Improving the ergonomics of the 12-32mm lens

The Lumix G 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 (my review) is representative of a trend I dislike: That every consumer electronic item must be clad in a smooth metal surface. This makes the items harder to handle, as I see it.

Here is the Lumix 12-32mm lens (on the top), compared with the Nikon 10mm f/2.8 (bottom):

The Nikon lens has the glossy tab on it, which makes it easy to feel with your fingers which way to mount the lens to the camera. It also has the ribbed ring on the front, which provides a good grip.

The Lumix lens, on the other hand, only has the thin, smooth ring with the white dot and the "12-32" text on it to hold on to when mounting it. And there is no physical mark to feel to know which way it goes on the camera. None of the two lenses have a focus ring.

Normal lens shootout

Some decades ago, when film SLR cameras became popular, the 50mm lens was abundant. Due to the long register distance of SLR cameras, the 50mm lens was the shortest which could be designed cheaply with a large aperture, which is why it became so popular. It became the standard lens people bought with an SLR camera, the normal lens.

Nowadays, the kit zoom lens has become the normal lens, but the field of view corresponding to a traditional 50mm lens is still popular. So most manufacturers release a fast "normal lens" when they invest into a new lens mount. In this article, I will compare two normal lenses for two different systems, the Nikon 18.5mm f/1.8 for Nikon 1, and the Leica 25mm f/1.4 for Micro Four Thirds:

Lens	Nikon 18.5mm f/1.8	Leica 25mm f/1.4
Announced	Sep 13th, 2012	Jun 13th, 2011
System crop factor	2.7	2
Equivalent focal length	50mm	50mm
Maximum aperture	f/1.8	f/1.4
Equivalent max aperture, in terms of DoF	f/4.8	f/2.8
Weight	70g	200g
Diameter	56mm	63mm
Length	36mm	55mm
Filter thread	40.5mm	46mm
Minimum focus	0.20m	0.30m
Lens elements/groups	8/6	9/7
Hood included	No, HB-N104	Yes
Focus ring	No	Yes

Both correspond to 50mm field of view on a 135 film camera, and both are quite fast, with large maximum apertures:

GH4: 2.0 firmware, 4K photo mode

Recently, the 2.0 firmware was released for the Lumix GH4, use this direct download link. One of the big new features is the "4K Photo" mode. See the official documentation here.

Basically, the mode makes it easier to grab photos from a 4K video stream, even at 4:3 and 3:2 aspect ratios. However, there are three drawbacks which are good to know about:

1. Using the 30p mode, you can use this mode to continuously take 30 frames per second, and then later browse through them to see which you would like to save. There is one big disadvantage, though: You only get the JPEG file, no RAW file.

This is in contrast to the Nikon 1 cameras, which can take 60FPS continuously, and save the RAW files. I've used the Nikon 1 V3 to take pictures of birds in flight at 20FPS, and it can do fast and accurate AF-C at the same time. This feature makes the Nikon 1 cameras well suited for sports, action and wildlife photos.

2. Contrary to the normal picture mode, the 4K Photo mode does not use the whole sensor. Just like the 4K video mode, it only uses a part of the sensor, as illustrated below:

Essentially, you have an extra crop factor of 1.3 when using the 4K Photo mode. So a 14mm lens becomes equivalent to 18mm on Four Thirds, or 36mm on a traditional film format.

New Bolex prime lenses

Recently, a set of three prime lenses were announced by Bolex, with C-mounts:

The lenses are quite small, with a filter thread of 43mm. Pancake lenses like the Lumix 20mm f/1.7 and Lumix 14mm f/2.5 have a filter thread of 46mm. These Bolex lenses cost around US$350 per lens.

So how is this relevant for Micro Four Thirds?

Lumix X 35-100mm f/2.8: Expensive, but fantastic

The long f/2.8 zoom is a standard part in a pro photographer's lineup. Back in the time of the film SLRs, these lenses were typically around 70-200mm f/2.8. With the 2x crop factor of the Micro Four Thirds format, the corresponding focal length range becomes 35-100mm, and Panasonic have conformed to the tradition here.

Here is the Lumix X 35-100mm f/2.8 (left) seen together with the Pentax version of the same lens type, the Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 (right):

As you can see, the Lumix lens is much smaller, due to the larger crop factor of the Four Thirds sensor, compared with the APS-C sensor size the Pentax lens is designed for. The Lumix lens is also remarkably light for a lens of this type.

Six years of Micro Four Thirds

On September 12th, 2008, the Panasonic Lumix G1 was announced, the very first Micro Four Thirds camera. It was a true revolution in photography: A compact system camera with very photography oriented ergonomy and functions: A good EVF, tiltable LCD, a rugged body with an easy to grip surface. The autofocus was surprisingly fast, even if AF-C was not very useful. It had one strange omission, there was no video mode.

Even though it was paired with what is widely seen as a fantastic kit zoom lens, the camera was pretty much ignored.

It was not until Olympus launched the E-P1, with a retro styled, metal clad body, that the interest in M4/3 took off. Even if the E-P1 was inferior to the Lumix G1 in terms of usability and functions, in my opinion, and it was paired with an inferior lens.

Here are some highlights from the last six years:

Product news

These are exciting times, with a lot of product announcements in relation to the Fotokina trade show. Here is a short summary:

Lumix G 35-100mm f/4-5.6

This lens is designed to match the Lumix GM1 and GM5 camera, both in terms of styling and size.

It is expected to cost US$400. But it will probably be primarily sold in twin lens kits with the new GM5 camera.

Worse image quality with electronic shutter?

Recently, an interesting Panasonic sensor data sheet came up. It is believed to describe the sensor sitting in, e.g., the Lumix GX7 and GM1.

The data sheet says that there are two options for electronic shutter readout: 12 bits in 1/15s and 10 bits in 1/22.5s. It has been demonstrated that the Lumix GX7 has a readout speed of 1/15s, and I have measured the speed of the electronic shutter in the GM1 to around 1/25s.

Do recent Panasonic cameras use the faster 10 bit readout, and is it affecting the image quality when using the electronic shutter mode?

To test this, I have taken the same picture using the Lumix GH3, Lumix GH4 and Lumix GM1, all using both the mechanical and electronic shutter modes. The photos were underexposed by two stops, to make the rendering of the shadows more challenging.

Lumix 100-300mm vs Nikon 70-300mm

When Nikon launched their Nikon 1 mirrorless format, it was hard to understand why anyone should buy into it. The cameras were pricey, relatively large for a 1'' sensor, and did not have a good ergonomics.

With the launch of the Nikon 1 CX 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 lens, I think the format finally makes sense. This is the only 800mm equivalent lens which is truly portable and which can be handheld. It is a very good birders lens.

In my review of the Nikon 1 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 lens, I was testing it with the Nikon 1 J1 camera, with a 10MP sensor. Since this time, I have acquired the Nikon 1 V3, which is a more suitable camera for a long lens, with the extra hand grip, and the EVF. The V3 also has 80% higher resolution, at 18MP.

With the V3 camera, I have re-run the sharpness tests. For the rest of the lens review, see my previous article.

I'm not sure if the image quality is better with the 18MP sensor in the Nikon 1 V3 camera. But the resolution is higher, which should make it better for an evaluation of the sharpness.

For a point of reference, I have compared the images from the 70-300mm lens with the Lumix G 100-300mm f/4-5.6 on the Lumix GH4.

Both cameras with lenses are pictured below:

As you can see, the Nikon system is much smaller, and should be easier to bring along for trekking.