John & Maria's Photography Pages

Some thoughts on the Panasonic Leica Summilux 9mm f1.7 lens

Since I switched over to M43 the one area I'd been missing was wide angle.  On my Canon gear one of my favourite lenses was the Tokina 12-24mm (18-36mm full frame - ff - equivelent).  It did, I admit, have some pretty horrendous chromatic aberation but I loved its field of view range and clarity.  I broke it and it was replaced with a Canon 10-18mm EFS.  Despite being even wider it wasn't the same and, although I generated some saleable shots, I tended not to use it.  

At 24mm ff equivelent the wide end of my Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 gave me a very reasonable wide angle perspective but I still hankered for a bit more.  Looking at the options towards the end of 2023 I narrowed it down to two M43 lenses.  Optimal choice would have been the Olympus 8-25mm f4 Pro.  Weather sealed, an excellent range from wide angle to normal, Pro quality glass and build, the ability to take the same filters as my 40-150mm f2.8 Pro; it had everything except for two factors.  Weight and price.  Even used it was more than I could realistically afford and a bit heavier than I would have liked.

So I looked at the second choice, the Panasonic Leica Summilux 9mm f1.7 lens.  Lightweight, sharp, half the cost of the Olympus and with some degree of weather sealing on Olympus bodies I thought I could add it to the kit as an addition to the 12-40mm.  So, at the end of 2023, I bought one.

First thoughts were positive.  It's certainly sharp, with good colour and clarity.  And then I noticed the downside and it took me back to Tokina 12-24mm days.  Purple fringing in high contrast situations.  Take this example:

Cropped from the top right corner of this image:

Yes, it's fixable in post using the Defringe sliders in Lightroom, but it's an additional step in the workflow and defringing is far from perfect.  It's tempting to say it doesn't really matter - but I doubt that Alamy QC would see it that way should I submit images with that amount of noticeable chromatic aberration.

Here's another example (click to embiggen):

All of which means I have to pick and choose which shots I take with the lens to avoid the sort of high contrast situations - bare branches against a winter sky is just one example - where purple fringing is most likely to be induced.

Apart from that it's a lovely lens, as these recent shots of Plymouth basking in January sunshine can attest.

I do have to admit that, perhaps, I should have saved up a little more and bought the Olympus 8-25mm Pro.  Unfortunately the tax man always wants his share of my Alamy earnings and that, I'm afraid, had to take priority.