Lumix tele lenses compared

Panasonic makes an impressive number of tele zoom lenses. This is not a stupid choice, after all, the interchangeable system camera market relies on the consumer actually buying the extra lenses. So there needs to be some lenses to choose from. And a tele zoom lens is a popular aftermarket choice, probably the most popular together with a fast prime lens.

In this article, I will be comparing six of them:

Index of lens related articles

Here is an index of lens related articles on this blog, sorted by lens:

Panasonic Lumix X 12-35mm f/2.8



Review

Panasonic Leica Lumix DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f/2.8 1:1 Macro



Review

A study of the bokeh at various apertures

Bokeh comparison with Lumix G HD 14-140mm and Lumix G 45-200mm, all at 45mm

Bokeh comparison with the Olympus Zuiko 50mm f/2 1:2 Macro

A study of the diffraction effects when using smaller apertures

A verification that the enlargement is actually 1:1

Example use of the touch screen AF with Panasonic GH2

A sharpness comparison with the Olympus Zuiko 50mm f/2 1:2 Macro at a long focus distance

A very simple sharpness comparison with the Olympus Zuiko 50mm f/2 1:2 Macro at a close focus distance

Autofocus speed

Olymus M.Zuiko Digital 45mm f/1.8



Review

Optical performance comparison with the Panasonic Leica 45mm f/2.8 macro

Panasonic Lumix G 20mm f/1.7 Pancake



Review

Autofocus speed comparison

Using a third party screw in 46mm metal hood, Leica Summicron type

Using a 46mm to 37mm step down ring as an alternative, low profile hood

An example video capture with the Panasonic Lumix GH1

Bokeh comparison with the Lumix G HD 14-140mm

Using the Lumix 20mm as a portrait lens

Distortion correction

Compared with the Lumix G 14mm f/2.5 pancake lens

A comparison with the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens on an APS-C camera. This is a lens that, in my opinion, does more or less the same job, and has around the same price point.

Panasonic Lumix G 14mm f/2.5 Pancake



Review

Compared with the Lumix G 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens

Comparison with the Lumix G 14-42mm and Lumix G HD 14-140mm zoom lenses at 14mm focal length

Autofocus speed comparison

Distortion correction

Measuring the field of view

Lumix G 100-300mm f/4-5.6



Review

Sharpness comparison with the Lumix G 45-200mm and the Lumix G HD 14-140mm

Lumix G 45-200mm f/4-5.6



Review

Bokeh comparison with Lumix G HD 14-140mm and Panasonic Leica Lumix DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f/2.8 1:1 Macro, all at 45mm

A bokeh comparison with the Nikkor 200mm f/4 AIS, not conclusive

Autofocus speed comparison

A look at the relation between the focus distance and field of view

An example video capture

Lumix G X PZ 45-175mm f/4-5.6



Review

Sharpness comparison with Lumix G 45-200mm

Lumix G HD 14-140mm f/4-5.8



Review

Autofocus speed comparison

Bokeh comparison with Lumix G 45-200mm and Panasonic Leica Lumix DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f/2.8 1:1 Macro, all at 45mm

Bokeh comparison with the Lumix 20mm f/1.7, both at 20mm

Example use of the touch screen AF using Panasonic GH2

Lumix G 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye



Review

Autofocus speed

Using the fisheye lens as a macro lens

Sigma 19mm f/2.8 EX DN



Autofocus speed comparison with the Lumix G 20mm f/1.7.

Sharpness comparison with the Lumix G 20mm f/1.7.

Sigma 30mm f/2.8 EX DN



Review

Samyang 7.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye



Review

Field of view comparison with the Lumix G 7-14mm f/4 wide angle zoom

Projection comparison with the Lumix G 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens

Olympus Zuiko Digital 50mm f/2 1:2 Macro (Four Thirds lens)



Review

Manual focus with the Panasonic Lumix GH1

Bokeh comparison with the Panasonic Leica Lumix 45mm f/2.8 Macro

A simple sharpness comparison with the Panasonic Leica Lumix 45mm f/2.8 Macro

Using a cheap and simple macro soft box

Lumix G 7-14mm f/4 wide angle zoom lens



Short review

Field of view comparison with the Samyang 7.5mm f/3.5 fisheye lens

Focal length and focus distance

You'll notice that the focal length of most lenses is specified at infinity focus. It turns out that some lens designs imply a change of focal length, as the focus distance changes.

Here's a comparison of two quite different lenses. The Nikkor 200mm f/4 AIS is a traditional fixed focal tele lens. Compact, light, and reasonably fast, it is a classic lens. It is also rather simple from a mechanical point of view. If features "only" five lens elements.

The other lens is the Panasonic Lumix G 45-200mm f/4-5.6. Since it is a zoom lens, and it also has special lens groups for the OIS, it features a whopping 16 lens elements.

They are both shown here, the Nikkor 200mm lens with the Nikon-M43 adapter mounted. The 45-200mm lens is shown zoomed to maximum tele, to be comparable with the Nikon lens:

They are also quite different when it comes to focusing. The Nikkor has a traditional focus mechanism, which simply moves the entire lens assembly forward when going from infinity to close distance focus. In the picture below, it is shown focusing at infinity (left) and just below 2 meters (right).

The Panasonic Lumix G 45-200mm f/4-5.6, on the other hand, features internal focusing. This is very practical, since it means that the length of the lens stays the same regardless of the focus.

Also, the internal lenses moving around are much smaller, and faster to move about. This makes the focus faster, and requires less juice from the batteries. And the 45-200mm does focus very fast indeed!

The negative side of internal focusing, is that it can affect the focal length when changing focus. Let's compare the two lenses when focused far and near. The upper and lower images are taken at exactly the same place, but with the focus placed at the parked car (upper), and the foreground flower (lower).

What we see here, is that when focused far away, the field of view of the lenses are mostly the same. The Lumix has a slightly wider field of view, but there is hardly any significant difference. When focused at 2 meter distance, however, the field of view is significantly wider with the Lumix lens.

Mostly, this is not any problem at all. When recording video, however, it can be annoying if the field of view changes significantly during focus. This feature is usually referred to as "focus breathing", as the objects recorded will pulse in size as the focus moves back and forth.

With contrast detection autofocus (CDAF), this can in fact be a big problem during video recording, as the camera must jog the lens focus back and forth to verify that the focus is correct. You can see these focus movements in a video recorded using the Lumix 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens. The Lumix 20mm f/1.7 lens features a traditional moving lens assembly, and does not suffer from focus breathing. This is good, since the continuous autofocus operation is not very visible in the video, but on the other hand, the lens is probably not as solid and weather resistant with this construction.

I first noticed this change of focal length when examining the bokeh of the 45-200mm at 200mm, compared with the Nikkor 200mm lens.

Bokeh comparison @ 200mm

Introduction

I have an old legacy tele lens, the Nikkor 200mm f/4 AIS. It is well suited for use on a Micro Four Thirds camera, since both the focus and aperture are operated manually by twisting the rings on the lens. This is in contrast to Canon EF lenses, in which the aperture is operated electronically, and no adapter is available to control this from a Micro Four Thirds camera.

The lens is pictured here together with the Panasonic Lumix G 45-200mm f/4-5.6 Mega O.I.S. with the zoom extended to 200mm. The Nikon lens is shown with a Nikon-M43 adapter attached.


Nikkor 200mm f/4 AIS

This is a compact and high quality tele lens. The moderate maximum aperture, f/4, makes it less bulky than professional f/2.8 lenses. However, it still gives good quality images already from f/4.

The construction is fairly simple with five lenses in five groups. This is a mature lens design, and gives a good performance overall. It has nine aperture diaphragm blades.

The lens is made of metal, and the focus ring has a well dampened professional feel. The aperture ring can be set at any size, but has click stops at one unit distance, i.e., f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22 and f/32.

Lumix G 45-200mm f/4-5.6

The Panasonic Lumix G 45-200mm f/4-5.6 Mega O.I.S. is a value tele zoom, often sold with a camera in dual lens kits. For the price, it has a good quality construction, fast autofocus, and good image quality.

Setup

To look examine the bokeh qualities of the lenses, I focused them at their smallest common focus distance, which is 2 meters. The Lumix 45-200mm can focus down to 1 meter. Then I placed some backlit foliage in the background.

Both lenses were focused manually, by using the magnified view on the Lumix GH1. Here are the images at f/5.6 for both lenses:

Nikkor 200mm f/4 @ f/5.6

Lumix 45-200mm @ 200mm f/5.6

Field of view difference

What we can note at once, is that the field of view is not the same. The Nikon gives a closer view of the foreground. This surprised me at once, and I made sure to check the EXIF to see that the Lumix picture was indeed taken at 200mm.

However, we can note that the focal length specification is always given at infinity focus, while in this case I am focusing closer to the minimum focus distance. I did confirm that at infinity focus, the field of view of the two lenses is the same.

The Nikkor lens features a traditional focus assembly, which moved the lens elements forward when focusing closer. The Lumix, on the other hand, features internal focusing. Internal focusing is know to give a change of focal length as the focus is altered. So the effect we are seeing here is not unexpected, and I am guessing the Nikon lens maintains the most correct field of view when focusing closer.

Bokeh

To better compare the bokeh, I am providing 100% crops from the two images above (click to enlarge):

It is pretty difficult to conclude anything from this test. I think I was a bit unlucky with my test subject, it doesn't reveal any bokeh weaknesses that easily. Perhaps we can say that the 45-200mm bokeh at 200mm is a bit more "dirty". But it's hard to point out any significant weakness with any of the bokeh examples.

In the Nikkor 200mm image, it is possible to see the diaphragm blades, since it is stopped down one step. The Lumix bokeh rings, on the other hand, are round, since the lens is not stopped down at all.

The Nikkor could appear to be less affected by flare, which is natural due to it's simpler construction with a much smaller number of lens elements.

Bokeh comparison @ 45mm f/5.6

I have made a comparison of the bokeh (out of focus rendering) for three lenses, Leica Lumix DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm, Panasonic Lumix G 45-200mm and Panasonic Lumix G HD 14-140mm. These lenses share a common focal length, 45mm. The largest common aperture is f/5.6, so I used that for all lenses in my study. (Actually, the maximum aperture of the 14-140mm lens is f/5.5 at 45mm, but I rounded it off to f/5.6.)

Anyone having the Leica Lumix DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm are likely to be using larger apertures than f/5.6 for non macro images. I have also made a comparison of the bokeh rendering for larger apertures for this lens, and a bokeh comparison with the Olympus Zuiko Digital 50mm f/2 macro.

Lumix G 45-200mm f/4-5.6

The Panasonic Lumix G 45-200mm f/4-5.6 Mega O.I.S. is the value tele zoom from Panasonic. While not exactly cheap, it does provide a good value for money, with a maximum of 400mm tele (35mm film camera equivalent), an excess of 4x zoom, and optical image stabilization.

The picture below shows the lens at 45mm (left), and extended at 200mm.