Best Micro Four Thirds Lenses for Olympus and Panasonic Cameras. Looking for recommended lenses for Micro Four Thirds camera? Here are top recommended Micro Four Thirds lenses.
Both Panasonic and Olympus cameras can use Micro Four Thirds lenses, so you can use the Olympus Micro Four Thirds (sometimes shortened to MFT or M43) lenses on Panasonic cameras, and vice versa. There are plenty of Micro Four Thirds lenses available on the market, made by Panasonic, Olympus, Sigma, Samyang, Voigtlander, Leica and many others, and all Micro Four Thirds lenses are fully compatible on either brand of camera. Keep in mind that Micro Four Thirds cameras have a 2x crop factor, meaning that a 25mm lens will behave like a 50mm lens on a 35mm camera.
Here are the top recommended Micro Four Thirds lenses for Olympus and Panasonic cameras. All the recommended lenses would cover virtually all shooting scenarios. Below are the top recommended Micro Four Thirds lenses for Olympus and Panasonic cameras. You can choose the one you need.
Best Micro Four Thirds Lenses
Full List of Recommended Micro Four Thirds Lenses
All-in-one Lens | Walk Around and Street Lenses | Portrait Lenses | Macro Lenses | Standard Zoom Lenses | Wide-angle Prime Lenses | Wide-angle Zoom Lenses | Telephoto Prime Lenses | Telephoto Zoom Lenses | Wildlife and Sports Lenses
All-in-one Lens
Olympus 12-100mm f/4 IS PRO ($1,299): The M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS PRO is the only professional high magnification zoom to cover a 35mm equivalent 24-200mm focal range all on its own. It packs the performance of two professional lenses into one, and keeps the overall design compact and lightweight. Every inch of this lens is PRO: weatherproof construction, fast auto focusing and effortless control. Its broad focal length lets you shoot portraits, wide-angle, telephoto, portraits, landscapes, and macro. One lens. Unprecedented versatility.
Olympus 14-150mm f/4-5.6 II ($449): Budget Option!
Lens | Price | Buy Now |
Olympus 12-100mm f/4 IS PRO | $1,299 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Olympus 14-150mm f/4-5.6 II | $449 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Walk Around and Street Lenses
Panasonic Leica 25mm f/1.4 ($597): One of the best “walkabout” lenses! This Panasonic Leica 25mm f/1.4 lens is a solid prime lens that will give you a “general purpose” lens with superb quality at a fair price. t provides an angle of view similar to a 50mm lens on a 35mm or full-frame digital camera, and the wide f/1.4 maximum aperture can deliver beautiful, bright photos and videos with softly out-of-focus backgrounds. Slightly faster and somewhat more expensive than the Olympus.
Olympus 25mm f/1.8 ($399): Slightly slower than Panasonic’s 25mm, but still quite sharp and a fair bit cheaper too. The M.Zuiko 25mm f1.8 is your ideal all-around lens for shooting stunning images both day and night. With a 25mm focal length and 47 degree angle of view, this lens sits right between wide and telephoto design. Its fast f1.8 circular aperture delivers beautifully soft defocused backgrounds, perfect for portraits. It also delivers superb detail even when lighting is less than optimal, which means you can skip the flash in many low-light situations. Unless you need a wider aperture, Olympus’ more affordable 25mm prime lens may fit the bill.
Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO ($1,349): The Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 Pro is a professional grade telephoto zoom lens with a fast constant f/2.8 aperture. With equivalent coverage of 80-300mm, the Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO is ideal for portraiture and street photography, along with nearby sports and wildlife. It offers quick, quiet autofocus and delivers very sharp and high contrast images right into the corners even at the maximum aperture. Perfect for wedding or event photography thanks to a minimum focus distance of just 20 inches, which gives you the option of zooming in or zooming out to take beautiful portraits and live event shots.
Olympus 17mm f/1.8 ($499): This Olympus M.ZUIKO 17mm f/1.8 lens is a very bright, fast lens ideal for everyday photography as well as street photography in which fast shutter speeds and sufficient light is important. With a wide maximum aperture of f/1.8, this is a fine lens for low-light situations and shallow depth of field imaging.
Olympus 17mm f/2.8 ($299): Budget option. A wide-angle pancake lens with a convenient focal length (equivalent to 34mm on a 35mm camera) for shooting everything from landscapes and portraits to close-ups with outstanding image quality. This lens is so compact, only 0.87″ (22mm) long, that with the camera attached you can carry it in a handbag, purse, and even a coat pocket.
Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 II ($799): A fully manual lens that is built like a tank and close to 2 times faster than the Olympus lens. Everything about it–the feel, the smoothness of operation–screams quality. The Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 is commonly used for Low light and more.
Lens | Price | Buy Now |
Panasonic Leica 25mm f/1.4 | $597 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO | $1,349 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Olympus 25mm f/1.8 Lens | $399 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Olympus 17mm f/1.8 Lens | $499 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 II | $799 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Panasonic Leica 15mm f/1.7 ASPH | $548 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Portrait Lenses
Panasonic Leica Nocticron 42.5mm f/1.2 ($1,398): High-end portrait prime lens with superb performance. It offers a 35mm focal length equivalent of 85mm and a fast aperture of f/1.2 making it well-suited for portraits. The only downside is: it is a little expensive!
Olympus 75mm f/1.8 ($749): Perfect for portraits and challenging lighting conditions. A high-grade fast aperture portrait lens featuring metallic construction and a light weight of just 10.7 oz. With a 35mm equivalent focal length of 150mm, it is suitable for studio portraits, theatre stage and indoor sports photography.
Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO ($1,349): The Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 Pro is a professional grade telephoto zoom lens with a fast constant f/2.8 aperture. With equivalent coverage of 80-300mm, the Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO is ideal for portraiture and street photography, along with nearby sports and wildlife. It offers quick, quiet autofocus and delivers very sharp and high contrast images right into the corners even at the maximum aperture. Perfect for wedding or event photography thanks to a minimum focus distance of just 20 inches, which gives you the option of zooming in or zooming out to take beautiful portraits and live event shots.
Olympus 45mm f/1.8 ($399): Budget option! The Olympus 45mm f1.8 lens is a very fast, very light portrait lens that is compact in size and affordably priced. It’s designed to excel in low-light conditions, deliver outstanding detail with shallow depth of field, and capture beautiful pro-level quality portraits.
Panasonic Lumix 42.5mm f/1.7 ASPH ($348): Budget option! Excellent portrait lens with a beautiful bokeh background defocus effect. And it is perfect for low light photography with a bright F1.7 aperture.
Lens | Price | Buy Now |
Panasonic Leica Nocticron 42.5mm f/1.2 | $1,398 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Olympus 75mm f/1.8 | $749 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO | $1,349 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Olympus 45mm f/1.8 | $399 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Panasonic Lumix 42.5mm f/1.7 ASPH | $348 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Macro Lenses
Olympus 60mm f/2.8 Macro ($499): Best Olympus lens for macro photography! Designed for sharp close-up shooting, the Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 ED Macro Lens features a closest focusing distance of 7.4 inches, 1x magnification, and dust/splash-proof construction. The wide, fast f/2.8 maximum aperture creates a shallow depth of field and improves image quality in low-light conditions.
Panasonic Leica 45mm f/2.8 Macro ($798): Best Panasonic lens for macro photography! Extremely compact and lightweight, the Panasonic Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm F2.8 ASPH is a very appealing little lens, and its diminutive size captures the gestalt of the format perfectly. True 1:1 macro work, where this lens’s strengths really shine.
Lens | Price | Buy Now |
Olympus 60mm f/2.8 Macro | $499 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Panasonic Leica 45mm f/2.8 Macro | $798 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Standard Zoom Lenses
Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro ($999): Superior Versatility! The M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm F2.8 PRO lens offers unmatched shooting versatility. It features a wide-angle focal length to capture landscapes, architecture or nature scenes and a super fast fixed f/2.8 aperture for perfect portraits at 40mm. A lens capable of handling everything from night photography to sports and action to weddings—sometimes, all at once.
Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 II ($999): A versatile zoom covering wide-angle to portrait-length perspectives, this newly refreshed Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 II provides a convenient 24-70mm equivalent focal length range. Not only ideal for capturing landscapes while traveling, this lens’s wide diameter gives you top-quality indoor shots too. Perceptive and defocusing effects add to the features, giving you exactly the kind of photos and videos you’re looking for. Excellent! If you can’t afford this new version, you choose the Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 ($697), $300 cheaper, another great choice!
Olympus 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 ($499): Budget option! This Olympus 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 lens is a compact, lightweight 4.2x zoom lens that covers a lot of ground. Covering wide-angle to telephoto focal lengths (35mm equivalent of 24-100mm), this lens is suitable for landscapes, wide interior shots, portrait shooting, day-to-day photography and travel photography.
Lens | Price | Buy Now |
Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro | $999 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 II | $997 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 | $697 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Olympus 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 | $499 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Wide-angle Prime Lenses
Olympus 12mm f/2 Lens ($649): Highly recommended! One of the best Olympus lenses for landscapes/cityscapes/architecture. A high quality, metal construction fast wide angle lens. This high-speed, single-focal-length, wide-angle lens is ideal for shooting everything from dramatic landscapes in low-light conditions to hard-to-get, spontaneous street shots. This Olympus 12mm f/2 lens is also great for tracking a moving child or pet, and provides a quick and silent focus mechanism for movies and still photography.
Panasonic 15mm f/1.7 ($597): An excellent wide-angle lens with a super-wide aperture for candids and low-light photography. Its 35mm-equivalent focal length is 30mm, making it ideally suited for everyday shooting applications. The fast f/1.7 maximum aperture benefits working in low-light conditions and also avails greater control over the focus position for shallow depth of field and selective focus techniques.
Olympus 17mm f/1.8 ($499): Great lens. This Olympus M.ZUIKO 17mm f/1.8 lens is a very bright, fast lens ideal for everyday photography as well as street photography in which fast shutter speeds and sufficient light is important. With a wide maximum aperture of f/1.8, this is a fine lens for low-light situations and shallow depth of field imaging.
Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 ($319): Another great wide angle prime lens with an affordable price! Providing a 35mm-equivalent focal length of 24mm and a broad 83° angle of view, this lens is well-suited for architectural, interior, and landscape images. Its fast f/2.0 maximum aperture is further beneficial to working in low-light conditions. You can also choose the cinevised version of Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 – Rokinon 12mm T2.2 Cine Lens – great wide-angle lens optimized for digital cinematography.
Lens | Price | Buy Now |
Olympus 12mm f/2 | $649 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Panasonic 15mm f/1.7 | $597 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Olympus 17mm f/1.8 | $499 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Rokinon 12mm f/2.0 | $319 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Rokinon 12mm T2.2 Cine | $374 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Wide-angle Zoom Lenses
Olympus 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO ($1,149): Highly recommended! Looking for an unsurpassed combination for speed, brightness, mobility, rugged build quality and superior optical performance? Look to the new M.ZUIKO ED 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO ultra-wide angle zoom lens! It is also an excellent lens for landscapes/cityscapes/architecture. This lens is compact, lightweight, portable and weatherproof so you can take it anywhere. And with an ultra-wide angle of view and a bright f2.8 maximum aperture, you’ll capture more of every scene, from sprawling daytime panoramas to electric, super-sharp night scenes.
Panasonic Lumix 7-14mm f/4 ASPH ($798): Excellent ultra-wide zoom lens for Micro Four Thirds system camera! surprisingly compact and lightweight, the Panasonic Lumix 7-14mm f/4 lens allows use of the advanced contrast AF system and features smooth, quiet autofocus as well as precise manual focus capability. Compact and with excellent image quality, it’s a superb lens if you can afford the high price. Suggested for landscape or travel photographers looking for a highly portable ultrawide zooms.
Lens | Price | Buy Now |
Olympus 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO | $1,149 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Panasonic Lumix 7-14mm f/4 ASPH | $798 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Olympus 9-18mm f/4-5.6 | $549 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Telephoto Prime Lenses
Olympus 300mm f/4 IS PRO ($2,499): Olympus M.ZUIKO ED 300mm F4 PRO is the first single-focal-length super telephoto lens in the M.ZUIKO PRO series at 600mm (35mm equivalent). This lens has superb depictive performance as well as mobility and dustproof/splashproof performance that are perfect for even professional use. World’s most powerful 6-steps of compensation synchronized in-lens and in-body Image Stabilization. Excellent!
Lens | Price | Buy Now |
Olympus 300mm f/4 IS PRO | $2,499 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Telephoto Zoom Lenses
Panasonic Lumix 100-300mm f/4-5.6 II ($648): Highly recommended! This new Lumix 100-300mm f/4-5.6 II lens deliver a no-compromise approach to optical performance for modern interchangeable camera enthusiasts and it has been updated for the outdoors with a splashproof and dustproof design. The Lumix G Vario 100-300mm f/4-5.6 II spans an equivalent 200-600mm range, making it well-suited to wildlife, nature, and sports shooting. Linear autofocus motor delivers fast AF performance that is also precise, smooth, and near-silent to benefit both stills and video applications. Splash and dustproof design benefits working in inclement weather conditions.
Panasonic Lumix 100-300mm f/4-5.6 ($598): Excellent Lens! The Panasonic Lumix 100-300mm f/4-5.6 is also a great choice! A 35mm equivalent 200-600mm range makes sports action, wildlife, and any other kind of photography where you can’t get too close to your subject, a breeze. Its compact design, contrast AF system support, and MEGA O.I.S. image stabilization to prevent blurry photos from shaky hands all make this a must-have if you want to take pictures from afar.
Olympus 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 II ($549): This newly designded Olympus 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 II is an affordable super telephoto lens that delivers excellent portability and outstanding image quality. The 75-300mm focal length gives a 35mm-equivalent zoom range of 150-600mm for a standard to super-telephoto reach. Weighing only 14.9 ounces and measuring 2.7 by 4.58 inches and reaching 300mm, this is the perfect lens to take with you for capturing outdoor nature scenes.
Panasonic Lumix 45-200mm f/4-5.6 II ($448): This Panasonic 45-200mm f/4-5.6 II provides a 90-400mm equivalent focal length range for Micro Four Thirds mirrorless cameras. Easy to use in every way, this telephoto zoom lens is a must-have for your gear. A linear autofocus motor is also featured, for quick and quiet focusing performance, and the lens sports a splash and dustproof physical design to suit working in harsh climates.
Lens | Price | Buy Now |
Panasonic Lumix 100-300mm f/4-5.6 II | $648 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Panasonic Lumix 100-300mm f/4-5.6 | $598 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Olympus 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 II | $549 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Panasonic Lumix 45-200mm f/4-5.6 II | $448 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Panasonic Lumix 45-200mm f/4-5.6 | $300 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
Wildlife and Sports Lenses
Best super telephoto zoom lens for Wildlife and Sports photography:
Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f/4-6.3 ASPH ($1,798): A high quality super-telephoto zoom lens with excellent sharpness. With an equivalent range of 200-800mm, the Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f/4-6.3 ASPH lens boasts a longer reach than any other native lens in the catalogue and making it ideal for wildlife and sports shooters. Benefitting both stills shooting and video recording, a 240 fps high-speed AF motor is both quiet and precise, and a focus limiter function can be employed to constrain the focusing range for even quicker performance. And while its lightweight, compact form factor is suitable for handheld shooting, the 100-400mm f/4-6.3 also features an integrated rotating tripod collar for fast switching between horizontal and vertical shooting orientations when working atop a monopod or tripod.
Lens | Price | Buy Now |
Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f/4-6.3 ASPH | $1,798 | Amazon | B&H | Adorama |
I’m very surprised that the Olympus M.Zuiko 30mm f/3.5 lens is not included in the macro category. It even has greater than 1:1 image magnification, and is less expensive than the Panasonic 45mm or the Olympus 60mm macro lenses. It is an excellent lens!
Your article says they are fully compatible but they are not. Certain panasonic IS lenses do not provide additonal IS on Olympus bodies and same for certain Leica lenses on Olympus bodies. For example, the variable exposure ring on the Leica 10-20 1.7 only works on panasonic bodies, it must remain in “A” automatic mode for Olympus bodies. So there are certain things that should be mentioned.
The trio of F1.2 Pro primes from Olympus should be included. Yes, they cost more than the F1.8 prime trio, but they are faster.
One of the most ridiculous list I have ever seen on this subject
Why do you think so?