What's up with this comparison? Oly 14-42mm II R vs Pany 14-42mm PZ

I have both lenses and want to sell one, but I'm having a heck of a time figuring out which is sharper.

I scoured the net looking for a site that objectively reviewed both lenses, but none exist.  So I decided to test it myself just to compare.  Unfortunately, I'm getting strange results.

The Panasonic seems to capture a wider frame and seems to have different perspective than the Olympus.

Can anyone help me understand what's going on here?  Also if someone can tell me which lens is better, that would be helpful too.

Check out the photos I took. Note that I did have to adjust the tripod ever so slightly to get the focal points the same, but it shouldn't have caused such a difference in perspective.

Shot on Olympus E-PL5.  Exact lenses are tagged on this post.

Olympus on a tripod @ 14mm f4

Panasonic on a tripod @ 14mm f4

Both shots were focused and metered in the middle of the circle.

They do look close, but with most of the frame not in focus, it's hard to compare more than the central circle, which doesn't have a lot of detail. Try something with where the whole frame is in the focus plane. You shouldn't need to move the camera at all between shots; differences in FOV are common, but not significant really, although you could match coverage by moving the tripod if you want, so the items in each image are the same size.

A bookcase is a good target if the spines are all lined up at the front.

Don't see enough difference to worry about if you ask me.... which has better build, more resale value.... that should help you decide.

SLR Gear tests both lenses. Using their "sharpness widget," the Oly appears sharper at the extremes of the zoom range and the Pany appears sharper in the middle. Not large differences, however.

There is a size difference resulting in difference in convenience and pocketability. Plus, the pana can be used with the X-Cap which makes the camera more into a P&S combination, meaning no lens cap to take off each time you want to take pictures.

Then there is the issue of purple fringing in high-contrast edges in daylight photography. A UV 2A filter can cure this but is not available in small sizes so a step-up ring will be needed, making the lens les convenient.

Sharpness of modern lenses in the center is generally not an issue. As others have pointed out, find a "flat" scene with detail, like a book case and check out edge and corner sharpness because that's where sharpness differs most between lenses.

uberjer wrote:

I have both lenses and want to sell one, but I'm having a heck of a time figuring out which is sharper.

I scoured the net looking for a site that objectively reviewed both lenses, but none exist. So I decided to test it myself just to compare. Unfortunately, I'm getting strange results.

The Panasonic seems to capture a wider frame and seems to have different perspective than the Olympus.

Can anyone help me understand what's going on here? Also if someone can tell me which lens is better, that would be helpful too.

Focal lengths are measured when focusing at infinity.  Focusing close, different perspectives for the same focal lengths are not uncommon.  At close focus, many lenses have effective focal lengths smaller than at infinity - e.g. Nikon's 70-200/2.8 II at 200mm is really like 130mm at minimum focusing distance).

As to which is better, if you can avoid shutter shock, the Panasonic has measured sharper in testing.  But it's not a huge difference, and the disadvantage of using a lever to zoom, and having to wait for the zoom to extend every time you start the camera is significant in my view.