Leica/Leitz versus Pana glass on GH-2

[AlfSollund]

Hi all,

I have compared some lenses on the GH-2. I wouldn't dare to call this a test  , but it should give an indication on sharpness. I hope to compare bokeh and flare later. Please feel free to share your experiences. Not all my sample phots are uploaded yet, but some can be found at:
http://flyalf.wordpress.com/category/photo-talk/leica-versus-pana-on-gh-2/

And here is my first experiences:

As the Leica and Leitz M lenses can be used with by an adapter on my Panasonic GH-2 I  wanted to compare. A good background article can be found at:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/leica_m9_second_body_alterantives.shtml

Handling and usability:

In general the M lenses are surprisingly easy to focus manual on GH-2 on largest aperture

- Leitz 18/4: Difficult, couldn’t recommend it.

- Leica 28/2,8: Easy, recommended

- leica 50/2: Very easy, recommended

- Leica 90/4: very easy, recommended

Comparing photos taken these lenses on the GH-2 and compared to the  Pana 14-140 and 20/1,7 ASPH.

The setup was done on a moderately stable tripod set on concrete,  with an el-cheapo Hong-Kong adater, with manual focus and exposure, on RAW and imported in LR3.4. In lightroom all setting were put to neutral and all synchronized with same color balance, and 100% crops were taken from corners and centers. The files were exported without sharpening.

The first part of my “test” was done in cloudy low-contrast light to compare among other sharpness. Please note there are other equally important parameters that have not yet been “tested” by me, such as bokeh, flare, etc… Also the sharpness has not yet been tested in high contrast light.

My main learning  is that the Panasonic lenses impresses on the GH-2! The 20/1,7 are as good or better combo with the GH-2 as the Leitz 18/4 looking upon sharpness in corners.

The  Pana 14-140 set on 48mm was approximately as sharp on full aperture (but being only a modest 5,5,) as the Leica 50/2 on f/2.

And on f/8 the Leica 50/2 might be a bit sharper, but its of little or no practical value.  On f/16 both are a bit softer due to diffraction, but again little impact in real life photograph.

Comparing the Leica Macro 90/4 to Pana 14-140 set at 99mm (sorry) I must say that the Leica is sharper at full aperture f/4 than the Pana at f/5,8. At f/8 the Leica is also noticeable sharper. But this is comparing a fixed to zoom, so the Pana actually impresses me.

[stever]

after Michael's article on the 4/3 accessory and then the introduction of the E-P3, i revisited micro 4/3 cameras and compact APSC to decide if one would finally meet my needs

the Photozone results and a few others that i could find pretty well confirm your results.  i think 12+ megapixels in the 4/3 format is at or above the capability of production lenses (even Leica which after all are designed to cover a much larger format) and that Panasonic and Olympus have done a good job optimizing the design and controlling the tolerances on their small format lenses - in fact a better job than the APS-C lenses as there seems to be a smaller difference in resolution than i'd expect from the difference in format - micro 4/3 looks like a reasonable alternative to APS-C

of course the addition of a converter between lens and camera can't do anything good (although it at least shouldn't mess up CD focus indication)

so i think that it's unlikely that we'll see a noticeable resolution increase from new lenses anytime soon for 4/3 (or APS-C) and those of us hoping for better 4/3 performance by spending more money on lenses will be frustrated

[Christopher Sanderson]

I am still waiting for a fast (2.8 or better) medium zoom (~35/~90 equiv.) for my GH2 kit - any suggestions?

[stever]

unless Tamron or Sigma decides to make their 2.8 zoom in 4/3 mount, i think the closest you can come is the Pana 14-50 f2.8-3.5 with 4/3 to micro 4/3 adapter - the hypothetical Tamron or Sigma would also require an adapter and dwarf the camera.  a large, expensive micro 4/3 lens is probably not high on Panasonic or Olympus development priorities

[deejjjaaaa]

unless Tamron or Sigma decides to make their 2.8 zoom in 4/3 mount, i think the closest you can come is the Pana 14-50 f2.8-3.5 with 4/3 to micro 4/3 adapter

or f2 43 zooms from Oly (14-35/2 or 35-100/2)...