Panasonic LUMIX G LENS, 42.5MM, F1.7 ASPH., MIRRORLESS MICRO FOUR THIRDS, POWER OPTICAL I.S., H-HS043K (USA BLACK)

Took this lens out for the first time to shoot a college cheer team at a football game and I am in love with it. The game was in the evening and it did fantastic in low light. Crystal clear and at 1.7 the bokeh is stunning. I am not a professional and did the shoot as a favor, the team and coach loved the results. The only thing I found lacking was that at 85mm M4/3 equivalent you won't be getting great close-ups unless you can move in close to your subject, luckily I had free reign to move around as they cheered. Getting whole-team pictures also meant going way up into the stands or switching lenses. This is not the lens' fault, just a friendly FYI to help you pick the right lens for your application. This is a great mid range lens that takes beautiful run and gun portraits when you have to be fast and everyone is constantly moving. Very glad I bought this lens and the price is a bargain for what you get.

It's no surprise that dpreview chose this the "Best prime / single focal length lens (for portraits)" among its few "Best lenses for Micro Four Thirds." It's certainly one of my all-time favorite lenses, and is always with me, usually as the lens mounted on my small M43 camera body in a jacket pocket. Astonishingly, it's significantly smaller than Panasonic's 25mm f1.7, which itself is quite compact. The accompanying images show results from this lens, as well as my beloved old 200mm f4 Micro-Nikkor mounted on a glassless M43 adapter, and my two killer workhorse zooms, the Panasonic 45-175mm f4-5.6 and the Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f2.8-4. I made the images of different blooms at different times and days, under widely varying lighting combining light from a table lamp sometimes with daylight through a window, with no post-processing except for the minimum needed to put them in reviews of these outstanding lenses. I prefer Panasonic Lenses and bodies because of (1) the Power OIS integrated between camera and lens, often providing 6.5 stops of IS, and (2) the great short focusing distances. These get me frame-filling shots of flowers and butterflies without macro gizmos and tripods. often making the difference between getting a great shot and no photo at all.

This lens is perfect for getting that cinematic blurry background. Beat all my expectations.

Hard to complain about this lens. I used to own the Olympus 45mm f1.8 and this seems a bit sharper but that's not a scientific observation.Focuses fast, provides nice subject separation with good bokeh, and is very compact. I use it on an Olympus Pen-F and Olympus OMD E-M5.I also own the Panasonic Leica 42.5mm f1.2 and while that lens has better image quality, the size difference makes this smaller lens much more fun to use.A great lens for a great price.

Absolutely amazing lens!! I bought this for my Panasonic G7 and I just love the professional results of this lens. The only negative I can think is the video autofocus is a bit slow with this lens. I'm sure most people are using this for photography anyway and in that right, it excels! Low-light with the f1.7 capability and 85mm equivalent focal length are superb. This is the PERFECT portrait lens for the Micro 4/3 mount cameras. You can completely separate subject and background with the large aperture. I love this lens and the G7 combo. The setup is much lighter than my big Canon 7D and 50mm f1.8 combo I've used for years.Highly recommended!

This is a great lens - it's small, is good in low light, and is well built. It's one of my favorite lens for my GH3 and produces fantastic images. I tend to shoot with the aperture more open due to m4/3 larger depth of field. In anecdotal use, I haven't noticed any corner softness or vignetting. I'm not sure how well it will hold up in a lab but that's for a professional reviewer to determine. It's a good lens for video as well. Autofocus is fast enough for slower moving items (again, GH3 so no DFD tech). Its reach is long enough to get a tight shot without being too close to the subject.

Good lens. Arrived late as is typical these days. Annoyingly didn't come on time. Ordered specifically for the fact Amazon sh9wed it would arrive on a certain day. So, yeah... annoyed by that.But good lens for portrait photography.