Lens Review: Panasonic Lumix G 42.5mm f/1.7 ASPH. POWER O.I.S. – Daily Use.

Vintage Digital Review: Panasonic Lumix G 42.5mm f/1.7 ASPH. POWER O.I.S.

Preface:

Not that long ago I heaped praise on a lens locked down to one camera… if you can even call this a camera. More of a shell that houses interchangeable lens and sensor modules.

I started off by saying:

This lens is nearly perfect.

I then lifted up its traits:

• It is a 50mm equivalent lens.
  • While 35mm or 40mm lenses have made strong runs for the throne 50mm is still my favorite.
• f/2.5.
  • A fine aperture.
• Macro.
  • It has a full fledged macro mode while being very…
• Compact.
  • Combined with the GXR body it makes for a relatively tiny package given its focal length and macro capabilities.
• Sharp.
  • Not tack sharp… pixel peeping sharp… but plenty sharp enough.
• Great colors.
• It is attached to a wonderful sensor.

It had one shortcoming.

It could only be used on the odd duck love it or hate it RICOH GXR.

Today’s topic:

This is a lens so good that it reminded me of that GXR lens. Here I will update my thoughts on the GXR by applying them to the 42.5mm.

• It is a 85mm equivalent lens.
  • A fantastic and versatile portrait focal length.
• f/1.7.
  • A fine aperture.
• Macro-ish
  • While not a full fledged macro lens it focuses far more closely than the Olympus 45mm f/1.8 I have had in the past. 1.02′ / 31cm as opposed to 1.64′ / 50cm for the Olympus. I really liked that Olympus lens… but I like this lens far more.
• Compact.
  • It is properly tiny for a portrait focal length largely owing to its MFT sensor format.
• Sharp.
  • Very sharp. Squeezed excellent results out of humble sensor specs.
• Great colors.
• O.I.S.
  • I like that it brings stabilization, something the similarly priced Olympus 45mm f/1.8 does not. In Olympus’ defense they went all in with IBIS so it was unnecessary. But for Panasonic bodies without IBIS this is a great to have feature.

And with all of that it has one distinct advantage over the GXR lens. It can be used on a mess of MFT cameras rather than being locked down to one lens/camera module.

As I have stated previously, what I expected was results that were good for MFT. What I got was good results with no qualifier.

I have detailed my pursuit of a full frame daily solution in this space. What I ended up with was the smallest solution… for a full frame camera. The Sony A7C and 40mm f/2.5 G. Great camera and lens. But not as small as I had wanted it to be. So what started as candid solution quickly turned into my daily carry solution.

What moved me to expand on my MFT kit was a portable portrait solution.

I have a bus of a full frame portrait lens but I wanted something more portable. Had thought of getting one of two old favorites for Sony full frame, the Sony FE 85mm f/1.8…

…or Rokinon/Samyang 75mm f/1.8…

…, or even maybe the SIGMA 56mm f/1.4 for Sony APS-C.

But instead, I decided to lean into this MFT thing and get a lens for this system. All of those other lenses are great, but once again made for a larger camera/lens combo than I was looking for. More on the lens I selected soon. This is that post.

O.I.S. comes in handy with the GF1, but it is best with the EVF having GX7. I will follow up with a portrait-centric post but here are pics from week one out and about.

These next two images taken from the same vantage point are a good example of this lens’s ability to isolate subjects and create background and foreground blur.

This next pic is a good example of the pleasing bokeh balls that this lens creates.

Here the 42.5mm held its own against a full frame kit I used alongside it for an intern executive presentation session earlier this week.

I took it along while I ran a roll of film through a legend of a film camera and pivoted to it without hesitation when the film was done.

Wrap up.

This lens is awesome. Sat beside the Lumix 20mm f/1.7 both make a strong case for MFT.

Well done Panasonic.

I close with some additional product pics below.

Happy capturing.

-ELW