Chris shoots a lot of his family stuff on M43. He talked about this when he was on TheCameraStoreTV he just liked it because it was small and easy to take out with the family for trips. I think he got back into Nikon but not sure? But he was shooting Panasonic M43.
Yes, I agree. I use the Pany F1.7 20mm on my GX9 all the time--a great combo. For my OM-1 I did get the Olympus M.Zuiko 25mm F1.2 as it's slightly faster and for its superior, at F1.2 wide open, feathered bokeh that can be achieved, rendering softer looking background for better defocusing. But yes, in my experience the 40mm (eq) is the overall superior focal length.
Well the diagonal of a full frame sensor is 43,3mm. APS-C = 28,4mm m4/3 = 21,6mm A lens within this range gives a "native" field of view of 53~ degrees, is the closest to our own central vision which is between 50 and 60 depending on the person.
Thanks for the nice report. A lot of people cares about Micro 4/3, having a superb team like you people test the equipment is very relevant. Who wants to be lugging a huge and heavy camera and lens in the first place…? For gaining some extra low light and less noise capabilities, much of which are addressable through software anyway? Keep good work and Micro 4/3 with you. Cheers…
If they did a little better marketing and little more effort and cooperation m43 could be the best option for non professionals and some professionals too. Quite sad to think that all that potential can be wasted.. and good job Sony team with TH-cam marketing lol
A fair review of a lens not made by Canon or Nikon. The manual clutch issue can be resolved by using a custom function button on the body if you really need it, but I am a still photographer so it's a total non-issue for me.... The big issue for me is weather sealing, which this has. NEVER having to worry about rain or snow when going out to take pictures in bad weather is very freeing.... I am in Oregon, the land of forever rain where moss grows on EVERYTHING including your freaking CAR!!!! DP Review got a deal when they hired you two crazies, glad we have you to inform us!!!
The lens definitely renders nicely. On m43 there is almost never a need to stop down to F16, unless you are after sunstars, as F8 delivers the same depth of field as F16. If you need more, most m43 bodies allow you to to do hand-held in-camera focus stacking. No manual focus clutch is a bit of a disappointment but one can easily assign switching focus modes to the lever or any of the Fn buttons on most m43 bodies. I enjoyed the whole review and the pictures but 0:14 sec totally made my day :) Thanks again, Chris and Jordan for your review!
Focus Clutch serves for in lens manual manual focusing and so the positions and corresponding movements of the focus ring always mean the same, it is NOT focus by wire.
My favourite focal length, been looking forward to this one. 40s tend to be relegated to pancakes with terrible AF so getting something that's built well as a serious lens is huge for 40mm lovers. The lack of MF clutch is a little sad though, as somebody using it semi regularly on my 12-40.
I think these days the future of apsc is more uncertain. Canon and Nikon are gravitating away to full frame as are Sony. Only Fuji flying the flag it seems.
@@andrewbaxter9395 You're right about that. Fuji is the only one that has better APSC cameras. Even Nikon's newest Z50 or whatever it is is lackluster.
@@AlpacoFilms And even then I believe Sony makes Fuji’s sensors…..only takes for them to pull the plug. I get the differentiators between full frame and m43, it should exist, but comparing apsc to m43 is much harder when image quality is very similar and Fuji lags behind with slow autofocus and IBIS. I say this as a Fuji and Olympus shooter.
@@DeepteshLovesTECH different aperture for one. And this is a pro lens, and that isn't. That Nikon lens is closer to say a f1.7 20mm Panasonic. Which only weighs 87g. The Z Nikon lens is 170g. No matter what m4/3 will always have smaller lenses.
Feathered bokeh means that one of the lens elements has been feather etched along the edge, resulting in softer bokeh at full or close to full aperture. Similar to the effect of using an APD-element but without loosing light.
APO typically stands for apochromatic which usually creates harsher/sharper bokeh. I believe you're referencing an Apodization element which would be APD and seen on lenses such as the Smooth Trans Focus system lenses.
@@fsi2210 One of the largest retailers in my country made a small write-up on this when they first tested the F1.2-primes. It's in Swedish. I haven't found any material from Olympus/OM themselves.
Happy to see things are still being produced. I'm eagerly waiting to see what the next OM and Lumix MFT bodies bring to the party. The shallower DOF of FF is not something I especially crave, and the higher ISO quality makes little difference to the shooting and printing I do. So if the next generation MFT can hang with the autofocus and other features of Canon and Sony then I'm sticking with MFT for my professional work.
The same here! For Pro video, real estate, Food, macro, street, travel and Wildlife, the M43 is PERFECT for me! The FF / Bokeh hypes are very armful. They make a lot of people believe that only with FF you can achieve good results or Pro work. It's as if now, everyone needs AF like youtubers and as if everyone works in Low Light and needing a minimum depth of field. I believe that with new BSI and stacked sensors everything will change again.
I personally think Olympus is a beautiful and well-known name. It also has some historical background to go with, especially with the fact that they have been in the camera manufacturing game in a long time. But hey, it is what it is.
Looks like a very lovely lens all around, and the optics are nice. The manual clutch would be icing on the cake, but not this time. Seems very appealing.
OM has come up with a reliable standard, pro lens in the MFT category. I believe this lens, which is 40 mm equivalent in 35 mm film category, is convenient for all purpose photography. This could be a basic prime lens, to be carried out with you at all times. Many Thanks for the quick but comprehensive review from DP World.
Holy shit the quality of this lens just blew me away. If they can get us a little gx85 looking OM system body with pdaf, I might have open the old wallet.
@Michael Whyte Michael, the point is, when you press the shutter button after you've refocused manually, you're going to engage AF again just prior to shutter release. Which can defeat the purpose of MF override if the camera AF picks a different focal plane within the set focus point configuration (even for a single focus point). With back-button focus, let's say you get the camera to focus on an object via AF (using BBF) but want to make sure the precise line or feature you're interested in is indeed tack-sharp. So you move the MF ring (I set the MF Assist to Magnify) and set the focus as desired. Then, if you press the shutter release, the focus plane won't change the way it might if you were to keep Half Press AF set to Operative.
4:07 "Wernurururusingalota contrast when were shooting into the sun ..." at least that's what I heard the first time around ... i dunno why I laughed so hard.
This looks great -- I find the 50mm equivalent focal length is a bit awkward on a 4/3 sensor (unlike on a 3:2) whereas 40mm feels much more dynamic and versatile
Props to Jordan, not sure what he did exactly but some of the compositions were fun and dynamic, whether he shot Chris speaking directly to the camera or b-roll. Also I felt like there was a diversity of scenes (for both video and photo) whether it was indoors, first, river, city, rooftops, etc…
Two years later to the day and I’ve just taken delivery of this lens. In the UK there is an Amazon Black Friday deal now on that drops the price to £450 including 20% sales tax or US$560
20mm is one of the lenses I am considering for MFT. I use the 14mm for maybe 97% of the shots I take. But the 20mm f/1.7 is probably still to large for my use case. So only the 14mm and maybe the body cap lens might work.
thank you for the video review, we appreciate your work! The lens seems very good overall, though a bit expensive. In regards to the main flaw mentioned - the lack of MF clutch - I think you should have mentioned that the user can also enable MF very fast either with a shortcut-button on the camera body or in the super control panel with 2 clicks (instead of diving into the menu, as you only mentioned that long way). In that sense, the flaw becomes a slight detail. In general, this OM System lens will probably be successful for Olym..eh.....OMSystem. I'm looking forward to getting one soon.
A late comment. At the outset, well done Chris for not mentioning the defunct ( however the OMD, if not "Olympus"" badging) does appear on the the OM1, which I very strongly suspect had been fully designed and tooled up by the now former Olympus prior to the JIP buyout) and also suspect that this lens had been all but produced by Olympus. This is a great focal length. However,, once again, it raises the value for money argument. This is not to say that I regard the price as in Canon RF L and upper end Nikon territory. It is just that I have been very, very pleased with the excellent value for money offerings represented by the 17 1.8 and 25 1.8. The Pro versions of these truly excellent lens must offer superb resolving which, at this stage, appears to be beyond my happy snapper abilities The ff, yes could not get away from that mention as grew up on film, towards the end with an OM1, which I still use, very occasionally. However, the camera and virtually every camera released, even in early digital days, came bundled with a 50 mm ff equivalent for reasons that have been so often stated. That said, the ff 40 mm equivalent focal length appeals to me. The manual clutch is a non issue for me as I rarely use it on the 12-40 2.8 Pro which is almost glued to my Pen F, but the 17 1,8 comes a close second. It was interesting to hear your comment that the quality of the lens effectively out resolves the sensor! Canon have had similar issues with the very large sensor on the 90D and the TH-cam video site run by Michael Andrew, is littered with posts from 90D users who did not follow his lens recommendations. All in all this looks like being an excellent lens for what appeals to me, and the lens is certainly not in the Canon RF L price bracket or , Leica for that matter. May commence saving.
I've used back button focus for years. This is the simple answer to manual focus. I actually DON'T like the clutch. It's a pain when accidentally engaged.
The lack of manual focus clutch totally sucks. That's one of the best things about Olympus PRO lenses compared to Panasonic lenses. I love it and use it all the time on my 12-40 and 40-150 PRO lenses. My Panasonic Leica 25mm f1.4 has nothing to worry about.
I had few Tokina lenses with manual clutch. The experience was not good. Every time I switched to manual, the focus was slightly shifted from the position it was before. Besides, you always can do manual focus override while autofocusing without need to switch anything.
It'd be interesting to see a head-to-head between this and the Sony 40mm f/2.5 G. That seems like the closest to this lens in design--equivalent in focal length and aperture (just about), more expensive than budget options, less expensive than pro options, and trading the slightly darker aperture for overall good performance.
I agree, that's the first comparison I thought of. Yeah, they're for different systems but the 40mm shows that you can get M43 sized lenses on FF if they just use a smaller aperture (bigger f-stop but same physical aperture size).
You don’t need a MF clutch - with Olympus bodies you can configure any button you want to toggle between MF and AF. Or fn lever can do the job if you prefer that. Brilliant!
The lens sounds like a winner. The flaws are basically the missing features compared from other Pro lenses (focus clutch and FN button). I'm sticking with my old 20mm f1.7 released over a decade ago. And with the 17mm f1.2 Pro which is a bit wider, faster and has all the features from an Oly/OM System Pro lens. BTW, R3 looks like it shoots nice video.
Nice one. Small request about reviewing MFT lenses though - please do mention body compatibility, like 'no issues'. Since there were some in past with few features.
Chris - on this and other videos about this lens the author states that it is difficult or that you need to go through the menu system when wanting to use manual focus. I think this is misleading because one only has to set the focus menu setting ONCE to S-AF-MF (Single Auto-focus Manual Focus Override) to ALWAYS have the manual focus available when moving the focus ring. For this reason, I don't see the lack of an AF switch as an issue. I am not a big fan of the focus clutch; its nice to have and cool for zone focusing with a scale...but is seldom used.
Hello, this lens in my use of the process found that the use of maximum aperture f1.4 out of the screen distortion is very obvious, this problem I have also discussed with two other friends who have this lens, that’s true, but once you zoom in above f1.8, it’s gone, which isn’t the case with the other three f1.2 Pro lenses, and I don’t see that in your video. I wonder if it’s the production lot
A bit of nostalgia hit me at 0:54 with the Donkey Kong machine in the background. I remember plucking my allowance worth of coins into one as a kid nearly 40 years ago.
Aaaaawwww, the Ninja Turtle pinball game. Can you play it once and record. Brings back memories from a past time. Would be the best episode so far @1:00
Olympus' departure still makes me sad. My dad used an OM-1 back in the days and he always let the ten year old me use it. Right after the Soviet Union collapsed we had the opportunity to travel there and I took an image of an old rusty boat on the shores of Wjatka river. I still have this images as a large print. It has been a keeper and I was ten. Fond memories. I love the quality of the R3-Footage btw.
Nice review Chris! My only disappointment was that OM didn’t make this an f1.2. Not a big enough advantage to buy if you have the other lenses mentioned. Or they could have created something unique to M43 like a 42 or 43mm f1.4 or f1.8 equivalent.
Thank god they didn’t do this f1.2. Have you seen the f1.2 PRO primes? Those are huge and heavy compared to 20mm f1.4 PRO. And what on earth would be the point of having 17mm, 20mm and 25mm f1.2 lenses?
It's a size thing. For instance one of my favorite lenses is the Olly 14-45mm f/4 Pro lens. Precisely because it's optically fantastic but because it's f/4 it is so much more compact. And for landscape and daylight shooting, I step down to f/5.6 or slower anyway. It's also bullet proof, so I can put it on my e-m1 and shoot in rain no problem.
This would be of some use to people owning both Sony e-mount and M43 and wondering which system to complement with the respective piece of glass; or if there were anyone on the fence, trying to decide on one of these two systems. I'm not sure, however, if the "Oly" 20 mm f/1.4 or the Sony 40 mm f/2.5 would be the sole factor to tip the scales in the latter case, or if there are many viewers facing the former dilemma...
@@tomaszstramel3594 You have brought up the exact issue I am thinking. I have both systems. However, after sony's release of 3 new compact G lenses + Sigmas I series I am not seeing much benefit of keeping both systems. The main advantage of m43 is diminishing day by day.
Seems like a lovely lens but was it really a 20/1.4 the system needed the most? I think a really nice, really wide prime might have been better, but as a first lens under the rebranding I guess you can't go wrong with a 35 or 40mm equivalent.
Hi, I currently have a pen-f that I love and 2 objectives sigma 30mm 1,4 and the 45mm 1,8 olympus. As a budget I have 1300/1700 Euros and I am looking for one or 2 "definitive" objectives for the meantime (later you will see) that are capable of doing different types of photography ranging from weddings such as portraits even in low light, football matches mainly during the day and occasional landscapes.I am looking for objectives that are unique as compactness, performance and versatility compared to all systems photographic (apsc, full, frame etc ...) if I stay in the micro 4/3 I'm interested and I don't see real alternatives to the Om system / olympus 8-25mm, 12-100mm, 20mm 1,4 and last probably also Om lenses 40-150mm f4 or sigma 56mm 1,4. I am confused because if the 20mm 1,4 can replace my sigma 30mm in all ways, even as a bokeh, I would take it with my eyes closed. 12-100mm and these would also be useful for taking medium and long distance portraits of the spouses.If I really have to keep my pen-f with a single lens I would think of the 20mm or 15mm leica or the announced 9mm leica 1.7 ... or also have a second no micro 4/3 body with other lenses also used? Thanks.
Hello guys! Being a Canon fanboy in the past, and a total Canon hater lately , for obvious reasons and stuipd Canons decissions, I still have to admit something. Seeing the show for a long time, now if the episode was really shot on Canon R3, I have to admit, that the video picture is amazing. Even around 7.10 , while it is not the wide open apeture, stil the picture looks like 3 dimentional and somehow impressive. I can not describe it, but it is there. A little... how was the word ? oomph i guess. Also can be said that the picture has thicknes and punch, but in a good way. I hope you feel the same. Thumbs up!
I'd like to swap my, stupidly sharp, Panny 20/1.7 for something that didn't have banding issues in video (like a 20/1.7 II), and this was also a contender... would have been nice to have a comparison...!!! Also handy would be a focus clutch like my amazingly good Oly 45.1.2 - I can say Oly as I bought it, on an insanely good Black Friday deal, back when it was "Oly".... Oh and apparently no OMDS BF deals this year in the U.K. :-(
I like the 40-45mm FOV equivalent on any camera system, but this lens despite its great optics and af focusing seems a bit off to me. For a start it's not at all compact nor light, despite what Chris says or was he being ironic? My Voigtlander 40mm f2 Ultrons for FF and 35mm shows how it should be done. Again there are historical lenses, Olympus' own rangefinder lenses of 60's and 70's or Minolts/Leitz 40mm f2 or Hexanon 40mm f1.8 and Zeiss 45mm f2 for example, which show the way. The whole point of m4/3 is compactness. You gain 1/2 stop over the Panny for a lens 3 times as large. Then there is no manual focus override. Considering this, the price also looks to be a bit optimistic. Sorry OM Systems - could do better.
I shoot FF as well and you are one dumb photographer. I love the voigtlander but while I may say it is smaller and probably the same optics, this Olympus has weather sealing and autofocus. Your comparing apples to oranges lol.
@@losrevolucionarios8858 And you Sir are rude and impolite and inaccurate. A 40mm focal length (or its equivalent in whatever format) is a traditional do it all lens which is close to the human eye's FOV (which is why I like them). It does not need to be super fast (which this OM Systems one is not), but handy and of good optical quality. Well the new lens fulfils the second criteria, but not the first.It is relatively large and heavy for a system which is supposed to offer the benefit of compactness. I would not expect it to be as small as the Panny, but neither would I expect it to be three times as large. Nothing dumb in my assessment here at all, rather a rational analysis of facts. I am not even heaping a load of scorn on the lens. just pointing out it could have been ergonomically better. Suffering from these ergonomic flaws make the price asked less appealing.
Does it really though? I understand other guys have higher resolution viewfinders. But Pen F's viewfinder when it came out was praised for being large, fast and clear. I certainly find it to be quite sufficient.
@@terrywbreedlove The EVF looks the same today as it did 5 years ago. There is nothing wrong with the EVF. Just because there are better out there doesn't mean this one is bad.
I am a bit disappointed by this lens. Although OM calls it a pro lens, not only does it not have a focus clutch or a function button, it also does not support focus stacking like the other pro lenses (and even the 60mm macro). It is also limited to 25fps in mode SH1, unlike the other pro lenses which allow 50 fps with autofocus active for each frame. For a first OMD branded lens, that leaves a bad taste. Yes, it's fast and it's weather sealed, but that's about it. I'm feeling a bit tricked.
I love that Chris and Jordan aren't afraid to cover M4/3 gear from Olympus, I mean OM System. lol
Chris shoots a lot of his family stuff on M43. He talked about this when he was on TheCameraStoreTV he just liked it because it was small and easy to take out with the family for trips. I think he got back into Nikon but not sure? But he was shooting Panasonic M43.
I love the 40mm (eq) focal length for primes. 50mm is just a little too tight, but 40 gives enough FoV to allow really enjoyable compositions.
Yes, I agree. I use the Pany F1.7 20mm on my GX9 all the time--a great combo. For my OM-1 I did get the Olympus M.Zuiko 25mm F1.2 as it's slightly faster and for its superior, at F1.2 wide open, feathered bokeh that can be achieved, rendering softer looking background for better defocusing.
But yes, in my experience the 40mm (eq) is the overall superior focal length.
Well the diagonal of a full frame sensor is 43,3mm.
APS-C = 28,4mm
m4/3 = 21,6mm
A lens within this range gives a "native" field of view of 53~ degrees, is the closest to our own central vision which is between 50 and 60 depending on the person.
Thanks for the nice report. A lot of people cares about Micro 4/3, having a superb team like you people test the equipment is very relevant.
Who wants to be lugging a huge and heavy camera and lens in the first place…? For gaining some extra low light and less noise capabilities, much of which are addressable through software anyway? Keep good work and Micro 4/3 with you.
Cheers…
If they did a little better marketing and little more effort and cooperation m43 could be the best option for non professionals and some professionals too. Quite sad to think that all that potential can be wasted.. and good job Sony team with TH-cam marketing lol
Good to see OM & Panasonic continued investment into M43
A fair review of a lens not made by Canon or Nikon. The manual clutch issue can be resolved by using a custom function button on the body if you really need it, but I am a still photographer so it's a total non-issue for me.... The big issue for me is weather sealing, which this has. NEVER having to worry about rain or snow when going out to take pictures in bad weather is very freeing.... I am in Oregon, the land of forever rain where moss grows on EVERYTHING including your freaking CAR!!!! DP Review got a deal when they hired you two crazies, glad we have you to inform us!!!
No with that functional buttons you have only focus by wire!
The lens definitely renders nicely. On m43 there is almost never a need to stop down to F16, unless you are after sunstars, as F8 delivers the same depth of field as F16. If you need more, most m43 bodies allow you to to do hand-held in-camera focus stacking. No manual focus clutch is a bit of a disappointment but one can easily assign switching focus modes to the lever or any of the Fn buttons on most m43 bodies. I enjoyed the whole review and the pictures but 0:14 sec totally made my day :) Thanks again, Chris and Jordan for your review!
Focus Clutch serves for in lens manual manual focusing and so the positions and corresponding movements of the focus ring always mean the same, it is NOT focus by wire.
The 20mm F1.4 does not do in-camera focus stacking. You can still do focus bracketing and the stack yourself in Photoshop.
@@georgewhaley3144 I would think he's speaking of the camera body its on !
My favourite focal length, been looking forward to this one. 40s tend to be relegated to pancakes with terrible AF so getting something that's built well as a serious lens is huge for 40mm lovers. The lack of MF clutch is a little sad though, as somebody using it semi regularly on my 12-40.
Hope M43 format will stay alive. Very underrated system.
Ppl have been speculating the system would die off since it's inception. But it is here to stay.
@@tankerbruja I remember in 2016 before the GH5 and E-M1 Mark II were announce EVERYONE was saying MFT is dead! Instead they revolutionized cameras.
I think these days the future of apsc is more uncertain. Canon and Nikon are gravitating away to full frame as are Sony. Only Fuji flying the flag it seems.
@@andrewbaxter9395 You're right about that. Fuji is the only one that has better APSC cameras. Even Nikon's newest Z50 or whatever it is is lackluster.
@@AlpacoFilms And even then I believe Sony makes Fuji’s sensors…..only takes for them to pull the plug. I get the differentiators between full frame and m43, it should exist, but comparing apsc to m43 is much harder when image quality is very similar and Fuji lags behind with slow autofocus and IBIS. I say this as a Fuji and Olympus shooter.
Glad to see the new company continuing the excellent tradition of Olypmus quality.
Micro 4/3 isn't dead yet. It has a future. The average micro 4/3 lens is much smaller and lighter than an APS-C one. That for many is very important.
Didn't Nikon just bring out a 40mm F2 Z lens which is basically similar in size to this OM 20mm F1.4?
@@DeepteshLovesTECH its not the same quality at all.
DeepteshLovesTECH there is huge difference between f/2 and f/1.4.
Even full lenses with small apertures can be very small even pancake lenses.
@@DeepteshLovesTECH different aperture for one. And this is a pro lens, and that isn't. That Nikon lens is closer to say a f1.7 20mm Panasonic. Which only weighs 87g. The Z Nikon lens is 170g. No matter what m4/3 will always have smaller lenses.
Feathered bokeh means that one of the lens elements has been feather etched along the edge, resulting in softer bokeh at full or close to full aperture. Similar to the effect of using an APD-element but without loosing light.
Didn’t know that, thank you, is there any reference material that exists over this process?
APO typically stands for apochromatic which usually creates harsher/sharper bokeh. I believe you're referencing an Apodization element which would be APD and seen on lenses such as the Smooth Trans Focus system lenses.
@@OccultDemonCassette Yes, you are correct. Apodization. I edited the comment - thanks.
@@fsi2210 One of the largest retailers in my country made a small write-up on this when they first tested the F1.2-primes. It's in Swedish. I haven't found any material from Olympus/OM themselves.
@@Gabriel-wv1uz Thank you, that’s very interesting.
The look on this videos is amazing!
Happy to see things are still being produced. I'm eagerly waiting to see what the next OM and Lumix MFT bodies bring to the party. The shallower DOF of FF is not something I especially crave, and the higher ISO quality makes little difference to the shooting and printing I do. So if the next generation MFT can hang with the autofocus and other features of Canon and Sony then I'm sticking with MFT for my professional work.
The same here! For Pro video, real estate, Food, macro, street, travel and Wildlife, the M43 is PERFECT for me! The FF / Bokeh hypes are very armful. They make a lot of people believe that only with FF you can achieve good results or Pro work. It's as if now, everyone needs AF like youtubers and as if everyone works in Low Light and needing a minimum depth of field. I believe that with new BSI and stacked sensors everything will change again.
Best reviews ! Quick, concise and unbiased!
I personally think Olympus is a beautiful and well-known name. It also has some historical background to go with, especially with the fact that they have been in the camera manufacturing game in a long time. But hey, it is what it is.
Thanks very much for the review! I got one of these for Christmas and the focal length is great for a walkaround lens.
Awesome little lens. Btw the lighting on this episode is great. Well done, Jordan!
Looks like a very lovely lens all around, and the optics are nice. The manual clutch would be icing on the cake, but not this time. Seems very appealing.
OM has come up with a reliable standard, pro lens in the MFT category. I believe this lens, which is 40 mm equivalent in 35 mm film category, is convenient for all purpose photography. This could be a basic prime lens, to be carried out with you at all times. Many Thanks for the quick but comprehensive review from DP World.
Holy shit the quality of this lens just blew me away. If they can get us a little gx85 looking OM system body with pdaf, I might have open the old wallet.
Oh woww.. you made my fantasy go crazy on this one
a new pen f is coming I guess?
Excellent videos, always really enjoyable and informative. Thanks.
Interesting Lens! Great option for m43! I use SAF (Back button) + MF. I like the Focus Clutch ring, but I use it less then I thought I would!
This is exactly my thought. I don't find I use the AF/MF clutch very much honestly. I love the look, size, and character of this new 20mm a lot.
@Michael Whyte Michael, the point is, when you press the shutter button after you've refocused manually, you're going to engage AF again just prior to shutter release. Which can defeat the purpose of MF override if the camera AF picks a different focal plane within the set focus point configuration (even for a single focus point). With back-button focus, let's say you get the camera to focus on an object via AF (using BBF) but want to make sure the precise line or feature you're interested in is indeed tack-sharp. So you move the MF ring (I set the MF Assist to Magnify) and set the focus as desired. Then, if you press the shutter release, the focus plane won't change the way it might if you were to keep Half Press AF set to Operative.
4:07 "Wernurururusingalota contrast when were shooting into the sun ..."
at least that's what I heard the first time around ... i dunno why I laughed so hard.
Would like to see some Voigtländer reviews on OMD EM1.m3
I'd love to see a comparison with the 17mm 1,8 and the lumix 20mm 1,7 II.
This looks great -- I find the 50mm equivalent focal length is a bit awkward on a 4/3 sensor (unlike on a 3:2) whereas 40mm feels much more dynamic and versatile
Nice lens. Even nicer video from the R3.
Props to Jordan, not sure what he did exactly but some of the compositions were fun and dynamic, whether he shot Chris speaking directly to the camera or b-roll.
Also I felt like there was a diversity of scenes (for both video and photo) whether it was indoors, first, river, city, rooftops, etc…
Two years later to the day and I’ve just taken delivery of this lens. In the UK there is an Amazon Black Friday deal now on that drops the price to £450 including 20% sales tax or US$560
Usually use 50mm but tried it and love it on my EM1 Mark ii. This, the 12-100 F4 and the plastic-fantastic 75-300 cover pretty much everything.
David Thorpe would have loved this lens mate. RIP wherever you are.
He was the best!! I miss him and would love to see his review about this lens!
I thought it's a shit lens? What do you mean?
I hope the Tamron 18-300 Fuji-X review coming soon.
I will be buying this lens.
20mm is one of the lenses I am considering for MFT. I use the 14mm for maybe 97% of the shots I take.
But the 20mm f/1.7 is probably still to large for my use case. So only the 14mm and maybe the body cap lens might work.
I guess iphone 13 pro is better than your body cap lens
thank you for the video review, we appreciate your work! The lens seems very good overall, though a bit expensive. In regards to the main flaw mentioned - the lack of MF clutch - I think you should have mentioned that the user can also enable MF very fast either with a shortcut-button on the camera body or in the super control panel with 2 clicks (instead of diving into the menu, as you only mentioned that long way). In that sense, the flaw becomes a slight detail. In general, this OM System lens will probably be successful for Olym..eh.....OMSystem. I'm looking forward to getting one soon.
@Michael Whyte This lens has a huge focusing ring--so it'll be annoying.
nice review, cool lens!
Me: See Olympus in the title. Click immediately.
A late comment. At the outset, well done Chris for not mentioning the defunct ( however the OMD, if not "Olympus"" badging) does appear on the the OM1, which I very strongly suspect had been fully designed and tooled up by the now former Olympus prior to the JIP buyout) and also suspect that this lens had been all but produced by Olympus.
This is a great focal length.
However,, once again, it raises the value for money argument. This is not to say that I regard the price as in Canon RF L and upper end Nikon territory.
It is just that I have been very, very pleased with the excellent value for money offerings represented by the 17 1.8 and 25 1.8. The Pro versions of these truly excellent lens must offer superb resolving which, at this stage, appears to be beyond my happy snapper abilities
The ff, yes could not get away from that mention as grew up on film, towards the end with an OM1, which I still use, very occasionally. However, the camera and virtually every camera released, even in early digital days, came bundled with a 50 mm ff equivalent for reasons that have been so often stated.
That said, the ff 40 mm equivalent focal length appeals to me. The manual clutch is a non issue for me as I rarely use it on the 12-40 2.8 Pro which is almost glued to my Pen F, but the 17 1,8 comes a close second.
It was interesting to hear your comment that the quality of the lens effectively out resolves the sensor! Canon have had similar issues with the very large sensor on the 90D and the TH-cam video site run by Michael Andrew, is littered with posts from 90D users who did not follow his lens recommendations.
All in all this looks like being an excellent lens for what appeals to me, and the lens is certainly not in the Canon RF L price bracket or , Leica for that matter.
May commence saving.
I've used back button focus for years. This is the simple answer to manual focus. I actually DON'T like the clutch. It's a pain when accidentally engaged.
The lack of manual focus clutch totally sucks. That's one of the best things about Olympus PRO lenses compared to Panasonic lenses. I love it and use it all the time on my 12-40 and 40-150 PRO lenses.
My Panasonic Leica 25mm f1.4 has nothing to worry about.
I had few Tokina lenses with manual clutch. The experience was not good. Every time I switched to manual, the focus was slightly shifted from the position it was before.
Besides, you always can do manual focus override while autofocusing without need to switch anything.
Me too. Without clutch no lense can be perfect
id love the see the gh5 again shooting with this 20mm f1.4
It'd be interesting to see a head-to-head between this and the Sony 40mm f/2.5 G. That seems like the closest to this lens in design--equivalent in focal length and aperture (just about), more expensive than budget options, less expensive than pro options, and trading the slightly darker aperture for overall good performance.
That's a full frame lens for a totally different system. But I think a general affordable/compact lens video would be good.
I agree, that's the first comparison I thought of. Yeah, they're for different systems but the 40mm shows that you can get M43 sized lenses on FF if they just use a smaller aperture (bigger f-stop but same physical aperture size).
Wonderful video guys, thank you.
Nicely done guys! Another great lens, though to be honest there are already so many for MFT that I’m not sure too many more needed.
You don’t need a MF clutch - with Olympus bodies you can configure any button you want to toggle between MF and AF. Or fn lever can do the job if you prefer that. Brilliant!
But do you get linear manual focus?
wonder how many of these will be sold
The lens sounds like a winner. The flaws are basically the missing features compared from other Pro lenses (focus clutch and FN button).
I'm sticking with my old 20mm f1.7 released over a decade ago. And with the 17mm f1.2 Pro which is a bit wider, faster and has all the features from an Oly/OM System Pro lens.
BTW, R3 looks like it shoots nice video.
A 40ish mm cross system comparison video would be fire fam
Nice one. Small request about reviewing MFT lenses though - please do mention body compatibility, like 'no issues'. Since there were some in past with few features.
It will always be an Olympus - OM stands for Olympus Mitani.
Maitani
Mine is arriving tomorrow. OM-1 and 20mm 1,4...my old nikon D850 still in the bag but it is time to get something lighter...
Chris - on this and other videos about this lens the author states that it is difficult or that you need to go through the menu system when wanting to use manual focus. I think this is misleading because one only has to set the focus menu setting ONCE to S-AF-MF (Single Auto-focus Manual Focus Override) to ALWAYS have the manual focus available when moving the focus ring. For this reason, I don't see the lack of an AF switch as an issue. I am not a big fan of the focus clutch; its nice to have and cool for zone focusing with a scale...but is seldom used.
The best sunstars I've seen on m43 are from the PL 12mm f/1.4. Nice review btw.
Hello, this lens in my use of the process found that the use of maximum aperture f1.4 out of the screen distortion is very obvious, this problem I have also discussed with two other friends who have this lens, that’s true, but once you zoom in above f1.8, it’s gone, which isn’t the case with the other three f1.2 Pro lenses, and I don’t see that in your video. I wonder if it’s the production lot
For decent sun stars, Panasonic Leica 12mm f1.4 is very good
I want a Olympus I mean insert new name but I don't know where you get the rebrand Olympus in store am not in a country where they are sold
Would be interesting to compare this to the older Panasonic Leica Summilux II 25mm f1.4.
Good informative video, thks.
This lens has everything going for it, and I was so excited about it until I hear "No Manual Focus Clutch!!". Why OM Systems, why????
A bit of nostalgia hit me at 0:54 with the Donkey Kong machine in the background. I remember plucking my allowance worth of coins into one as a kid nearly 40 years ago.
Another sneaky Wotancraft ad! Okay, you win, order placed.
Still rock my 3 year old EOS R for weddings professionally , im investing in RF glass first so the R will be here for some time :)
Aaaaawwww, the Ninja Turtle pinball game. Can you play it once and record. Brings back memories from a past time. Would be the best episode so far @1:00
Would you or should you even compare it to the Sigma 16mm as far as Sharpness! Thank you for the production work.
Could this..be still my beating heart..a precursor to an upgraded sensor???
Olympus. Olympus. Olympus. There is said it.
I love 40mm. I think this would be great on the EM5.
stuck between this and 25mm for everyday use... what do you think is a better length?
Olympus' departure still makes me sad. My dad used an OM-1 back in the days and he always let the ten year old me use it. Right after the Soviet Union collapsed we had the opportunity to travel there and I took an image of an old rusty boat on the shores of Wjatka river. I still have this images as a large print. It has been a keeper and I was ten. Fond memories.
I love the quality of the R3-Footage btw.
This will go into my travel bag.
You can still call them Olympus. as OM stands for Olympus Maitani. So the Olympus name is part of it.
Nice review Chris! My only disappointment was that OM didn’t make this an f1.2. Not a big enough advantage to buy if you have the other lenses mentioned. Or they could have created something unique to M43 like a 42 or 43mm f1.4 or f1.8 equivalent.
Thank god they didn’t do this f1.2. Have you seen the f1.2 PRO primes? Those are huge and heavy compared to 20mm f1.4 PRO. And what on earth would be the point of having 17mm, 20mm and 25mm f1.2 lenses?
It's a size thing. For instance one of my favorite lenses is the Olly 14-45mm f/4 Pro lens. Precisely because it's optically fantastic but because it's f/4 it is so much more compact. And for landscape and daylight shooting, I step down to f/5.6 or slower anyway. It's also bullet proof, so I can put it on my e-m1 and shoot in rain no problem.
What, no water puddles anywhere there????
You should do a comparison vs Sony 40 f2.5 G! They seem very close in price and (equivalent) specs.
This would be of some use to people owning both Sony e-mount and M43 and wondering which system to complement with the respective piece of glass; or if there were anyone on the fence, trying to decide on one of these two systems. I'm not sure, however, if the "Oly" 20 mm f/1.4 or the Sony 40 mm f/2.5 would be the sole factor to tip the scales in the latter case, or if there are many viewers facing the former dilemma...
@@tomaszstramel3594 You have brought up the exact issue I am thinking. I have both systems. However, after sony's release of 3 new compact G lenses + Sigmas I series I am not seeing much benefit of keeping both systems. The main advantage of m43 is diminishing day by day.
@@কাঁঠালেরআমসত্ত্ব its cheaper. Got my em5ii plus 25mm 1.7 and 14mm 2.5 for less than $500. Sony is just body alone
Seems like a lovely lens but was it really a 20/1.4 the system needed the most? I think a really nice, really wide prime might have been better, but as a first lens under the rebranding I guess you can't go wrong with a 35 or 40mm equivalent.
Spot on, a pro level weather sealed 12mm or even better a 10mm f1.4 is missing in the OM/Olympus line up.
Nice vid
I like the Snappy AF
Hi, I currently have a pen-f that I love and 2 objectives sigma 30mm 1,4 and the 45mm 1,8 olympus. As a budget I have 1300/1700 Euros and I am looking for one or 2 "definitive" objectives for the meantime (later you will see) that are capable of doing different types of photography ranging from weddings such as portraits even in low light, football matches mainly during the day and occasional landscapes.I am looking for objectives that are unique as compactness, performance and versatility compared to all systems photographic (apsc, full, frame etc ...) if I stay in the micro 4/3 I'm interested and I don't see real alternatives to the Om system / olympus 8-25mm, 12-100mm, 20mm 1,4 and last probably also Om lenses 40-150mm f4 or sigma 56mm 1,4.
I am confused because if the 20mm 1,4 can replace my sigma 30mm in all ways, even as a bokeh, I would take it with my eyes closed. 12-100mm and these would also be useful for taking medium and long distance portraits of the spouses.If I really have to keep my pen-f with a single lens I would think of the 20mm or 15mm leica or the announced 9mm leica 1.7 ... or also have a second no micro 4/3 body with other lenses also used? Thanks.
If Lumix would have gotten their autofocus act together I would have LOVED Micro 4/3.
It's 2021, everything can happen 😜
I see you mostly were Orvis tops, Can you do a fly fishing show. You could get Jorden to film it on a new camera. :-)
@2:56 Aren't you Canadians? WTH are inches?😁
Chris is bilingual 🤣
0:42
What was that screech.
Hello guys! Being a Canon fanboy in the past, and a total Canon hater lately , for obvious reasons and stuipd Canons decissions, I still have to admit something. Seeing the show for a long time, now if the episode was really shot on Canon R3, I have to admit, that the video picture is amazing. Even around 7.10 , while it is not the wide open apeture, stil the picture looks like 3 dimentional and somehow impressive. I can not describe it, but it is there. A little... how was the word ? oomph i guess. Also can be said that the picture has thicknes and punch, but in a good way. I hope you feel the same. Thumbs up!
OM System... that's a name you can really warm up to. Sounds like an industrial air conditioning company. I miss 'Olympus' and metal bodied cameras
Here. Educate yourself. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_OM_system#:~:text=The%20system%20was%20introduced%20by,a%20later%20consumer%2Doriented%20series.
I'd like to swap my, stupidly sharp, Panny 20/1.7 for something that didn't have banding issues in video (like a 20/1.7 II), and this was also a contender... would have been nice to have a comparison...!!!
Also handy would be a focus clutch like my amazingly good Oly 45.1.2 - I can say Oly as I bought it, on an insanely good Black Friday deal, back when it was "Oly".... Oh and apparently no OMDS BF deals this year in the U.K. :-(
so who is kenney?
So how many retakes did this really take to get the "OM systems" right ;-)
I like the 40-45mm FOV equivalent on any camera system, but this lens despite its great optics and af focusing seems a bit off to me. For a start it's not at all compact nor light, despite what Chris says or was he being ironic? My Voigtlander 40mm f2 Ultrons for FF and 35mm shows how it should be done. Again there are historical lenses, Olympus' own rangefinder lenses of 60's and 70's or Minolts/Leitz 40mm f2 or Hexanon 40mm f1.8 and Zeiss 45mm f2 for example, which show the way. The whole point of m4/3 is compactness. You gain 1/2 stop over the Panny for a lens 3 times as large. Then there is no manual focus override. Considering this, the price also looks to be a bit optimistic. Sorry OM Systems - could do better.
I shoot FF as well and you are one dumb photographer. I love the voigtlander but while I may say it is smaller and probably the same optics, this Olympus has weather sealing and autofocus. Your comparing apples to oranges lol.
@@losrevolucionarios8858 And you Sir are rude and impolite and inaccurate. A 40mm focal length (or its equivalent in whatever format) is a traditional do it all lens which is close to the human eye's FOV (which is why I like them). It does not need to be super fast (which this OM Systems one is not), but handy and of good optical quality. Well the new lens fulfils the second criteria, but not the first.It is relatively large and heavy for a system which is supposed to offer the benefit of compactness. I would not expect it to be as small as the Panny, but neither would I expect it to be three times as large. Nothing dumb in my assessment here at all, rather a rational analysis of facts. I am not even heaping a load of scorn on the lens. just pointing out it could have been ergonomically better. Suffering from these ergonomic flaws make the price asked less appealing.
Would love this lens on a Pen F MK2. The current camera needs a better EVF and AF.
Does it really though? I understand other guys have higher resolution viewfinders. But Pen F's viewfinder when it came out was praised for being large, fast and clear. I certainly find it to be quite sufficient.
@@SirMo It was ok 5 years ago but not so much anymore.
@@terrywbreedlove The EVF looks the same today as it did 5 years ago. There is nothing wrong with the EVF. Just because there are better out there doesn't mean this one is bad.
@@SirMo I have the Pen F the EM1.2 and EM1X. Both the other two cameras are light years ahead in ease of manual focus.
@@terrywbreedlove Really? I find with peeking it's super easy. Like way easier than it ever was on my D600.
Terrific lens. Expensive but "pro". Good for OM System.
Olympus does have auto manual focus
fast, excellent quality, sharp, weather sealed, only issue... size....for street photographers
I am a bit disappointed by this lens. Although OM calls it a pro lens, not only does it not have a focus clutch or a function button, it also does not support focus stacking like the other pro lenses (and even the 60mm macro). It is also limited to 25fps in mode SH1, unlike the other pro lenses which allow 50 fps with autofocus active for each frame. For a first OMD branded lens, that leaves a bad taste. Yes, it's fast and it's weather sealed, but that's about it. I'm feeling a bit tricked.
And the best part is that is not a 35mm equivalent ;)
40mm is new trend
Hardly. I used an Agfa Optima, with a 40mm lens, for a trip to Europe 40 years ago.
If only this was 10mm instead of 20mm.
👍👍
I see it breathe like crazy. especially at the corner.
Where are all the Sony and Fujifilm shills that say M43 is a small sensor? Tony Northrup and Theoria Apophasis just got told hard lol!
The ever present Noct Weight Standard. 😂
Great review, thanks. $800 vs sub $300 Panny? No thanks.