Review on 📸 Panasonic Lumix Leica DG Summilux Lens for G Series by Scott Larson

Oddly enough, the first time I tried it I thought it wasn't magic (my criteria for a great lens). Now I have the magic lenses Canon 50mm f/1.4, Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 and Olympus 45mm f/1.8. The Sigma 60 f/2.8 is shockingly good and deserves to be called magical, but that's another story. I'm not sure what's wrong with these first photos - operator error? Heaven never! Not a big deal, just nothing special. Luckily I did the right thing by craving this lens for months. Instead of sending him back right away, I took him to a long and tiring shoot at a multi-generational camp in early August (the tiring part was the long hours and varied shooting conditions, but I loved every second). The lens is still magic. I think the magic of a lens is pointing it at a situation and basically saying "take this shot” and the lens does it 90% of the time: sharpness, color balance, "glow”. You can add some of this to post-processing, but the seed has to be there. I took my GX7 and my 20's, 25's, 45's and 60's - at that point I didn't have a whale lens I trusted, nor a zoom I could afford (I still don't have the latter) - and I've got it great did. Shots all week in all situations. 25 was in front of the camera 70% of the time, maybe more. I even got useful footage of the insanely lit dance on my last night at camp. I've been editing on my iPad all week and am now editing in Lightroom (yes, some of the magic always comes later in Lightroom). This is an excellent lens. I love this lens. In many situations, this is a slightly more practical focal length than 20mm. I still think the 20s is the must have micro 4/3 lens and the smartest "kit lens" and the 45s is the best portrait lens and the 60s is the poor woman's best telephoto lens, but the 25s is a luxury lens and as soon as you approach it, save it on your camera as a versatile lens, even if in many situations you have to step back to frame the shot. I don't know if that's legal in these reviews by the way, but I'd like to point out that I ended up buying a Panasonic GM1 for travel and got a deal, so the GM1 with its 12-32 kit lens was the same price as just the body. and for the curious I will say that 12-32 is the BEST Panasonic kit lens for m4/3. Be skeptical of the 14-45 rave reviews but trust 12-32 5 stars. That's all. Oh, and to make it more relevant, let me say that the GM1's 25mm lens is a nice little package, both physically and photographically. You can carry it in a thumb pod most of the time, with the same hand under the camera body, and it's light and ready. And keep the hood at 25mm. This saves LOTS of shots and provides good impact protection.