13 Best Micro Four Thirds Lenses in 2024 (MFT Lens)

The best Micro Four Thirds lens will help you get the most out of your Olympus or Panasonic camera. Micro Four Thirds (MFT) cameras might be small. But they are advanced shooting machines.

And the lenses are just as impressive, with sharp optics and fast AF motors. There’s also a good selection of prime and zoom lenses.

The Olympus ED 25mm f/1.8 is our top choice as the best MFT lens. It’s a versatile prime lens with excellent optical quality. It has a fast aperture for depth of field control. And it’s high-quality glass at a reasonable price. 

What Is the Best Micro Four Thirds Lens?

There are two main manufacturers of Micro Four Thirds (MFT) cameras. They are Olympus and Panasonic. They have separate lines of lenses for their MFT cameras, but they’re interchangeable.

So you can use Panasonic lenses with Olympus cameras and vice versa. This gives you even more options when choosing a lens for your Micro Four Thirds camera.

And if you want even more options, Sigma also has a range of MFT lenses. With such a wide range of Micro Four Thirds Lenses, you can select a lens that suits your photography.

We’ve included lenses of all kinds. We have prime and zoom lenses. We have standard and wide-angle lenses. And there are telephoto lenses if you need more magnification.

We’ve broken the list down into three sections. The first section has all the Olympus lenses. The second section looks at the Panasonic lenses. And we round off the list with the Sigma lenses.

We also have an FAQ section at the end if you need more info. You can click the links below to navigate the list:

• Best Olympus Micro Four Thirds Lenses
• Best Panasonic Micro Four Thirds Lenses
• Best Sigma Micro Four Thirds Lenses
• Best Micro Four Thirds Lenses FAQs

 

Best Olympus Micro Four Thirds Lenses

Olympus is dedicated to its Micro Four Thirds camera line. It does have a couple of other models on the market. But MFT cameras are its heart and soul.

They are fantastic cameras. And no fantastic camera is complete without a fantastic lens. 

Here’s an overview of the best Olympus Micro Four Thirds Lenses. Keep reading to see each one in detail. And you can also read about all the best Olympus cameras we recommend.

The ED 25mm f/1.8 is a fantastic all-round prime lens. It has a 25mm fixed focal length equivalent to 50mm on a full frame camera. That makes it a nifty-fifty for Micro Four Thirds cameras. 

It’s a great choice for street and travel photography. You can shoot lovely landscape photography. And it’s even a good choice for portraits. It’s the perfect lens to screw on before you leave the house.

The f/1.8 max aperture gives a shallow depth of field. And the seven-blade circular diaphragm gives smooth bokeh with well-defined shapes. That makes it even more popular with portrait photographers.

It has a special ZERO (Zuiko Extra-low Reflection Optical) coating. This gives you beautiful picture quality with edge-to-edge sharpness. And there’s very little glare, even in direct sunlight.

The autofocus motor is quick. And it works well with stills and video recordings. That’s convenient because Panasonic and Olympus MFT cameras have excellent video features.

It’s a lightweight lens, weighing just 0.3 lb (100 g). And it’s small enough to fit in any camera bag. Plus, the price is also on the low side.

That’s why having the Olympus ED 25mm f/1.8 in your collection is worth it. It’s versatile and affordable. What’s not to like?

The Olympus ED 45mm f/1.2 PRO is a professional-grade lens for MFT cameras. So you’ll have no complaints about the image quality.

The 45mm focal length is the same as 90mm on a full frame camera. That gives you excellent magnification for tightly framed exposures. So it’s a fantastic focal length for portraits.

The lens has 14 glass elements arranged in 10 groups. Each one has been shaped with the utmost craftsmanship. And there’s a nano coating on the outer element that reduces lens flare and ghosting.

Portrait photographers will love the ultra-fast f/1.2 aperture. It gives you excellent exposure control to shoot in low light. And it also helps you get a stunning bokeh effect for portraits and product photos.

The fast and accurate AF motor allows you to work with moving subjects. And it’s just as reliable when shooting video.

Plus, the lens barrel has a manual focus clutch. This allows you to take control whenever you need to. So you don’t need to enter the camera’s menu to change the settings.

The ED 45mm f/1.2 PRO has a weather-sealed design for outdoor shooting. It’s also dust- and freezeproof. So it can cope with difficult conditions.

It’s on the pricey side for being an MFT lens. But it’s worth the price if you’re serious about portrait, product, or food photography.

The ED 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO is a versatile zoom lens. It has beautiful picture quality and useful features while remaining lightweight and compact. It’s also at a good price for a pro-standard zoom lens.

The focal length range is 12-40mm. This is equivalent to 24-80mm on a full frame camera. And it gives you incredible freedom with your shot selection.

The wide angle allows you to shoot landscapes. And it’s a useful lens for real estate exteriors and interiors. You also get an 80mm end, which is perfect for portraits.

Everything in between is great for travel and street photography. You can leave the house with just this lens and shoot anything you like!

The f/2.8 max aperture is fast for a zoom lens. And it’s constant throughout the zoom range. So you don’t lose any low-light ability at longer focal lengths. You get the full aperture range at 12 and 40mm. 

Olympus makes fantastic hybrid cameras. And this lens was built for still photography and video production. You get the same fast-responding autofocus system in either mode.

There’s also a manual focus clutch if you want to take over focusing on the fly. And the Olympus ED 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO is great indoors or outdoors with rugged weather sealing.

These features add more versatility to an already versatile lens. And when you throw in a more-than-reasonable price tag? It becomes a must-have Micro Four Thirds lens from Olympus.

The ED 9-18mm f/4-5.6 is a fabulous wide-angle zoom lens. It’s lightweight, compact, and reliable. Its low price makes it affordable. And even though it’s an older lens, you can still buy it brand new.

The focal length is equivalent to 18-36mm on a full frame camera. That gives you a lovely wide field of view and flexibility when shooting.

It’s an ideal lens for real estate interiors, as you can move between different-sized rooms without changing lenses. And it’s a good choice for street photographers who like a wider composition.

It has one Extra-low Dispersion (ED) and two super-aspherical elements. These elements reduce chromatic aberration and distortion. So the image quality is crystal clear.

They also help to reduce flare. But you might experience some flaring in heavy backlit situations.

The AF system is MSC. This means Movie & Still Compatible, making it a great lens choice for vloggers and moviemakers. The autofocus is smooth and quiet, which is ideal for video recording.

There’s no weather sealing. So you need to take care when shooting outside.

But despite that downside, the Olympus ED 9-18mm f/4-5.6 is a fantastic wide-angle zoom lens. It’s worth slipping this one into your camera bag next time you head out.

The ED 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 is the best Olympus lens if you want more magnification. It’s also one of the most affordable zoom lenses any camera manufacturer makes.

It has a super-wide zoom range. So you can use it for all kinds of photography. And with a focal length equivalent to 24-400mm, you get excellent magnification.

This reach makes it a great lens for wildlife photography and sports photography. It lets you get detailed shots from a safe distance and capture the action from the cheap seats.

You get sharp optical quality throughout the zoom range. You might experience some distortion at the extremes. But Olympus’s special ZERO coating helps reduce flare and ghosting.

One downside is the aperture range. You get a max aperture of f/3.5 at the shorter focal lengths. And that’s reduced to f/6.3 when you’re fully zoomed in.

That does restrict your exposure control. But, thankfully, the latest Olympus cameras have built-in image stabilization to compensate.

The Olympus ED 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 is an all-weather, splashproof and dustproof lens. That’s good news for wildlife and sports photographers.

But it’s a multi-purpose lens many photographers can find a use for. It’s also a bargain at its current price!

Best Panasonic Micro Four Thirds Lenses

Here are the best Panasonic Micro Four Thirds Lenses. All of their MFT lenses are fine-tuned for stills and video production.

And Panasonic makes some of the best hybrid cameras on the market. So photographers and videographers can find exactly what they need right here.

Here’s a rundown of the best MFT lenses for Panasonic Lumix cameras. We go into more detail on each lens below.

Remember, if you’re an Olympus user but like the look of a Panasonic lens, no problem. Both brands use a universal MFT mount. So they’re interchangeable!

The Lumix DG 25mm f/1.7 ASPH is the perfect Panasonic MFT lens to start shooting with. It’s ultra-lightweight and compact and almost fits in your pocket. And you can buy it for next to nothing!

The focal length is equivalent to 50mm on a full frame camera. That makes it a versatile 50mm prime lens. You can use it for portraits, landscapes, travel, and street photography.

Its image quality is excellent. It has eight glass elements, which is a lot for a prime of this size.

There are two aspherical elements and one ultra-high refractive element. They maintain optimal quality in tough conditions. It also has a nano coating on the outer element that reduces lens flare.

As you might expect with Panasonic, the lens is tuned for photos and video. The AF is quick and reliable in both media. And it’s close to silent. Your microphone won’t pick it up when you’re shooting.

Lenses of this quality usually come with a much higher price tag. It’s sharp and reliable yet compact and feather-light. That’s why the Panasonic Lumix DG 25mm f/1.7 ASPH must be on your buy list.

The Panasonic Lumix Leica DG 10-15mm f/1.7 ASPH is a great choice for photography. But it has been optimized for videography cameras. And the lens engineering is very impressive.

The 10-25mm (20-50mm equivalent) zoom range gives you plenty of shot variety. And the features give you a professional shooting experience.

The barrel holds 17 elements in 12 groups. These include three aspherical and two ED elements that eradicate chromatic aberration. Your images are always clear, sharp, and distortion-free.

With an internal focus drive system, focusing is practically silent. The Lumix Leica DG 10-15mm f/1.7 ASPH also has fast and smooth AF. And it can cope with lots of movement in the frame.

It also features a stepless “de-click” microdrive for the aperture. So there’s no click when you change the aperture. It’s a smooth transition that automatically changes the aperture without noise.

Filmmakers will also like the focus clutch. And they’ll love the mechanism that suppresses focus breathing. You can refocus without having to readjust. It’s a small feature that makes a big difference.

The Panasonic Lumix Leica DG 43mm f/1.2 ASPH is a collaboration between two heavyweights of the photo world—Panasonic and Leica. And when you see Leica on anything, you know it means quality.

The 42.5mm focal length isn’t common. But it gives you the same field of view as an 85mm lens. That’s one of the best focal lengths for product, food, and portrait photography.

In fact, this lens was designed with portrait photographers in mind. It’s great for isolating your subject. And you expect sharp picture quality from a prime lens. But this lens hits new heights of sharpness!

The Leica DG 43mm f/1.2 ASPH also has a Lumix Advanced Nano Coating on the outer element. This reduces flare and ghosting when you work with direct light or strong backlighting.

One special feature is the Optical Image Stabilization (OIS). It has a super-fast f/1.2 maximum aperture. But the OIS gives even more exposure control in dark situations without the risk of blur. 

The Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 is a versatile zoom lens. And it has great optics.

With a focal length equivalent to 28-280mm, you get a 10x zoom range. That’s excellent magnification. And it allows you to shoot everything from landscapes to sports photography.

The maximum aperture is a bit slow at f/3.5. And it is reduced to f/5.6 when you’re zoomed in. So this can leave you short of light when shooting distant subjects. 

Thankfully, the lens has built-in optical image stabilization (IS). It’s great for low-light situations.

The IS compensates for camera shake and lets you use slower shutter speeds. There’s less risk of motion blur. And you have more exposure control with the G Vario 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6.

.It’s also a great lens for photography and videography. It’s fast and precise in both media formats. So whether you’re a photographer or filmmaker, this Panasonic zoom lens belongs in your camera bag.

The Panasonic Lumix Leica DG 50-200mm f/2.8-4 ASPH is a fantastic choice if you need a powerful zoom lens. It’s a pro-level telephoto zoom lens with stunning optics.

It has a magnification equivalent to 400mm. So it’s ideal if you’re a sports or wildlife photographer. And it’s one of the largest lenses on the list.

Its large size is partly due to the 15 glass elements within the barrel. These give you sharp optical quality throughout the zoom range. And the two extra-low dispersion elements reduce distortion.

At the short focal length, you get a max aperture of f/2.8. That’s fantastic for a zoom lens this size. And it’s only f/4 at the long end. So you get excellent exposure control, whether your subject is near or far.

If that wasn’t enough, the lens also has optical image stabilization. It counteracts camera shake, allowing you to work at slower shutter speeds. And it’s great for low-light photography.

It’s also a rugged lens with weather sealing and a dustproof and freezeproof design. But it isn’t the cheapest lens on this lens.

However, the Leica DG 50-200mm f/2.8-4 ASPH earns its price tag. It’s strong, versatile, and performs at the highest level!

Best Sigma Micro Four Thirds Lenses

Panasonic and Olympus are the only two camera brands making MFT cameras. But Sigma also makes lenses for Micro Four Thirds-mount cameras.

Third-party lenses aren’t always held in the same regard as branded ones. But Sigma lenses are a cut above other third-party manufacturers.

All the Sigma lenses below are compatible with Olympus and Panasonic cameras. They are a great alternative if you haven’t already found the lens you want.

The Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC may have an affordable price. But it doesn’t perform like a budget lens.

The optical quality is fantastic. It has two aspherical lens elements to reduce chromatic aberration and a multi-layer coating that prevents flare.

You get a lovely wide angle with a focal length equivalent to 24mm. So it’s a great choice for landscape photography.

You can also use it for property photography. And the lens is ideal for street photography shooters who like a wider composition.

With a f/1.4 maximum aperture, the low-light performance is fantastic. You get excellent exposure control in all conditions. So it’s also helpful when shooting real estate interiors.

The 16mm f/1.4 DC by Sigma has few bells and whistles. But you get edge-to-edge sharpness. And it has a wide aperture range and field of view. You can’t do much better at this price range!

The Sigma 56mm f/1.4 DC is a simple yet proficient prime lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras. The super-fast f/1.4 aperture is a feature any photographer will appreciate.

The 56mm focal length is the same as 112mm on a full frame camera. This gives you a tight frame ideal for intimate portraits and professional product photography.

It’s a compact prime lens. But the small barrel contains 10 glass elements arranged in 6 groups. This amount of glass gives you excellent edge-to-edge image quality.

It doesn’t reduce aberration or flaring as well as some of the pro lenses on this list. But it is sharp and clear in fair conditions.

The f/1.4 gives you fantastic exposure control in low light. And it makes it easy to achieve a shallow depth of field. The 9-blade circular diaphragm also helps to give you a smooth background bokeh.

It’s a hybrid lens, with the AF working for photography and video. And the telephoto focal length makes it a good choice for interview videos or product commercials.

The Sigma 56mm f/1.4 DC‘s AF motor is also quiet. So it can refocus and track during shots without ruining the take.

The low price of the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 Contemporary DC might make you think it’s a sub-par lens. But while it isn’t a pro-level lens, it does deliver gorgeous images.

The 30mm focal length gives you a 60mm field of view. That makes it a versatile lens for many types of photography. It’s great for street photography, landscapes, and travel.

But it also gives you a nice field of view for portraits. So it’s a versatile prime every Micro Four Thirds user should have in their camera bag.

The picture quality is clear and sharp. And it deals with varying light conditions very well. It might struggle with a strongly backlit scene. But it delivers great results both inside and outside.

The f/1.4 aperture is great for a shallow depth of field. That’s great for portrait photographers who like to use bokeh. And it means the 30mm f/1.4 Contemporary DC has excellent low-light performance.

Micro Four Thirds Camera and Lens FAQs

Micro Four Thirds cameras are a niche not all photographers are family with. Most people have heard of them. But they might not know the full picture.

That’s why we’ve answered some FAQs about Micro Four Thirds lenses can cameras.

What Is a Micro Four Thirds Camera?

An MFT camera is a digital camera with a Micro Four Thirds sensor. This type of sensor is smaller than both full frame and APS-C sensors. That’s why MFT cameras are so compact and lightweight.

As well as being compact, MFT cameras have a reputation for being handy hybrid cameras. That means they are great for taking photos and videos. That’s certainly the case with the latest models.

The smaller sensor often means the megapixel count is lower than full frame and APS-C cameras. But they make up for it with incredibly advanced features.

They have fast burst modes, accurate AF systems, and image stabilization. And they are high-quality cameras.

Olympus and Panasonic are the only two manufacturers to make MFT cameras. And in the case of Olympus (now OM Systems), the company makes very little else.

What Lens Mount Do Micro Four Thirds Cameras Use?

Micro Four Thirds cameras all have a universal MFT lens mount. Whether it’s a Panasonic or Olympus camera, they all have the universal MFT mount.

That means Micro Four Thirds lenses are interchangeable. You can use Olympus MFT lenses with a Panasonic camera. And you can use Panasonic lenses with an Olympus camera.

This gives you an incredible selection when it comes to finding lenses. And you have the freedom to mix and match.

This also means Sigma Micro Four Thirds lenses are compatible with cameras from both brands. They have one Micro Four Thirds line compatible with both sets of cameras.

Which Micro Four Thirds Lens Is Best for Beginners?

The Olympus ED 25mm f/1.8 is fantastic for beginners. It’s a nifty-fifty with a 50mm field of view. The f/1.8 aperture gives plenty of exposure control. It’s lightweight, compact, and an absolute bargain.

Alternatively, you can go for the Lumix DG 25mm f/1.7. It’s another MFT nifty-fifty equivalent, but it’s from Panasonic. The optical quality is fantastic. And the price makes it a very tempting purchase.

We recommend the Olympus ED 9-18mm f/4-5.6 for a lightweight, versatile, beginner zoom lens. The aperture range isn’t good. But the picture quality is great. And the price can’t get much lower!

Which Micro Four Third Lens Is Best for Portrait Photography?

The Olympus ED 45mm f/1.2 has to be near the top of the list. The optics are sensational. And the f/1.2 aperture is ideal for achieving a shallow depth of field.

The Panasonic Lumix Leica DG 43mm f/1.2 is another pro-level portrait lens option. It has an ultra-fast f/1.2 aperture. And it has special lens coatings and built-in optical image stabilization.

The Sigma 56mm f/1.4 DC is the best budget-friendly portrait lens. It doesn’t have advanced features. But it has a fast f/1.4 max aperture and a 9-blade round aperture that improves background bokeh.

There are plenty of excellent portrait lenses for MFT cameras!

Conclusion: The Best Micro Four Thirds Lenses

With such a fabulous array of options, finding the best Micro Four Thirds lens isn’t difficult. And with the universal MFT mount, you have your pick of Olympus and Panasonic lenses.

There’s some brilliant glass out there. All you need to do is find the lens that meets your needs.

The Olympus ED 25mm f/1.8 is our choice for the best Micro Four Thirds lens. It’s lightweight and compact to match your MFT camera. It’s versatile with beautiful optics. And you get a great lens at an affordable price. It’s the best place to start with MFT lenses!