Micro Four Thirds: Panasonic Leica 9mm f1.7 Review
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- čas přidán 8. 07. 2024
- In this video I shoot the PL 9mm every day for a month to figure out how to take less dull UWA images and review the lens while I am about it.
Thanks for checking out the video!
Bloody hell - you have 321 subscribers but this is by far the best review from anyone on CZcams...Well done! 322 Subscribers now.
That’s incredibly kind of you! And thanks very much much for the sub! I need to pull my finger out and make some more videos…!
Really appreciated your thinking, and how you reviewed this. Thanks
Many thanks for the very kind comment and for watching the video!
So interesting Jon! Beautiful pictures!
Thanks Anita! You are too kind!
A good journey! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for taking the time to watch the video and for the kind comment Steve.
Very useful observations and illustrations, thanks! Subscribed🥂
Thanks for checking out the video and for the kind comment - I’m pleased you liked it!
Some great photos (and love the intro montage) and also likely goes well with your EM52 when trying to keep things small and light! Thanks for sharing your learnings!
Thanks for a video informative video and some lovely images.
Hey Ian, thanks very much for checking out the video and taking the time to comment. And thanks for the kind words. I think my photography has been improved just by shooting this lens every day for a month. I’ve recently done a similar exercise with a 40mm full frame lens. It definitely helps you see things differently. I’m really enjoying the process of learning.
Excellent video💯 insightful with humor and very nice images😁, you helped me with my uncertainties regarding purchasing this lens.
Thanks for checking out the video and taking the time to comment. I hope you enjoy your purchase!
What a well made video. I've been using the Laowa 7.5mm f/2 on my secondary camera for recording interactions with students, but never really put much effort into taking compelling images with it. I guess I kinda gave up after not liking any of the images I have taken with it. You've inspired me to take on the challenge of getting some decent shots, as you've demonstrated in this video.
Hey Jonah. Thanks for checking out the video and your kind words. I hear you about shooting uninspiring images. My lack of appreciation of how to take a less than bland images put me off shooting wide angle lenses. I hope you have fun approaching wide angle shots with a fresh perspective!
Like your rich vocabulary ❤
Ha! My wife just calls me verbose! Thanks for checking out the video!
I came across your channel through a link from 43 rumors, and have now subscribed. You have an interesting, analytical, articulate, and different take on things, which I appreciate. (Thomas Eisl is your kindred spirit, from a professional's vantage point.) Regarding the 9mm lens, I bought it for astro photography with my new OM-1, and it has worked very well. You have inspired me to find other uses for it, keeping in mind your tips for composition. Thanks for taking the time to make these videos.
Hey Jack, many thanks for checking out the video and for taking the time to comment. By background I have degree in physics and am a trained accountant. Needless to say I’m not the first person people gravitate to at parties….! I’ll have to check out Thomas’ work and approach - thanks for the intro. I’ll also have also been meaning to try astro-photography but the weekends have mostly been cloudy/wet here over the last couple of months. Enjoy your new lens and camera - you’ll have a blast!
@@jonneave Thanks, Jon. Well, with your background, you should be superb at counting quarks. 🙂 Thomas Eisl has a CZcams channel, and posts almost weekly. I would highly recommend him to any OM Systems (ex Olympus) users. He offered a comment on one of your previous videos, reflecting his strong knowledge about, and support for, OM Workspace. He is a professional photographer based in Vienna, and conveys complex information is a very organized and understandable fashion, with dry humor. Regarding astrophotography, the OM-1 (and I believe most of its recent predecessors) has excellent computational capabilities, which are very helpful for star trails. More generally, the star focus feature has turned a real challenge for old eyes into a complete non-issue, with tack-sharp stars. As far as the weather, we live in Tucson, AZ, so we have a slight advantage over the Manhattanites.
Great shots :) When I first got my Panasonic Leica 12mm - I really struggled getting used to the wide view! But now I could not live without it - it’s my favourite lens!!! Makes me want to get the 9mm :) Fantastic video - Thank you :)
Hey Grant, thanks for watching the video and taking the time to comment. I’ve spent so long looking at portrait/sport distances so that was all I would see. Great to mix it up and think more about composition and in particular what to exclude when a lens can suck in such a wide field of view. Have fun with your next lens purchase!
‘Grant Robert Davies’ in da House !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😃
Great video. I am glad you mentioned about "line" when composing your picture with this lens.
Hey Michael, thanks for taking the time to watch and comment. A year on, the lessons I took away from using the lens for a month straight still float around my head. Do you have the 9mm or something similar?
@@jonneave At first, I was thinking of the Olympus 12 mm f2.0. But then another photographer had both, he recommended the 9 mm. After viewing many CZcams reviews of both, I have decided to get the 9 mm. I have an Olympus OM-D EM1 Mark iii with the 12-100 f4 Pro, 75-300 f4 and the Panasonic 20 mm f1.7. I am hoping the 9 mm f1.7 will complete my required range of lenses. BTW, I was checking out the Insta360 X3; another dimension of photography to think about. Lol
I guess you’ve got 12mm covered with the 12-100 F4 which is itself a lovely optic. The 9mm will give you a very different look to the 12mm. Fun to experiment! And as for the X3, it’s a great device. I love that you dont need to frame the video until afterwards in post. It’s been out a while…..I wonder if there’s a new one due out soon…! Have fun!
@@jonneave I am seriously thinking of getting the 9 mm. The closest prime lens is the Pana 20 mm 1.7.
The 20mm f1.7 is a great little lens that can be picked up pretty cheaply used. As long as you don’t need it for video. The 9mm will give a very different look to the 20mm. Choices! All good.
Nice challenge, some nice photos, and a nice review of the 9mm PL. It's my first ever UW prime and I'm a mainly a wide to tele zoom shooter - so I'm still very much on, as you put it, the long journey of learning how best to see the world and use it for interesting results. But looking at some of your results you're off to a great head start. 👍
Sounds like you’re coming from where I was at a year ago. The exercise of creating the video has definitely informed my photography process over the last 12 months. Still not intuitive to me but at least I have a process! Thanks for checking out the video and the thoughtful comment. Enjoy your new lens!
Excellent stuff! I use the 9mm for the obvious stuff, getting close to the action, exaggerating speed, depth… and of course small spaces where you need one to get the shot. It’s a nice walkaround lens, but requires an attitude adjustment - you need to be familiar with your subjects or really good socially because you will be in their personal space.
Definitely an attitude adjustment! I’m not sure my brain will every be the same. Definitely has informed my compositions even with my preferred telephoto lenses. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Great video, worth looking at those NYC street photog documentaries for some inspiration getting right up close to people. Obviously takes some balls.
Thanks for the very kind comment. Would make some interesting images with some people dominating the foreground though, as you say, with the 9mm you’d need to be in their faces! Thanks again.
New to your channel, as a new om-1 this was interesting, you've just earned yourself a sub...
Many thanks for taking the time to watch the video and for the kind comment! Enjoy your new camera!!
This is and excellent video about a subject not often discussed - the challenge of learning how to see the world though an ultra-wide angle lens. My 9mm will arrive tomorrow to be an alternative the my Olympus 7-14mm f2.8 PRO which I bought because I got a crazy good deal on it, not so much because I wanted to shoot ultra-wide angle. I've had some fun with the 7-14 but find it a bit large and worrisome with it's very exposed convex front element for everyday carry. So, this Pana-Leica will be that EDC ultra-wide. I very much appreciated your advice for this kind of photography: get close to your foreground, connect it to your background, and find leading lines and symmetry. With those guidelines I'm looking forward to learning to see the world in this new to me way. Thank you!
I totally agree. Learning a focal length is key to really getting the results.
Hey Greg, how did you get on with your new lens? Best
I’ve been experimenting with shooting just a 40mm full frame lens for the last few weeks. It is definitely a challenge to find compositions and perspectives that make the best of a given focal length. My journey with the 9mm µ4/3 was very instructive for me in this regard.
Yeah. It's humbling. Took me a while. Get down and low. Get close. Get connected. And point up too. But as you say, if this is your only lens for a week or two, then you start to reframe the world. Nice job. I might buy one instead of my Laowa 7.5mm which is great but the integration of the Pany is tempting. Nice work. Thank you.
Hey Michael. I think humbling sums it up! It’s all too easy to take some very uninteresting images with an ultra wide lens. It’s been nearly a year since I made that video but the lessons I learnt get applied every time I pick up a camera. My latest project has been shooting a 40mm full frame lens nearly exclusively - sometimes I feel like a longer or shorter lens would have been better in the situation but it forces you to look at things differently instead of falling back on preferred styles and techniques. The PL 9mm definitely started me on that journey. Thanks for your thoughtful comment and enjoy the lens quest.
G’day Jon, thanks for this video 👍🏻 New Subscriber here. Cheers from Western Australia 🇦🇺
Thanks Spike! I am sure the weather in WA is far better than up here - enjoy!
Nice review, thanks. How did you find the chromatic aberration (CA) with this lens since, as I understand, is not fixed automatically on an Olympus as it is on a Panasonic? My past experience with the 20mm Pany lens was atrocious CA on my em1 iii and was difficult to remove in post.
Thanks for checking out the video and commenting. There are definitely some purple fringing / anomalies but I dont find them overly worrying. Different folks will have different use cases / tolerances to CA. It's definitely there but its not a great concern to me. Maybe I'II do a video specifically testing the limitations here.
Lovely shots and educational video.
I feel the same way. For ultra-wide angle I find a fisheye more useful and easier to shoot. I also love the fisheye for cropped in video. It's like a very high quality action cam for following my kids around with an ultra-wide field of view that doesn't shrink the central subject matter and provides environmental context. I've tried ultra-wide angle lenses for this same use case but find the distortion emphasizes too much the environment and de-emphasizes the subject.
Many thanks for the kind thoughts! It’s fun to play with different lenses and figure out some use cases that I haven’t considered before. Might have to try a similar exercise with the 75mm f1.8 that doesn’t solely focus on portraits! Thanks again!
To each their own slothchunk
Enjoyed your video. Appreciate especially the section on you sharing on your journey to making this ultra wide view work for you. By the way, noticed that in recent videos you also use the Nikon crop sensor camera. In your opinion, it is worth to scratch the itch to migrate from olympus micro 4/3 to Nikon crop sensor? (As weight and size comparable in my opinion). Thank you.
Hey Ink, thanks very much for checking out the video. It’s been over a year and I think I’m still on that ultra wide journey!
I do have both Nikon and micro four thirds gear. And I have both full frame and APSC Nikon bodies. I have found the autofocus on the fairly entry level Nikon crop bodies to be a bit easier to find and stay focused on subjects than my latest Olympus body which is the E-M1 iii. I have been shooting my kids skiing, mountain biking, playing soccer and softball with my ZFc and 50-250 when i want to go light. I have a couple of PL lens (50-200 & 100-400) which I’d love to use on a better AF performing micro four thirds body.
And to that end, I’ve noticed that the O-M1.1 has dropped significantly since the mk 2 was released so I put an order in for that body which should arrive soon! I’m hoping the AF is a step up from my E-M1 iii and Nikon crop bodies and goes some way to closing the gap to that of my Z8….lets see!
Thanks again for checking out the video.
I have it on an E-M5 II and love the combination. I find it extremely useful for work (urban studies in my case) but yes it’s definitely easy to get back home with a long set of boring pictures :) how do you find the ultra wide angle lens on the iPhone? I read it renders mushier details than the 28mm equivalent.
Hi - thanks for checking out the video and for the comment. I used the 9mm on my old E-M5.2 which works great. The lack of usable CAF on the 5.2 is irrelevant with such a lens. But yeah, its very easy to shoot a bunch of abjectly dull pictures if you dont take time to compose your images with care.
With the iPhone 14 Pro Max, i think the ultra wide is improved over previous models. It’s reputedly better than the 13 in low light. With the distortion away from the center of the frame that comes along with an UWA lens, its difficult (for me) to be objectively critical about the results. I certainly don’t find the images objectionable. With all that said, the results from the 1x lens are very presentable.
Dayuumm, check out ALL of those recessed can lites! Wow, You sure You have enough there Jon? 😆
Great review! Peace
Ha! I hate dim dingy spaces! Thanks for checking out the video and for the comment!
Very nice review, thanks. One question: how did you do the hyperlapse that starts around 3:12??? Did you use a gimble? I picked up the 9mm, actually buying it new (no used ones on the market here in Germany, which should tell you a lot about demand and satisfaction for the lens!). Use it primarily for street photography where it is stellar. My only disappointment is that OMS does not support it for in-body photostacking...but that has nothing to do with this lens.
Hey John, thanks for checking out the video and for the kind comment. The hyper lapse was done on a Insta360 X3 camera on a selfie stick. I did the hyperlapse edit in their studio app. I hope you enjoy the 9mm. It taught me a lot about how to look at the world from a composition perspective. Thanks again.
I have the same combo (E-M1 III & PL 9mm f1.7). I've owned the lens for just over 24 hours and have seen "purple blobs" in strong sunlight and curved lines opposite indirect sunlight. I watched this review and others, and have read more but no one seems to mention this. This cute, light, and sharp lens is probably on its way back to B&H.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. There are definitely some purple fringing / anomalies but I dont find them overly worrying. Different folks will have different use cases / tolerances to CA. It’s definitely there but its not a great concern to me. Maybe I’ll do a video specifically testing the limitations here. Thanks.
@@jonneave I just bought a 2A filter to counter the blobs. I have since decided to keep the lens but it is worth mentioning - some may find it objectionable.
That's because you shoot Olympus. On Panasonic cameras it's OK. Panasonic lenses do not filter blue and shorter wave lengths in their lenses. Cheers
@@dunsunyt Or what I ended up doing to circumvent the Olympus/OMDS problem: a 2A filter.
Great video! What is the blue chair and foot stool in your background?
Thanks for the comment and for checking out the video. I think it’s called a womb chair. The original is pricey but there are a number of reproductions. Thanks again.
You were doing a lot of streetphotography. In my experience, that‘s one of the hardest types to compose interesting images. I think my keeper rate there is less than 5%.
I bought the PanaLeica 9-18 f2.8-4 for a job. I still have to figure out a lot about wide-angle images, because the resulting pictures I took I think I could have done with a kitlens. 😅
Hey Tobias, thanks for watching the video and taking the time to comment. I hear you about the kit lens comment. And the same goes for a wide angle phone camera! And my keeper rate is well below 5% - even with that, my photos were far from impressive! But it was a good learning opportunity. Thanks again.
Jon, I'm posting on this video, as my question relates to Panasonic-Leica. On your most recent video re the Nikon super telephoto lens, you made a passing (negative) comment about the Panasonic-Leica 100-400mm lens for your OM-1. As I also have an OM-1, and was looking for more reach than the 300mm lens which I already have, this caught my eye. There really have not been that many reviews of this new lens, so I would appreciate any comments which you might share. Vis-a-vis the OM Systems equivalent lens, the Panasonic-Leica one appears to have advantages with respect to its size and weight. I have rented the OM Systems 100-400mm lens, and found it on the heavy side (for a Micro 4/3 format piece of equipment). Good quality images, but big and bulky, relatively speaking. Even if you are not covering equipment which interests me, I enjoy your videos and how you approach your critiques and impressions. Thanks, Jack
Hey Jack, thanks for taking the time to watch the video and for your comment.
I have the E-M1 iii with the PL 100-400 v1. I haven’t had the opportunity to shoot the OM-1 or the new PL 100-400 v2. When I got the PL 100-400 v1 I was very much hoping it could do super telephoto duties with my E-M1 iii given the size differential between micro 4/3 and full frame. My philosophy at the time was for full frame indoors/low light and micro 4/3 for outdoor sports etc.
I have had good experiences with Panny lenses in the past owning quite a number through the years, including the 35-100 f2.8 which was a very nice lens. And more recently I had purchased the PL 50-200 which I like a lot. So this led me to pick up the PL 100-400 v1 which I favored over the Olympus equivalent which, as you note, is somewhat larger.
When I tried using the lens in C-AF at maximum focal length, I found the images to be less crisp than I was hoping for a Leica branded lens. I did some research online and the consensus seemed to be that the Pl 100-400 was a decent lens overall but has more variability/less reliability in producing sharp images with Olympus bodies than on Panny bodies or than the Oly lens on Oly bodies. The sentiment was that the combo could produce high quality images but more care was required to do so.
Maybe I’ll give it another test and see if I can get better results as it’s certainly a lot lighter than my Z8 / Tamron 150-500 combo! I’d recommend renting the PL 100-400 and see how it works with your OM-1 though I’m sure the AF capabilities of the OM-1 body are significantly above the E-M1 iii.
Thanks again for your time and your kind words. And best of luck.
Thanks, Jon. It wasn't clear to me whether you had the latest version of that Panasonic/Leica lens, or the earlier version. Reviews of the older one seemed to have two main themes: Stiffness while zooming, and less-than-optimum auto-focusing. So, I do plan to follow your advice and rent one of the Version 2 models. This will likely be later this year, as I have no need for it until then. When I do test it, I will sharer my (admittedly amateur) impressions here. Thanks again for your videos, and Happy New Year. Regards, Jack
Hi Jack, thanks for the update.
I’ve read comments about the zoom ring stiffness. I didn’t have a big issue with my copy. It was stiffer than some lenses especially if you pointed the lens upwards as you had to overcome gravity, but in practice I don’t practically shoot in that manner. I’d guess maybe Panasonic tweaked the tolerances between the earlier copies and my much later one.
I’d be very keen to hear your experience with the v2 lens. And as for amateur views, I have a feeling we’re in the enthusiast club as I’ve never made a penny from my photos! Maybe one day! Also, how do you like the 300mm? I think my favorite micro 4/3 lens is the Oly 40-150 f2.8 but the reviews of the 300mm seem in that zip code or better.
Best
Jon, I "achieve" 300mm (i.e. 600mm equivalent) using one of two ways: 1) The 40-150 F2.8, which you mentioned, along with a 2.0X teleconverter; 2) A 75-300 F4.5/6.7. As you say, the 40-150 is a great lens, especially in low light conditions, such as for forest and bush wildlife, and especially for birds. However, I have found the teleconverter to be "fiddly", and not always reliable when using auto-focusing. It was free with the 40-150 lens when I bought the OM-1 and the rest of the kit. Although the 75-300 lens is not a "pro" version, I have done some tests, and find the image quality to be comparable. And, it's compact, light, and perhaps strange to say, "fun." Said another way, it's in keeping with the whole Micro 4/3 ethic. and I am not allergic to plastic. And, when you add the teleconverter to the 75-150 lens, losing two F-Stops in the process, the light gathering difference narrows between the two lenses. As I have begun spending more photo time with wildlife over the last two years, my experience is that the 300mm often is not quite enough. I could elaborate with specifics, but this is a public forum. Suffice it to say that, if I expect to be doing more birding, I have convinced myself that the 400mm (i.e. 800mm equivalent) would be more satisfactory. It's a bit of a vicious circle, of course, and if I had more high quality megapixels (such as on your Z8), this would be less of an issue, as I could crop to my heart's content. Again, I like the form factor and weight associated with the Micro 4/3 products, and as I do a fair amount of hiking, weight and cubic space is a real issue. Thanks for the enthusiastic discussion, Jack
Hi Jack, interesting to hear your experience of the 75-300 vs 40-150 f2.8. I’ve never had much success with teleconverters. I have tried 3 different systems (old EF, Olympus micro 4/3, Nikon Z) and I find they make focusing less reliable, lose a stop or two of light and degrade the image to the point where you’d be as well just cropping.
And I’m guessing the 75-300 is much nicer to hike with. I take my Z50 with the 50-250mm (75-375mm effective) out skiing as its very light, solid autofocus with ok reach. The E-M1 iii with the PL 50-200 is heavier than the Z50 set-up but has much better weather resistance. That’s generally not a factor for me as I’m not pulling the camera out if the weather is bad since pics of the family skiing aren’t overly interesting in a white-out! Nice to have choices.
Please keep me informed of your search. I’m really liking the Z8 with the 150-500 but I doubt I’d ever get anything longer for full frame given the size and costs involved. The form factor of the PL 100-400 is v compelling….
Best
I know that guy! His vids are so cool!
Thanks Milz!!
Interesting how we are all different. I find it much easier to work with ultra-wides than I do telephoto and the 9mm is not wide enough for me
For sure. I guess we gravitate to things that appeal to each of us. Always fun to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Thanks for the comment and for checking out the video.
I like to crop a lot of my wide angle stuff to 16 X 9.
Hi. I’ve never thought about doing that. I’ll have to try it out!
@@jonneaveIt tends to emphasize the scene and not the extra space.
That makes sense. Thanks for the tip!
Did you mean the Panasonic 14mm f2.5?
The field of view comparison did use the Panny 14mm f2.5. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Unfortunately most m43 optics is focused on the size of the lens and not performance. Also, the 9 mm is a plastic fantastic lens which questions the Leica branding IMO. And without focusing so much on size (and low price) this could have been a better performer and included high end features like a focus clutch and better lens hood. Not that the Leica 9 mm is "bad", but it could have been so much better if the design and quality was raised a notch to the level of the Leica 10-25mm zoom.
Hi, I think there’s pretty much something for everyone and the optics are generally very good to great. I didn’t like how soft the Panny 45-200 was at the long end but all the other lenses I’ve used have been solid performers for the price/size. And yeah, for an extra few dollars, the 9mm could’ve been very good all around without bulking it up too much. Thanks for checking out the video.
Does it have fish eye effect......
Hi. No fisheye effect as the lens, combined with in camera corrections, is rectilinear. Thanks for commenting.
@@jonneave thanks again
You are welcome!
Shooting this lens during the day? I never thought to do that!
it shouldnt have leica branding, it is plastic and has no MF clutch.
Some will never get it right. It is Bokeh ("Bo-kaa") not bouquet. No flowers involved in the term. It comes from Japan. Please respect that. Otherwise a very nice interesting video. Thank you.
Yep. Knew it as soon as it came out of my mouth. I could have re-recorded that section but I was a month into making the video and just wanted to finish it at that point. Thanks for watching.