 20, because although bigger it has much faster focusing. The 20mm is an older design and (relatively slow). You'd need to balance the focusing against the size but for the street fast focusing is very often necessary. You might consider the 35mm f/1.8 Olympus if it is within budget, a great all round lens and very nice to use. Nice match for your E-M10 11 as well. The 25mm f/1.7 coupled with the 12-32 would give you a nice combination. The 12-32 is just as sharp as the primes at 12mm and for landscape speed isn't important. A great little all rounder. At some point you could add Panasonic's 35-100 compact lens and have an amazingly small but capable outfit. .

Thanks David. Do you mean the 17mm f/1.8?

I remember the early Practikas had a manual return mirror. Rather than prints I suppose we have the 100% viewing now though a print is more forgiving. Looks a lot nice, too, free or not!

I started with a canon AE1 program , lovely little camera, had it with the standard 50mm , people are spoilt these days, auto everything lol

It is all a bit ambiguous. The smaller/ lower the f number, the faster the lens. So, f/5 being bigger/ higher than f/1.7, the latter is the faster. Simply on the basis that 5 is more than 1.7.

Thomas Gregory same here, I had to listen a few times. Word for word I think David’s point is the opposite of what he says unless you hear a mental COMMA between the statements. The faster lens is the 1.7 and he means to say that, but word for word as we hear it it comes across as potentially the other way.

+3plestrafe :-)

Glad you liked it, Bill!

Yes, no problem at all. Micro Four Thirds is a standard so any item so labelled will work with any other so labelled.

☺️

Thanks Steve.

Both would do the job but on balance the Olympus suits the Pen F a bit better. And although it may not be relevant, if you ever decided to sell the combo, a buyer would prefer the Olympus/Olympus pairing.

Thank you, Steyreon!

The 42.5 will give you some problems simply because you are having to stand too far away from your subjects for the full length shots or in a small church, for example A 25mm is much more practical . I doubt you'd want to use f/1.4 very often, too, because of the depth of field restrictions when photographing a couple close up and moving about. Of course, you can always stop the f/14 down but I'd be inclined to save some money and get the f/1.7. If you have the budget for the 25mm f/1.4, the difference in price would buy you an Olympus 45mm f/1.8!

The f/1.2 primes from Olympus real real beauties. Not cheap but you are getting the best.

They're strap holders by Peak design. Very useful as it means you can use the same straps on all cameras.

I don't have both lenses to hand but you should be able to. Both lenses re 46mm filter size and have a bayonet hood fitting. Where you'd buy the Leica hood without the lens I don't know, though :-(

Hi Christoper - I can't do a direct comparison video but I'll be posting a video of the Olympus shortly. Basically both are good lenses, the Olympus has slightly better centre sharpness, the Panasonic has better edge to edge sharpness. In general use both are excellent lenses as you'd expect from a 25mm and the differences would need careful scrutiny to find. Anyone would be happy with either. However, the Panasonic in Europe is a lot cheaper and I'd see no reason to pay the extra for the Olympus unless you preferred the feel or look of it on your camera.

Excellent. Thanks so much for taking the time to respond to me. Keep up the good work David!

You are very welcome, Wahab. There aren't many bargains as such from the two main Micro Four Thirds makers but this and Olympus 45mm f/1.8 are real bargains. The lens will give excellent results with your Olympus body, in practise little different from any of the higher priced items.

I'm doing great, thanks Linda. Sounds like you are too! Your zoom is just as good as this lens for focusing and stabilized for low light so the only reason to buy this would be extra sharpness or the extra speed. Sharpness, it may be better in theory but in practice the zoom is just as good. That just leaves the extra aperture which reduces your depth of field. For fast moving subjects, you need a bit of depth for focusing leeway, so no I don't see any real advantage for what you do. It's be a bit nicer for portraits, say, but you'd be better off with a high speed 45mm or so for that. I'd love t0 help you spend some money but this time I can't :-) Is that your moggie, by the way? Handsome creature.

Thanks, David, for the thorough answer, which clarifies my thinking... That's kind of what I thought because the 12-35mm is wonderful and I love using it. And I actually do have the 42.5 f/1.7 for portraits which is also great~ lightweight, quick AF. Guess I'm pretty much set. It really is about the photographer and not necessarily the latest lens that emerges on the market. The picture of my cat (yes, he's mine), was taken with a Canon T5i and 40mm pancake lens. Sold most of the Canon gear when I discovered the lightweight and super ergonomically wonderful Pany G7! Thanks again for the insight and knowledge. You help a lot of people. :-)

Thanks Linda. By the way, I have a rather annoyed email from your cat who tells me that he is not your cat, you are his human.

LOL.... He and his mom certainly have me trained! :-D

+Rous but how is it in continuous autofocus? In USA it was sold for only 99$ ..... such prices are not available in europe, we pay always more ....

+Tecnovlog The 20mm is a lot more compact, which would make it the 'winner' (for me) and folk are regularly paying more for a used one of them on ebay than a new 25mm costs so I'd guess that this is a factor for others too!

+Rous The sharpest m43 lens is the Olympus 75mm f 1.8

+Tecnovlog Both versions of Panasonic's 20mm are slow to autofocus. Normally, that wouldn't matter, but I do street photography, sometimes in low light, and I kept missing the moment with candid photography. I switched the the Panasonic 15mm f1.7. It's much faster and is also sharper. However, the difference in focal length was unnerving at first, and iy took a few weeks to get used to it. Now it rarely comes off my camera

+Tecnovlog The 25mm is much quieter and much faster focusing than the 20mm. The 20mm has nice image quality, but it's a poor video lens (manual focusing isn't great with it either).

You couldn't find something a bit more more testing to photograph, could you, Alan? 😁 The problem with all the zooms is that they are a max f/2.8. I don't know how much light there is but it sounds to me that given the speed and energy of Flamenco (some of my favourite music, Paco Pena, Paco de Lucia) you'd need a shutter speed minimum 1/500th unless you were using swirling blur creatively for every shot. Even at high ISO, that might not be enough. Whether you need an angle as wide as 12mm I don't know but high speed wides like Panasonic's 12mm f/1/4 are always expensive and you may not want such a wide angle. I'd suggest something like Panasonic's 15mm f/1.7 or Olympus's 17mm f/1.8. If 2.8 would be enough, then a 12-35 or 40 zoom would be ideal.

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/m7-TaJqh0K2wdIE.html Please go to 5:30 to see where the difference lies, first with the 14-140 as rosy, fuzzy light and then the 42.5 with great clarity but too close. (should've done 'em the other way round!) Just checked B&H and the Panny 15mm is way up there in price. Thank you for your expertise. I'm a Brighton Brit now in NC, just gave up golf for videos & flamenco, in me sixties and every day's a bonus!

The zoom sequence is perfectly good but the prime certainly looks better. I rather liked the close up views, the variety of them but obviously you can't do that for a whole sequence. It looks to me as if the 15mm would be ideal and I can't think of anything else that would do the job as well. However, given that you are getting decent results with the 14-140, a 12-35 would certainly be better and I think I'd look at that, either the Panasonic or Olympus. The Olympus is about the sharpest zoom in the system, actually and better than than many of the rpimes including Olympus's own 12mm f/2. Neither of those come cheap, though :-(

David Thorpe Thanks David, I think I’ll stick to Pannys and go for the 12-35mm & the 15mm prime. Goodbye golf clubs!

David Thorpe Hi David, can you please help me follow up with this. Just back from Spain and used 15mm 1.7 Lumix for low light. Really need faster shutter speed and longer lens perhaps. The 42.5 f1.2 maybe? Can I send you a sample photo? Cheers and come on England!