Panasonic G 42.5 mm f/1.7 ASPH. POWER O.I.S. review - Image resolution

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Panasonic G 42.5 mm f/1.7 ASPH. POWER O.I.S.

27 June 2015

Arkadiusz Olech

4. Image resolution

The resolution test of the Panasonic 1.7/42.5 was based on RAW files from the Olympus EPL1. In the case of that camera the best fixed focus lenses can reach as high as about 80 lpmm (and the record 82.6 lpmm belongs to the Voigtlander 0.95/25, with the Olympus 1.8/75 being very close to it). The decency level is set near 45 lpmm.

Let’s glance at the graph below and see how the tested lens compares here. These are MTFs we got in the frame centre and on the edge.

Panasonic G 42.5 mm f/1.7 ASPH. POWER O.I.S. - Image resolution

Such results make you want to clap and cheer. Already at the maximum relative aperture in the frame centre the MTFs are as high as about 68 lpmm so you deal with really sharp images. The peak of its possibilities the Panasonic reaches in a range from f/2.0 to f/4.0 where you get 77-78 lpmm.

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We don’t have any reservations concerning the edge of the frame either. Already at the maximum relative aperture the image is sharp and the lens at its peak is able to reach a very high level of almost 70 lpmm (a value you see near f/4.0).

Of course the most important question is how the Panasonic compares to the Olympus 1.8/45; a graph shown below explains everything.

At every significant aperture value (and by saying ‘significant’ we mean those apertures which aren’t limited by diffraction very much) the Panasonic is slightly better than the Olympus, no matter whether you look at the centre or at the edge of the frame.

To sum up: the Olympus has set the standards very high indeed but the Panasonic managed to meet and even exceed them with some distance to spare. A round of applause!

At the end of this chapter, traditionally we present crops taken from photos of our resolution testing chart which were saved as JPEG files along with RAW files we used for the analysis above.

Olympus E-PL1, JPEG, f/1.7