The Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 has horrific flare characteristics

krugman wrote:

Evaluating this lens may depend on whom you trust.

I trust Roger Cicala of Lens Rentals. His review of a number of wide angle m4/3 lenses shows the Panasonic 20mm to be absolutely outstanding in sharpness, measured quantitatively with great expertise and great equipment..

I also trust SLRGear. Their review of the Pana 20mm by 17 people produced the following: (We don't know who the 17 were but I have found the SLRGears reviews to be very thorugh and knowledgeable):

94% recommended this lens.

Quality of construction: 8.94 out of 10

Image Quality: 9.47 out of 10.

Reviewers' overall rating: 9.41 out of 10.

Mu-4/3 is a highly respected forum, no trolls and lots og good photographers. Amin Sabet, well respected, chaired a review of the Pana 20mm. There were some complaints about speed of focusing, or noise, but the general tenor of the review was highly enthusiastic. People said it was the lens that attracted them to m4/3. Others said they have trouble taking it off the camera, it is that good.

Here are the urls:

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2012/05/wide-angle-micro-43-imatest-results

http://slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/1295/cat/68

http://www.mu-43.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=11&title=panasonic-lumix-g-20mm-f17-asph&cat=6

I have trouble seeing why we can always find something to be unhappy about in our lenses and in our cameras, and talk about it in long long treads like this one. I don't hear much of the joy and delight one might expect from these fine cameras and lenses, I hear what sounds like perfectionism, and obsessional doubting, and maybe buyer's remorse.

Krugman

My  75, 45,12-40 and 60 macro are all fantastic and I love my EM-5 if I had the 20 I am sure it would be great. The gear and choice available today are incredible, nothing but joy here.