Posted on by wjl

That standard lens on my “Pen”

Both Kirk Tuck (on his blog) and my friend Thorsten Wieszniewski (with email) lately reminded me of my standard lens, which is a Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm/1.4 on my Olympus E-PL5 “Pen”-type camera. And to both I replied that yes, it’s gorgeous, and one of the best we have. My blog header photo shows me using it, and take this quick snapshot for instance:

7de_6254016-bucket

Small purple bucket. Mixed light: daylight in the foreground, flash in the background.

Noticed the bokeh from the small standby light on our TV set? Here it is at 100% for all of us (you) pixel-peepers:

7de_6254016-bokeh-detail-640x480

Perfectly round at f/2 which I used here, isn’t it?

It’s my go-to lens, and because I have the 50mm macro on my DSLR, this 25mm rarely leaves my mirror-free smaller camera. It’s just that good.

Thanks for reading.

9 Replies to “That standard lens on my “Pen””

  1. yesssss….
    it was definiteley the most bokehlicious
    (http://www.digitalrev.com/product/bokehlicious-t-shirt-black/MTAwMDYzMw_A_A)
    lens I have ever worked with. And at f 2 (most of the wedding pics i have shown to you, were taken at f 2, or 2.2) it really shines, even on my cheap E-PL1.

    And the colour….. Yeah! The blue tones, gold, skin tones….. never seen it before on my own photos. It was a pitty that I had it just for four hours or so…….

    And that great bokeh makes me now some trouble in my choice for a new compact for my wife…..last week I was absoluteley sure, that it will be the Sony RX-100. But this fantastic camera in terms of resolution and so on has a tremendous complex zoom lens. It lacks on bokeh….. The Panasonic Leica 25 mm 1.4 has some aspherical elements also…… but the bokeh is rich and creamy.

    At the Leica homepage they write, the bokeh kings were the older lenses with less corner resolution and with no aspherical glass…..made in the fifties, sixties, seventies……..I find the newer glasses with no Zoom technology also very very pleasent.

    The Ricoh GR is quite something I would like to buy fo Barbara…..but this little gem costs EUR 650,- a bit much in relation to the EUR 380,– for a Sony RX-100 with it´s more universal capabilities and even smaller size!

    Dammned, the perfect point and shoot would have in my opinion a fixed lens with 35 mm film equivalent between 35 and 40 mm (why not 37 mm?) a priceline about EUR 350,– and a sensor not to small (Nikon 1) and not to great (Sony RX-1 EUR 3.500,– ….one ZERO to much for my budget!). Perhaps something like APS-C size or micro four thirds or why not something completely new like 18 mm x 18 mm?

    The Fuji X-100 s ??????

    Hmmm……. Sensor size and focal lengths fitting in my opinion, but to expensive, to large and heavy – and the autofocus seems to be a catastrophy. Nothing to shoot children. The manual fokus also is absoluteley worthless as I read…….it is elektronical and needs endles time to skip just from 3 m to 2 m! That makes no sense in this Camera Philosophy!!!

    Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sony engeneering guys: Here is your niche!!!!!!

    1. Yes, I think the X-100S is the best camera in its class, very much like a modern Leica (and its sensor should be better than any Leica except the M-240).

      I think Ming Thein got a compact Fuji for his wife which wasn’t too bad IIRC – it was the X-F1, and he liked the X-20 even more I think. But yes, Sony’s RX-100 is most probably still the compact to beat.

      Hard decision, I know…

      P.S.: the X-100S has a much improved autofocus when compared with the original X-100 I think. Almost at X-T1 level IIRC.

      1. Thank you Wolfgang! I haven’t had the X -F1 in my focus, until you wrote these lines. I have read the article of Ming again. Looking at the price at amazon……and wow!
        Bang!
        EUR 189,-
        Fantastic! I think what fits for Ming’s wife will fit for Barbara too.
        This one or the 3 mm deeper RX-100…… “Schaun mer mal”

        ……and I take the photography probably not serious enough to buy a new OMD E-M 10 Body……

        The Combination of the 20 mm 1.7 Panasonic and the E-PL 1…… much to heavy and large for Barbaras morning runnings…..

        1. Welcome Thorsten. And if the E-PL1 and 20mm is too big, then recommending an X-A1 (APS-C Fuji) is out of the question / scope as well…

          1. Well, would be so nice, if the lens could go completely into the body, if it is not used (portability)! So the X-F1 has much much charme imho……

            And the jpegs seems to be very natural, sharp and crisp:
            http://g4.img-dpreview.com/FD7A7F3293494C3BB74915B4FBBED145.jpg

            or
            http://g2.img-dpreview.com/85A02687BD774898A4CD81AD1A9D2E82.jpg

            or
            stunning natural:
            http://g3.img-dpreview.com/7F1C656FF46E4CFA8CB8CC483F8563F8.jpg

            btw:

            Fujifilm
            Do you know if there are any raw capabilities for programms like adobe lightroom or the linux based programm that you use? I think, that the Fuji X -Trans sensor is a bit of an “exotic thing”. So even in these days you have do work with the original Fuji Raw Converter if you want to take best output from the more professional Fuji Cams, like the X-100 or the X-T 1, X-Pro 1 and so on?

            thw

          2. Yes, these are good pictures without any doubt. It seems to be a nice little camera, well worth a try.

            About the raw converter: I know you’re using Macintosh computers, and I’ve heard that Iridient Developer and PhotoNinja are the best ones for Fuji (and some other) cameras. That said, I don’t know if the X-F1 has one of those X-Trans sensors; I’d have to read again. But I would give these two programs a try if I had a Mac.

        1. Same as “WIMRE” in German – “if I recall correctly”, or “wenn ich mich recht erinnere”

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