Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25 mm f/1.7 ASPH review - Image resolution

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Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25 mm f/1.7 ASPH

23 September 2019

Arkadiusz Olech

4. Image resolution

The resolution test (resolution meaning here MTF50 function values) of the Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10–25 mm f/1.7 ASPH was based on RAW files from the Olympus O-MD E-M5 Mark II. In that case the decency level is situated near 48-50 lpmm and high quality, fixed focal length lenses can reach as high as 85 lpmm or even higher. The best performance so far has belonged to the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 45 mm f/1.2 PRO, which reached close to 96 lpmm, and the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 17 mm f/1.2 PRO which, with a result of 98.6 lpmm, is the record-holder on this sensor.

Now let’s check how the tested lens compares; a graph below presents its results at 10, 17, and 25 mm in the frame centre.

Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Summilux 10-25 mm f/1.7 ASPH - Image resolution

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The graph is a clear indicator you deal with an outstanding lens. At the 10 mm focal length maximum MTFs reach 93 lpmm; at 17 mm they are over 95 lpmm, and at 25 mm they get to less than 92 lpmm. This performance, withint the margin of error, interlocks with that of the remarkable Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 45 mm PRO and is not much weaker than the performance of our record-holder, the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 17 mm f/1.2 PRO. If an f/1.7 zoom lens is able to perform not much worse than an f/1.2 prime I suppose there is nothing more to add.

Now let's check how the edge of the frame looks like – a significant angle of view and the good f/1.7 aperture mean it wasn't easy to correct for sure.

The maximum values you observe near 80 lpmm and they confirm our very high opinion of the tested lens. It's worth reminding here that we've happened to test prime lenses which didn't manage to get to 80 lpmm in the frame centre. What's more, in the case of the Panaleica there are no big differences between particular focal lengths and the image quality by f/1.7 at all focal lengths is at least decent – hats off! Such lenses are exactly the reason why it is worth investing in the Micro 4/3 system.

At the end of this chapter, traditionally, we present crops taken from photos of our resolution testing chart saved as JPEG files alongside RAW files we used in our analysis above.

Olympus E-M5 II, JPEG, 17 mm f/4.0