Panasonic 25mm f/1.4 Leica DG Summilux Quick Review

Game Changer of m4/3rds

Pros: Consistent Output, Nice Bokeh, Durable, Fast / accurate auto-focus, Lightweight, Easily Interchangeable, Strong Construction, Sharpness

Best Uses: Sports/Action, Landscape/Scenery, Weddings/Events, Night Photography, Indoors/Low Light, Video

Describe Yourself: Pro Photographer

Was this a gift?: No

There comes a time when a lens can define a camera system. The Panasonic 25mm Leica DG Summilux ƒ/1.4 is one of those lenses. Before zoom lenses, when I started in photography 35mm SLRs and rangefinders had a 50mm lens that was considered a “normal”. The view from it was considered normal perspective. What the eye sees. That is what the 25mm is to the four thirds format because the sensor on a four thirds camera is 1/2 the size of a full frame 35mm camera sensor. The aperture on the lenses ranged from f/0.95 to 3.5, with f/1.4 considered a fast lens. A good compromise between speed and affordability. The 1.4 aperture allows low light photography as well as low depth of field. On most lenses you want as fast aperture because the best sharpness is about 2 stops down from the maximum. I have found this not to be true with this lens. It is very sharp wide open and has a lovely out of focus look.

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