Considering the Panasonic 20mm with GF6 but concerned about lack of OIS

Paul De Bra wrote:

jimmyleeds wrote:

Hi all,

I've recently bought a Panasonic GF6 (my first step up from a point and click), I fancy getting the Panasonic 20 mm II lens for it's size and it also seems good at getting that nice bokeh look.

There is one thing the 20mm is NOT so good for and that is getting nice bokeh. Pancake lenses are not known for their "creamy" bokeh. It has nothing to do with the focal length (of course you get more background blur with a longer lens). The 20mm simply produces what people would call a "busy" look. Here is an example (look at full size).

Although the 20/1.7 is not ideal for subject isolation by means of background blur, I'd primarily chalk that up to the focal length along with the max aperture and the sensor format. Not so easy to get a lot of blur with a lens that is equivalent to a 40/3.4 on FF. While the quality (as opposed to quantity) of the blur is not ideal, it is no worse in that regard than most other lenses with similar specs. And I don't know at all what the degree of pancakiness has to do with it. The non-pancake 25/1.4 is no better (I'd rather say a tad worse) with regard to the quality of the OOF rendering. But it can of course generate more blur due to the slightly longer FL and slightly wider max aperture.

I rarely go for subject isolation by means of background blur with the 20. I'd normally use my 45/1.8 or 75/1.8 for that (both of which capable of delivering more as well as better blur). But when I use the 20 wide open and get some blur with it, it usually does OK for my standards. A couple of examples below.

20mm at f/1.7