My LUMIX GF1 (white ivory, with the pancake lens) arrived just 10 days ago, and I am absolutely happy with it. I agree in full with your comments regarding the pancake lens. It is certainly in the forefront of glass in kits. It is maybe a bit unfair to compare with LEITZ lenses, but it fares very well indeed also in comparison with them, given that their lenses (and cameras) play in a different league /price range. And finally, the longest focal length prime lens I’ve used, and probably the longest that I’d recommend carrying around to photograph landscapes with. The Olympus 75mm. And of course the flexibility of having a macro lens with you, made this lens one of the most fun to use! I could get that landscape shot, and in the next photo, take a close up picture of that cool looking bumblebee and flower I spotted!

The quality of the Panasonic lenses are superb, both the 14-45mm & the 20mm are really sharp & better than “some lenses” from either Canon & Nikon that cost twice the price. What I wasn’t prepared for was that the image quality of this little E-P2 and 20 1.7 would surpass a Nikon D3s with a Nikon 50 1.8 (more on this later). I guess that right there is proof that a lens can make all of the difference in the world. When the lens arrived from B&H I opened the box and was pleased to see a lens pouch was included. Not that I ever use them really, but it’s a nice touch.Lateral chromatic aberration – or purple/green fringing near the edge of the frame in high contrast regions – is very well controlled for optically, and is further corrected for digitally in JPEGs and/or in your Raw converter. Here are uncorrected and corrected Raw conversions - as you can see the differences are minor. Over our review period, we’ve come to really appreciate the 20mm f1.7 II lens. It’s built and feels super solid with a metal exterior that works well with both the OMD EM5 and the GH4. When it comes to manually focusing though, you’ll only be working with a small sliver of a focusing ring. Granted, this lens isn’t weather sealed nor does it really need to be.

Main reason being was weight, it was just to heavy sometimes lugging it all about even with just the body & one lens. The 'cats-eye' bokeh is mostly gone by F4. However, bokeh discs becomes less rounded. Specifically, the polygonal shape of the lens's 7-blade aperture becomes more pronounced in the out-of-focus highlights, when you stop down past F2.8, and this can have a slightly negative impact on bokeh in general. Panasonic 20 mm f/1.7 is very attractive for street photography, wedding photography or other occasions where you want to be as unobtrusive as possible as a photographer. And it’s an ideal travel companion for your holidays.

Pros and Cons

The lens is devoid of any switches or control surfaces other than the manual focus ring; there isn't much room for anything and in the micro-four thirds cameras it can attach to, lens functions are controlled at the camera level.