Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 ASPH for Micro Four Thirds

[CCJ]

Introduction
Building on the rising popularity of Micro Four Thirds mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras, Panasonic recently announced the Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 ASPH, the fastest auto-focus lens available in a native Micro Four Thirds mount. The newest lens in Panasonic's Lumix G Micro System lineup, the Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 ASPH comprises 9 elements arranged in 7 groups (including 2 aspherical elements and 1 ultra-high-refractive-index lens element). It features Nano Surface Coating to minimise ghosting and flare, and an iris diaphragm with seven rounded aperture blades for pleasing bokeh. The lens is light - approximately 200 grams - and takes small, 46mm filters.

Read on for Red Dot Photo's hands-on with the lens!



Chromatic Abberation (CA)
Chromatic abberation isn't a strong point of this lens; in fact, it's quite severe when shooting wide open. The lens is still very useable though, as dialling aperture down by two stops makes CA virtually nonexistent.



Vignetting
Light falloff is, unfortunately, quite prominent when shooting wide open. Again, stopping the lens down helps greatly. Vignetting is no longer an issue by the time the lens is stopped down to f/2.8.



Resolution
To test the lens' resolving power, a center to edge sharpness test was also carried out. The next image shows the setup, derived from the ISO 12233 chart, which was used for the resolution test. Images were captured from f/1/4 to f/16. 100% crops of the images' center and edge were then collated.



Center sharpness is decent wide open, and improves dramatically when stopped down to f/2.0. Edges are soft wide open, but sharpness is much better from f/2.0 onward. By f/2.8, both center and edge sharpness are excellent. Of course, this is not to say that the Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 is not useable wide open, especially for low-light conditions.

Test results can be viewed here.

Conclusion


With its light weight, excellent imaging capabilities, and its position as the fastest Micro Four Thirds lens available today, the Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 ASPH is a great choice for Micro Four Thirds shooter looking for a fast, normal prime. With possible uses including low-light photography, street photography, and general walkabout shooting, this lens is sure to find its way to many a happy photographer.

Test Shots
Here are some test shots taken with the Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 ASPH mounted on an Olympus E-P2.


(f/1.4, 1/80s, ISO800)
Sharp in focus, with smooth creamy bokeh in the background. Very nice subject isolation wide open.


(f/1.4, 1/80s, ISO800)
The sharpness of this lens is demonstrated here, even wide open; look at the droplets on the bottle label!


(f/1.4, 1/160s, ISO500)
The focal length and smooth bokeh make it a nice full- or half-body portrait lens as well.

Summary, the Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 ASPH for Micro Four Thirds is first lens in the MFT regime capable of such large apertures. With the pedigree of Leica supporting this format, this is a sign of great things to come for MFT systems!

Pricing and availability: The Leica DG Summilux 25mm f/1.4 ASPH for Micro Four Thirds should be available in Singapore by september 2011 with a current estimated retail price of SGD$1000.