Panasonic 42.5 - 1.7 lens makes me look fat !

It can't make you look fat. 42.5mm focal length in Micro Four Thirds is equivalent to 85mm in Full Frame. It's a good focal length for portrait pictures (head and shoulders) as well as full body pictures or many other things. This is a longer focal length than that of a more "standard" lens, like 25mm or 30mm. I find 30mm (equivalent to 60mm in full frame) to be the best for general purposes, and the 30mm f/2.8 lens is fantastic.

That lens has a focal length of 42.5mm, which is nearly twice as much as a standard lens of 25mm focal length.

The 42.5mm lens takes only half as wide a view as the 25mm lens and so to get a person to just fill the frame, you need to stand nearly twice as far away.  That changes the perspective.

Have a look at this tutorial which gives some examples of using lenses with different focal lengths.  Just bear in mind that all her examples are on a full frame camera which needs double the focal length of your Micro Four Thirds camera to get the same picture.  So when she uses a 16mm lens, that would be much the same as an 8mm lens on your camera.  When she uses a 150mm lens, that would be much the same as a 75mm lens on your camera.

Anyway, her examples will give you an idea of the different perspective you get from different focal length lenses  (although she is primarily talking about getting a blurred background, but the examples show perspective differences as well).

Tom Axford wrote:

Have a look at this tutorial which gives some examples of using lenses with different focal lengths. Just bear in mind that all her examples are on a full frame camera which needs double the focal length of your Micro Four Thirds camera to get the same picture. So when she uses a 16mm lens, that would be much the same as an 8mm lens on your camera. When she uses a 150mm lens, that would be much the same as a 75mm lens on your camera.

Anyway, her examples will give you an idea of the different perspective you get from different focal length lenses (although she is primarily talking about getting a blurred background, but the examples show perspective differences as well).

Tom's link is good advice!

To achieve "undistorted" classic portrait view you should use perhaps 45 - 90 mm equivalent lenses.

I wonder how much of this "makes you look fat" is because people have accustomed to wideangle views that tend to make one look thinner. Cell phones generally have wideangle lenses, something between 24 .. 30 mm equivalent.

Withing same format, same F-stop value will generate same DOF when subject is framed same size (same magnification).

But, shorter focal length will include more background and it will look sharper, while longer focal length will include less background and it is blurrier.

As you change the camera distance to subject, you change perspective and that changes how roundish or thin does ie. Person face look.

Shorter focal length typically makes face look thinner but nose gets larger and eyes move to edges

Longer focal length typically makes face look rounder but nose gets smaller and eyes get moved to center.

The most flattering perspective is subjectional. As every person face is different, it is required that camera distance and angle is customized to each person.

The focal length does nothing, perspective does.

There is one common thing, about 4.5 meters is the distance that humans recognize and remember the face. So when someone is recalled, the face is memorized from that distance, what makes one of the best if not the best distance.

To get a person look good, camera angle in height needs to be found good and then the person side that is more fitting for theme. A good trick for some subjects is to take two chairs, photographer stands on one and photographs downward on subject, that's about 4-5m from the camera, standing on ground while places other leg on the second chair and leans forward by placing hands on the leg that is on the chair. This will slim cheek and chin, make body look smaller and thinner while head gets tilted little sideways and up. To find a better perspective, chairs distance is changed to closer or person side is changed.

And that doesn't yet include lighting, what is second part from a model pose and camera perspective.

For a m4/3 system a great starting point is 100mm and f/4 for a half-portait or headshots.

WT21 wrote:

The 42.5mm focal length is referred to as "moderate telephoto" or "classic portrait length" in m43 and frankly is one of the more ACCURATE focal lengths you can use for a subject. Sorry.

I do not understand what you mean by 'ACCURATE' in this context.  Could you clarify, please?

I think that's exactly what it is.

The position and lens focal length of the average "selfie" gives a totally distorted view of what we actually look like. 
Get someone to take your phone 15 feet away from you and take a photo and your face will look fatter than when you take it yourself.

That's the reason I've just ordered an ultrawide angle lens - for my own selfies!! 

jaeae wrote:

Tom Axford wrote:

Have a look at this tutorial which gives some examples of using lenses with different ...

Tom's link is good advice!

To achieve "undistorted" classic portrait view you should use perhaps 45 - 90 mm equivalent lenses.

I wonder how much of this "makes you look fat" is because people have accustomed to wideangle views that tend to make one look thinner. Cell phones generally have wideangle lenses, something between 24 .. 30 mm equivalent.

windmillgolfer wrote:

Probably meant appropriate, not accurate.

OK, I was thrown by your use of all caps!

Rmark wrote:

I thought that the Panasonic G7 uses a crop of the sensor for video which would create the appearance of a "zoom" effect.

Yeah, but the OP never mentioned the G7, or what camera they were using.

Some of the other replies seem unaware that perspective distortion goes both ways. The 42.5mm is a good focal length for a head and shoulders portrait because the distance gives a pleasing perspective, but for a full body shot you will be too far away and the more flattened perspective makes people look fat or stocky.

You definitely need a wider lens, but if you go wide you will be too close to the lens and the perspective distortion will make your guitar look enormous. You probably need a 17.5mm for the type of shot you describe, but your best bet will be to get a kit zoom lens so you can see which focal length you prefer.