Whats up with Panasonic 14mm and 20mm on Olympus

NoTx wrote:

Hey all,

So I have noticed a lot of negative comments about the Panasonic 14mm a and 20mm lenses on Olympus bodies. So what is up with that, and do the mark 2 versions suffer the same issues?

Thanks all!

Until a couple of years ago, the Oly jpg engines did not compensate for CA information passed from the Panasonic lenses.  The TruePic VII engines, EM-1 forward do this.  So for years, rightly so Panasonic lenses have been accused of more purple fringing on Olympus than Panny bodies.  This applies to the 14 and 20.

The 14 is sharp lens when you get a good copy, but I find mine just mediocre. But it focuses quickly and silently.

The 20 has a great reputation for sharpness, but is an older design, focuses slowly because the whole lens barrel moves in and out as opposed to internally focusing like newer lenses, and its motor is kind of slow.  It also had a reputation for hunting, and on the Sony sensor of the EM5 vintage, including the Pens, there is the potential for banding, some sort of interference.  That has since been fixed with newer sensors and newer bodies with low light capable CDAF abilities.

The 20 on my GX7, with its -4EV focus ability, is now quite acceptable in its speed, though it can still be noisy.  It rarely hunts anymore.  The newer Oly cams have similar fast focus ability, and so banding and hunting should no longer be an issue, but it is still physically slower.