Revisiting Panasonic Lumix 14mm F2.5 Pancake lens

14 Comments
Recently I have re-acquired the often underrated Panasonic 14mm F2.5 pancake lens, and naturally it became the most frequently used lens for my latest shutter therapy session. I brought along the Panasonic 14mm F2.5 pancake lens alongside Olympus M.Zuiko  45mm F1.8 to Chow Kit, which was my favourite street hunting ground for a much needed street photography session last Saturday. I had Van, Robert and Sim joining me for this session.

I genuinely love pancake lenses, and I think Olympus and Panasonic should produce more pancake lenses. We already have compact and superbly sharp F1.8 lenses, why not create pancake lenses of respective focal lengths, but instead of F1.8, make them F2.8? I can totally imagine having 25mm F2.8 and 45mm F2.8, and perhaps a 12mm F3.5 (since it is more difficult to do a pancake design for wide angle lenses) but keeping everything in slim, pancake design. Yes, F2.8 means we are losing some light or having more depth of field but imaging the lens being so slim and compact! I can live with the aperture brightness compromise, as long as the image quality is still decently sharp and technically well controlled. Give us more pancake lenses, make them ultra portable, and most importantly, reasonably priced (oh make them cheap that we do not even have to think twice to buy).

I am falling in love again with the Panasonic 14mm F2.5 lens. I simply love the 28mm focal length (equivalent) perspective, which is rather wide and produces different coverage than what I normally do with 25mm F1.8 and 45mm F1.8 lens.

All images were taken with Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II with mostly Panasonic 14mm F2.8 and a few shots with M.Zuiko 45mm F1.8

Oh yes, I test printed a photo-book, just to see how the print quality is. Was also toying with the idea of making a photobook for sale to my blog readers. This idea will have to remain an idea for the time being. 



Free Ride 

Beneath the Cloths

Morning Hang Out

Portrait Of A Stranger 
This was obviously shot with the 45mm F1.8 lens, of course. 

Mutilated Parts from Plants

In Case They Burn

The Making of Egg Noodles

Transport

Afternoon Nap

Fish

Roots

Vegie Lover 

Closed Shop

meow

Blue

You Do Not Need To Sit On A Chair To Make A Chair

After our shutter therapy session we decided to cool down ourselves and feed our grumbling stomachs at a local cafe, Acme Bar & Coffee at Ampang Park. We were seated by a large window panel, hence the lighting was glorious and I thought why not, shoot some "hipster-looking-Instagram-able" food shots? Like everyone else is doing. Note: Food shots were taken with Olympus M.Zuiko 25mm F1.8 lens, except the last one which was shot with Panasonic 14mm F2.5










14 comments:

  1. Did you notice any shutter shock issues?

    I owned the Panasonic 14/2.5 for a while and currently own the Panasonic 12-32 pancake. On both the EM5 mk II and PEN-F, I need to use them in anti-shock mode, otherwise there is a low level blur.

    Beyond that, thanks again for a fine blog post, always enjoy them.

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    Replies
    1. To counter shutter shock just use antishock 0 second. This has been a solution for a long time built into Olympus cameras. And my images are perfectly sharp, ALL of them.

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  2. As good as always, and getting better and better. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

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  3. My favourite pancake lens was Panasonic 20mm f1.7. If only Panasonic fix the band issue on high iso and faster AF, this lens will be a keeper. Awaiting for a newer version of 20mm mk III

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  4. Dear Robin, many thanks for the sharing of ideas, impressions and passion of this blog!
    May I ask you the brand\model of that nice SC card holder I can see in the first picture of this entry?

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    Replies
    1. It was a generic brand I bought at Yodobashi at Shinjuku, Japan.

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  5. Great shots Robin! I keep flipping back and forth on buying it. I keep getting itchy to buy a 14 but my Panny 12-32 is so small and nice in the 12-17 range that GAS guilt keeps me from buying the pancakes. I'm basically over my want for the Panny 20 and Oly 17 but the 14 still lurks in my mind. This post gives me anxiety!

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  6. Your thoughts are always interesting, even when they concern ordinary and familiar things, like pancake Panasonic 14/2.5 lens. I'm reading almost all of Your stories. Thank You for sharing them. Have You post processed these images or are they out of camera?

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  7. I don't know why, but I prefer your pictures with the 15mmf1.7.
    Otherwise, you are one of the best m4/3 photographer.

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  8. The Panleica 15mm f1.7 does for me quite the same and gives a lot of detail. I am on the slightly wider edge, too. And I support your longing for more pancakes.

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  9. Hello, my name is Jan, just diacovered your awesome blog!
    I have an omd em10 (also a panasonic g7) with olympus 45mm 1.8, panasonic 14-42 asph ii kit lens, and panasonic 45-150mm.
    I am having serious doubts between the oly 17mm 1.8 and the panasonic 14mm 2.5
    I want a good all round focal lenght lens that can be used also at night or dark places like pubs or bars. A lens to put on without a purpose when I'm out with family and friends or just driving around on my free days discovering new places...
    At first I was completely sure about the 17 as it is also 1.8 as my 45mm, but after reading you're review I'm starting to doubt...
    Will the 14mm 2.5 be good enough in low light?

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  10. Olympus should just work out the flaws of their original, existing 17mm pancake lens. The lens is slow to focus and the image quality is lackluster. Every kit lens at 17mm is as fast and sharper.

    If they redid that lens with good image quality and fast auto focus, I'd buy it in an instant.

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  11. i would like to enquire if this 14mm f2.5 is the mk1 or mk2 version.

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  12. I see that you posted more on this with a You Tube video for 2021. Now those pictures looked way better than I had guessed - I was stunned as this lens often has the reputation of being no better than the kit lens. But this may confuse resolution with micro-contrast, and you have made me re-evaluate it.

    Luck means that one is on offer nearby - so tomorrow I will head out and hope to buy one. Being forced to go "just a bit closer" into photo's might be a good exercise for me, as recently I have been doing a lot with the 25mm AF lens.

    Also - the bonus that I have discovered is that this is reported to have very quiet internal focus, and if you can bear the slightly larger size, takes metal lenshoods without vignetting which helps protect the front element (which is an aspheric one) even if sun flares aren't an issue.

    Thanks for yet another "retro review" !

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