PANASONIC LUMIX G LEICA DG NOCTICRON LENS, 42.5MM, F1.2 ASPH., PROFESSIONAL MIRRORLESS MICRO FOUR THIRDS, POWER OPTICAL I.S., H-NS043 (USA BLACK)

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I purchased an Olympus 45mm F1.8 two years ago because it was so much more affordable than the Lumix 42.5mm F1.2. I have to say that, though the Olly is wonderfully compact, its a poor mans version in just about every other respect. When I saw this Panasonic on sale for $850, I jumped on it. As soon as I hooked up the Panasonic on my GH5 camera body, the images I was seeing blew me away. Because I mostly use wide focal lengths, a portrait lens like this on an M4:3 body takes a different technique to get the most out of it. If you start out like I did, by taking shots from almost across the room, youre not going to see that beautiful, creamy bokeh in your backgrounds. I quickly learned to get up close to the subject while leaving plenty of distance in the background; this highlights the focal point while artfully blurring everything else. Man, do I love this lens! My only wish is that it had a shorter minimum focusing distance. My GH5 often hunts for the subject when I get too close.

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I have been shooting with this lens to review it for the last 2 weeks (my full review is online and can be googled) and I will state right off the bat, that YES it is expensive. I am not going to say "expensive for a Micro 4/3 lens" as I am one who feels Micro 4/3 can compete with ANY format, even full frame. I use and own a Leica M 240 with a couple of Leicas best lenses yet my #1 goto camera is the Olympus E-M1. I have also owned for a long term the Leica $11,000 Noctilux f/0.95 and no, there is nothing like that lens on the planet for 35mm but you can get a taste of the real deal for a fraction of that cost in this Panasonic Nocticron. Yes, seriously. But remember, I said a "taste" :) This Panasonic/Leica Nocticron is large, heavy and expensive but not nearly as large, heavy or expensive as the real deal, the Leica Noctilux. In fact, this lens is over $9000 less than the Leica Noctilux! Think about that. So how does this lens perform? My full review has loads of sample images and comparisons but I will state right now that this is the best performing, best built and most exotic lens (in AF) for the Micro 4/3 system. Hands down. Sure there is the Olympus 45 1.8 that comes in at around $350, and yes, that is a fantastic lens. IN reality, it is the lens most should buy in this focal length. It is small, light, fast, sharp and cheap. Then there is the amazingly good Voigtlander 42.5 f/0.95 that is built even better but is manual focus only and around $1000. This Nocticron is for those who want "the best" with AF. By that I mean, the best sharpness (even wide open at 1.2 this is a SHARP lens), the best contrast (this lens has superb contrast for major POP), 3 Dimensional feel (this lens beats the Olympus 45 in this area) and BOKEH quality (the Bokeh is just as smooth as the Noctilux from Leica). This lens performs in ALL areas from AF speed to IQ to 3D pop. In fact, I was showing an image to a friend and he thought I shot it with the Leica and Noct! The lens has a way of giving that subject separation that the 45 does not quite achieve in the same way though IMO it does not reach Leica Noct levels. It has a little bit of Leica Magic and not because Leica made this lens (because they do not make it) but because Panasonic used quality glass and build and direction from Leica in the design. The question for most will be "is it worth $1000 more than the 45 1.8"? For most the answer is NO! Buy the 45 and be happy. But as I said..if you crave that special look, that extra bit of bite, 3D pop and performance then the Nocticron may be just what you crave. For portraits it is sublime. For night shooting it is a light sucking lens which gives your images light when there is none to be seen. It is a masterpiece of design though I wish it did NOT have built in IS (as it would have been smaller). The lens works great on the Olympus E-M1 and Panasonic GX7 (tested on both) but the aperture dial only works on Panasonic bodies. On Olympus you will use the thumb dial. Every now and again in the camera world a special product comes along..items like the real Leica Noctilux..the Sony RX1...the Olympus E-M1...and now the Panasonic Nocticron. If you adore fast glass, this is as good as it gets for M 4/3. Is it good enough to warrant the price tag? Only you can be the judge of that but as for me, my review sample went back and I immediately came to Amazon to buy my own, and yes, I have the 45 1.8 as well. I would not have spent the extra if it did not give me that extra bit over the 45 yet it did from sharpness, bokeh quality, color, contrast, CA, etc. Fantastic lens, a statement piece from Panasonic. Cant wait to test the 15 1.7 that arrives this summer. I shoot ALL cameras and have for the past 5 years. ALL. I review them, test them, use them and occasionally I buy the ones I truly love. I can easily state that Micro 4/3 has THE BEST lenses for any mirrorless system next to Leica M (yes, I prefer them by far to the Fuji offerings). So many amazing choices with quality build, speed and performance. Anyone who dismisses Micro 4/3 is missing out ;) I recently tested the Nikon 58 1.4 that comes in at $1700 and is MUCH larger and heavier than this lens and guess what? I prefer this lens over the Nikon in every way, even IQ. Yet no one moans and groans about the cost of the Nikon. Odd. So if you go for this lens know that it is a gem, one of the very best for M 4/3. But do not discount the much much cheaper 45 1.8 as that is also a gem even though it will not get you the color, contrast, bite and 3D separation of the Nocticron, it gets close.

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This lens is purpose built for one thing: portraiture. And Panasonic/Leica has succeeded 100%. You have to try really really hard to find any fault with this incredible lens. Wide open at f1.2 it is astoundingly sharp. This sharpness combined with the gorgeous out of focus area gives the images a very lifelike pop. The price is a bargain considering its remarkable performance. Highly recommended for pro photographers shooting m43.

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This lens makes people look good. I started taking some pics outdoors with this lens and damn it takes some impressive shots of people. I thought it was an exaggeration but the background compression with the fast aperture. Really love it. There is more to photography that Bokeh however for portraits this just looks so damn good.

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I know I am going to make people angry with this review but hear me out. I am a professional photographer with a successful business that has led to awards for my wedding photography. Yes, those awards were won while using M43 cameras. To qualify myself, I been in the photo industry since I was 16 years old and I am now 33. I have used every mirrorless system out there and I have used them professionally and extensively. I mention this so you can all know how much experience I have. I have owned more Olympus and Panasonic lenses than I care to mention here (as well as Fuji and Sony.) I currently shoot the Oly 40-150 f2.8 pro, the Oly 25mm f1.8, the Oly 45mm f1.8, and the panaleica 15mm f1.7. I picked up the Panaleica 42.5 f1.2 because well, I needed to have the best. I loved the results from this lens. It had that wow factor M43 users long for. Last night I decided to finally put the images side by side with the Oly 45mm f1.8 because I wanted to see just how much of a difference there was between the two lenses. Here is where I am going to get creamed by all of you. I preferred the look of the Oly 45mm over the panaleica 42.5mm lens. Yes, I truly did. Yes, the 42.5mm f1.2 provided a bit more background separation than the olympus but you know what? I felt the Oly provided a more natural bokeh because the bokeh wasnt as soft as the 42.5 f1.2. Not only that, but side by side the images were just as sharp which may indicate that I won the lens lottery with my Oly 45mm f1.8. The panaleica 42.5 did provide a unique look and here is the bottom line of why I wrote this review. Keep in mind this is coming from someone who makes a living off of portraits. There is truly not enough of a justification for the difference in price. There truly isnt. Maybe if the 42.5 f1.2 were around $700 I could get that. I can get unbelievable results with both lenses and no this lens will not bring the magic that will make you a successful photographer. If you feel you need this lens then get it. However, if you know what you are doing your clients will be blown away by the results of either lens. I found myself wanting to justify the price but for me I just couldnt do it. I ended up returning the 42.5 f1.2 and I am very happy with that decision as is my wallet. I can invest the money back into my business in other ways. I hope this helps you all especially those of you starting out. I am all about quality glass, but for $250 for the Oly 45mm f1.8 (International Version) you truly cant go wrong. 3 stars because I dont think the price premium can be justified. I am ready to be eaten alive by the (Nocticron Nuts) and I mean that in a very funny and friendly way.

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Ive been shooting this lens for about 20 days now. I shoot a lot of portraits so this focal length is great. My primary lens has been the Olympus 75mm f/1.8. I also have the Olympus 45mm f/1.8 but even though it is excellent I dont really use it that much. I bought this lens make even more beautiful portraits. So how does it stack up. This lens is astoundingly sharp from right from f/1.2. It loses some sharpness in the corners but is still excellent. The center is so blistering sharp, that even with the loss the corners are razor sharp. The 75mm f/1.8 wide open manages to maintain its sharpness into the corners but it is also a full stop slower so what the Leica 43.5 achieves is impressive. The autofocus on this lens seems very comparable to the 75mm f/1.8. In bright light it is very fast on the EM1. In dim light it can be a little slower. It is also not as fast as the 25mm f/1.4 which is the fastest focusing m43 lens I own. I imagine on the GH4 this lens will be incredibly fast. The build quality of this lens is Leica all the way. All metal construction, with a manual aperture ring and beautiful feel on all the controls. It is also massive for a m43 lens and heavy. It works fine on the GM1, just hold the lens not the camera body and it balances nicely on the EM1. It is weird this lens is substantially bigger than the 75mm but I am guessing some of that has to do with the in lens image stabilization and obviously the 1 stop faster speed. So are the results of this lens that much better than the 75mm or 45mm? The answer is no. The results from those 2 lenses are so good it is hard to really be that much better. If you minimize DOF you can definitely notice the 1 stop difference. However, no one is going to mistake this lens for the Leica 50mm f/.95 as this is m43. The bokeh on this lens is amazingly smooth. I would subjectively say it is smoother than even the 75mm. The 9 blade curved aperture blades make nice circles of specular highlights. This lens has fairly significant vignetting wide open. and on the EM1, the CA was well controlled as I didnt see any. The micro contrast wide open is phenomenal. Leica has done a beautiful job on this lens. The IS worked well on the GM1 which is good because camera shake has been a problem for me on that camera. This brings us to the downside of this being more Leica than Panasonic and that is the price. Fuji has just released a 56mm f/1.2 lens (85mm equivalent) for their system and they priced it at $1000. The Fuji sensor has a bigger imaging circle than m43 but lacks IS. It is optically amazing also. So as far as I can tell, there is a $600 premium for this lens being branded Leica. Leica M lenses in this speed range usually go for $5000+ so if you look at it in that light, this is a very inexpensive Leica lens. However, it is currently the most expensive m43 lens. Originally, I took off 1 star for the price and that confused some people so I am just rating this lens based on its technical merits. Is this lens worth getting? Ultimately only you can answer that question for yourself. It is an optical master piece one of the 2 best lenses available for m43. And if you use all the techniques to minimize DOF you can notice a difference over the f/1.8 lenses. Also, if you make a living doing portraits then this is a must buy. However, if you are not utilizing alt the techniques to minimize DOF on your f/1.8 lens, then you will probably not obtain the results you are looking for. Also, while the results are amazing, they are not 2x more amazing than the 75mm nor are they 4x more amazing than the 45mm.

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This lens was well worth saving for, the results and performance are outstanding in everyway but considering other comments regarding price I would say that if you are considering purchasing dont hesitate you will not be disappointed.The major reason for my format change was primarily weight and size of the system that Lumix offers their professional grade lenses meet my needs perfectly for both still and video work Ive used a Nikon system in various forms since 1978 unfortunately they are in my opinion not as well made as they once were and because of increasing age I found it more tiring to take along the required lenses and bodies for an assignment.

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If you really want to get the absolute most out of your MFT camera, this lens will help you do just that. Its so pleasing and fun to use. The 3D like renderings are matched by very few and far more expensive lenses out there. Very fast AF for a lens of this quality. It is a "go to" lens. Size does not bother me one bit as the pictures speak for themselves. Wonderful that the aperture control registers for Panasonic bodies. Im hoping Olympus will provide the same for this lens soon. Balances very well with the EM1. A little big on the GX7 but its nice to be able to put this big IQ monster in a small bag with a small camera body for some great exploratory work. If I was to complain about anything, and mind you its a small complaint, would be the close focus distance. If it was a tad shorter I think it would be perfect. Its not bad, but not great. Weatherproofing doesnt bother me as I rarely shoot in adverse weather and if I do, I have other lenses for that.

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What a sharp lens I have only used it for one project, but I love it. Sharp and contrasty. I look forward to much more use in the future.

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I could not resist this lens. Beautiful design and construction.

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