Pulling the ring back into manual focus reveals a hyperfocal scale which can help you focus with precision when using either lens for astrophotography or street for example. I believe if you are in the southern hemisphere you may need to use a shorter shutter speed so that your stars are sharp (remember the stars are moving; well the earth is as it rotates which means too long a shutter speed will cause motion blur in the sky).

Olympus M.Zuiko 12mm f/2 vs. Panasonic Leica 12mm f/1.4 – The Olympus M.Zuiko 12mm f/2 vs. Panasonic Leica 12mm f/1.4 – The

One thing that aids in the speed of these lenses is there are no external moving parts meaning the front element does not move.Below you can see some examples that demonstrate the subject separation and bokeh capabilities of the two lenses. I found performance with the Olympus 12mm and the Panasonic 14mm to be very similar when shooting with my GF-1. As we touched upon in the design section, you can switch between AF and MF by using physical controls on the barrel – the Snapshot focus ring on the Olympus and the AF/MF switch on the Panasonic. Fisheye: another one we haven’t tried is the first fisheye designed for the system (if my memory serves me well).

Review: Olympus M.Zuiko 12mm f/2 - Admiring Light Review: Olympus M.Zuiko 12mm f/2 - Admiring Light

here as well, there is already a vast choice of fast 12mm lenses and the old, large and expensive manual focus Kowa lens offers too little to be attractive. The Lumix 14mm is the only lens on this list that gives you an equivalent field of view of 28mm, which is often a favourite amongst landscape, street or reportage photographers. The effective focus response is therefore somewhat more coarse than on conventional lenses but from a real-world perspective this is rather meaningless. Zuiko looks and feels like a premium offering, with an old-school aesthetic and all-metal construction. There is a bit of moustache distortion, some chromatic aberration at the fastest apertures as well as flare in direct light.The Olympus 12mm ƒ/2 uses Olympus' MSC (Move-Still-Compatible) technology, making the lens fast and near-silent to autofocus; the lens focuses between close-focus and infinity in less than a second. Park Cameras is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, register number 1449928 and act as a credit broker and not a lender. I wanted a prime that would be useful for astro but also useful in general as a wider option to my 20mm (almost everything else is just too close, as far as focal lengths). Flare resistance is good and there is some mild vignetting at the fastest aperture but nothing to be concerned about.

Olympus 12mm F2.8 for Astrophotography: Micro Four Thirds Olympus 12mm F2.8 for Astrophotography: Micro Four Thirds

Panasonic opted for compactness and simplicity with the 14mm, and I think that decision will sit well with most M43 users. Generally I will shoot my foreground at an ISO no higher than 200 and for 1-2 minutes depending on the composition.The pull-back focus ring allows you to switch instantly from auto to manual focus and also gives you a better precision than a pure fly-by-wire ring. is far from being the largest lens for the system but at 382g, it is certainly much bigger and heavier than the 12mm. Not only is the latter more than twice as heavy as the former but it is also significantly larger, making it a better choice for mid-sized to large Micro Four Thirds bodies.