It’s also worth noting that the performance of the two lenses can decrease on Lumix cameras because Panasonic’s DFD AF technology is not compatible with Olympus lenses. I've used this lens extensively for professional assignments and private commissions, and it has come through every time. Obviously it's designed as a portrait lens, but I also find it great for street photography and reportage (which are typically the realm of 35mm equivalents). Olympus PEN E-PL7 + Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.8 (1/2500 sec, f/1.8, ISO200) (Image credit: James Artaius) Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.8: Performance

If you prefer something a little wider, perhaps for street photography, I can also highly recommend a 17mm prime or thereabouts and again there’s lots of options, albeit at a higher price than the 25mm above; I’m going to suggest either the Panasonic Leica DG 15mm f1.7 or the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f1.8, both in a similar ballpark price-wise; I personally prefer the Leica, but love the more compact size of the Olympus when mounted on a smaller body. First and foremost is the optical quality, particularly at the fastest apertures. Not only is the PRO much sharper when both are set to f/1.8 but it also outperforms the cheaper lens at f/1.2 – not to mention that you can achieve better subject separation. Under the conditions of the day, I could handhold a sharp result without any stabilisation at 1/40, which isn’t bad for me considering it’s a stop below what conventional wisdom would suggest for an 85mm equivalent lens. With the lens stabilisation enabled, I could achieve fair results down to 1/10, but they weren’t 100% sharp. What objective criteria led you to this conclusion? Is this code for "I can't afford higher quality systems"?" The Nocticron features optical stabilisation to iron-out any wobbles when mounted on bodies without sensor-shift stabilisation, and also boasts fast autofocusing; indeed it’s the brightest Micro Four Thirds lens with autofocus, and the only short and bright telephoto prime I can think of with optical stabilisation.The lens focuses to 19.7 inches (0.5-meter), at which it captures subjects at 1:10 life-size. It's certainly not a macro lens, but you can still frame very tight headshots when shooting portraits. The Panasonic Nocticron doesn't offer an advantage or disadvantage when it comes to close focus —its minimum focus capability matches the Olympus. Image Quality

Both lenses perform admirably in terms of sharpness but there is no question that the 45mm PRO has a clear edge over the 45mm, particularly at the fastest apertures. This comes as no surprise given that the 45mm 1.2 belongs to the M.Zuiko PRO category of lenses and is four times as expensive as the 45mm 1.8 at the time of writing. Interchangeable lens cameras offer a lot more creative flexibility and control than smartphones and point-and-shoots. Buying a camera with swappable lenses lets you change your angle of view, and take advantage of specialty optics for macro and fish-eye shots. The Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.8 is a lens that I never leave the house without. (No exaggeration; my everyday camera bag consists of an Olympus PEN E-P7, Olympus M.Zuiko 14-42mm Pancake, and an Olympus M.Zuiko 9mm Body Cap lens). If you photograph distant subjects like birds, then the best overall option for Micro Four Thirds owners in my view is the Panasonic Leica DG 100-400mm f4-6.3 OIS with its long 200-800mm equivalent coverage and optical stabilisation; I’ve used it on both Olympus and Panasonic bodies very successfully. There’s also the Olympus 100-400mm to compare. If you think you can work with a fixed focal length long telephoto, then also consider the Panasonic Leica DG 200mm f2.8 OIS or Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 300mm f4IS, both of which offer optical stabilisation In the video above, I manually pulled focus using the Nocticron mounted on an Olympus OMD EM1, using the viewfinder for guidance – unfortunately there’s no magnification, nor focus peaking to help once you start filming on this model. I just about nailed the closest and furthest focusing points, but found the focusing ring wasn’t 100% smooth when turning it from the side – as such you can see the speed of focus pulling vary a little during the clip. Leica Nocticron image stabilisationThe filter thread measures 67mm, making it the largest of its peer group: the Voigtlander 42.5mm f0.95 and Olympus 75mm f1.8 use 58mm filters, while the tiny Olympus 45mm f1.8 uses 37mm. Optically the Nocticron employs 14 elements in 11 groups, compared to 11 in 8 on the Voigtlander, 10 in 9 on the Olympus 75mm f1.8 and 9 in 8 on the 45mm f1.8. This makes it the most complex optical design of the group, although it is also the only one with optical stabilisation. It also features some exotic elements including two aspherical, one ED and one UHR element; I’ll see if they have a positive impact in my optical results. Micro Four Thirds cameras first went on sale in 2008. At the time, the mirrorless concept was novel. Instead of using an optical viewfinder and mirror, like the Four Thirds SLR system that preceded it, M43 takes the view from the image sensor and sends it right to an electronic display. Panasonic continues support under its Lumix imprint, even though it's added a full-frame camera system to its catalog. It uses the Lumix G designation for its Micro Four Thirds cameras, which include mainstream models and specialty options like the tiny BGH1 video camera.

Beyond this, you may find manual aperture rings on some higher-end Panasonic lenses which become redundant on Olympus bodies – you can still adjust the aperture on an Olympus body by using one of the camera control dials, but the aperture ring on the lens is ignored. Currently, two manufacturers drive the platform forward. OM System carries the torch for the now-retired Olympus camera brand. Olympus is still around but is no longer in the camera business. You might still find products with Olympus logos on store shelves, but new releases all have OM System branding.

Ease of Use

Some mild chromatic aberration is present in images taken with both lenses up to around f/2.8 on the 45mm PRO and f/4 on the 45mm f/1.8 but it can be easily removed in post production.

While focusing for stills and video, the lens mechanisms of both lenses are so quiet that you have to hold your ear up to the lens to hear the faint whirring of the motor. When it comes to resolution records, you get the biggest chance of breaking them with a very fast lenses because they get more space for limiting effectively optical aberrations as you stop them down. Most aberrations disappear after stopping down the aperture by even 3 EV and you still find yourself far from a significant diffraction limit. What’s more, lenses with angles of view of just more than several dozen degrees have big chances to reach record-breaking values. You don’t have to employ big elements in them so there are no significant curvatures like in wide angle lenses or big optical element like in a case of long tele photo lenses of good aperture fastness. As a result these are quite simple constructions to produce and to correct properly.

As I suspected, the Nocticron is giving a tiny bit more “snap”, as in, subject separation that looks closer to a cut out than anything. The Olympus 45 PRO f/1.2 has a softer transition between what is in focus and what is not, and the Olympus is also sharper wide open. The 45 f/1.8 hangs in there with slightly less DOF. But the winner here, to my eyes is the Olympus 45 f/1.2 PRO but it was close, very close. At the beginning we established that, in the case of OM-D E-M5 Mark II – based tests, the best fixed focal length lenses are able to reach 80-85 lpmm and the decency level we set near 47-49 lpmm. Of course we clearly indicated that these values could change with the enlargement of our tests database. The last resolution record achieved by the Panasonic Leica DG Elmarit 200 mm f/2.8 POWER O.I.S.,which maximum result exceeded 91 lpmm, makes that decision fully justified. Currently we should say that the decency level is set within 48-50 mm range and the best fixed focal primes should be able to get to a level of about 85 lpmm or higher.