Got my Lumix 20mm f1.7 in the mail today

T

Tuolumne

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Just arrived from Amazon. B&H still doesn't have it in stock so I popped from Amazon. Very nice lens. Very small, compact and lightweight. Great balance on the G1 body. Lighter combo than my R-D1 with any M lens. Seems well made and solid, though. I will post some test shots later. All we need now is a fast 28mm and a fast 105mm and we are set!

/T
 
I put a few on another thread, but here they are again. I think it's great.

m4/3 is VERY FUN.

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And perhaps my favorite novel ever, at a bar last night...
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I've never used a 40mm (efl) lens before. It really seems ideal. Hard to believe 5mm in either direction can make such a big difference.

/T
 
martin s said:
If one thing should be recorded with film it's a Nobokov novel.

(looks good though)

martin
Click to expand...

I should add that book takes place just a few blocks from the bar where I was reading it! Nabokov lived here for ten years...and wrote Pnin, Speak Memory, and most of Lolita in Ithaca. (Pale Fire I believe he wrote in Switzerland, but it's set in "New Wye," an Ithacalike.)
 
Great sample images, and I like the backstory on the Nabokov novel.

My 20mm was due to arrive from Amazon yesterday; it's somewhere in my city, across town at the regional USPS warehouse, or so the tracking indicates. I think it's gonna take longer to get from the city warehouse to my doorstep than from Amazon to the city. GAS is a terrible thing to have. ;)

~Joe
 
When I arrived home from work today my 20/1.7 lens was waiting for me. I tried it on my G1; I really love the image quality; I was shooting indoors at night under dim artificial lighting at ISO200 and was able to get shutter speeds of 1/50 or so with the lens wide open. Very nice.

The only downer for me is that, compared to the 14-45 lens, the 20mm doesn't focus as well. It makes noise, for one; that's not such a bad thing, as its not that loud, and the manual for the lens implies that the drive mechanism for this lens is different from the others. The problem is that the lens is actually slow to focus. And it hunts and overshoots -- not all that often, but enough to know that this ain't the 14-45 lens, who's operation is totally transparent to the user.

I'm hoping that out in the street this lens will perform okay, but my initial impressions are that this lens is less than stellar in operation, compared to the 14-45 lens. That's the price you pay for a fast, compact pancake lens. I will be happy overall with the 20, I'm almost certain, since I don't have any other legacy lens of this focal length and speed. Manually focusing, if I have to, is a viable option in order to have the compactness, image quality and speed this lens offers. It just ain't the 14-45.

~Joe
 
Hmmm, I haven't had any problem focusing the 20, it doesn't seem to hunt even in low light. Noise? It is a bit louder than the 14-45, but not necessarily loud. Compared to my Contax G2 autofocus noise, it's silent. :)

Will shoot more tomorrow under varying conditions.

Close focus, sharpness & bokeh seem excellent...
 
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Noise: it makes a low hum. Silent compared to most AF lenses. But, Yes, the 14-45mm lens is totally silent.

Focus: Quick and sure for me. I have had no problems, but I've used it outdoors exclusively so far.

/T
 
I finally had a chance to do some available light photography with the 20mm f1.7. Really nice. I had very few problems getting it to auto-focus properly, although I did use the G1's auto-illumination light.

l
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Full set here.
/T
Edit: All taken at ISO 1600, f1.7 and various shutter speeds between 1/20th and 1/40th of a second. Photos cleaned with NoiseNinja, then shadows brought up in Aperture 2. Nothing else (although some would consider that too much!).
 
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