Micro Four Thirds infrared lenses.
20 lensesGood 17Maybe 0Bad 3
Use an adapter to mount these lenses to many mirrorless cameras.
Data credit: these ratings come from the remarkable research at irlensdb.com, a community-built resource that has tested and documented more infrared lenses than any other reference online. I have stripped the retailer links and reformatted the data, but the hard work of collecting it belongs to them.
Ratings describe how a lens behaves on an infrared-converted camera. A maybe lens is usually fine wide open and shows a hot spot as you stop down, so check the notes before you write one off.
Zooms (14)
Olympus M.Zuiko ED 12-40mm ƒ/2.8 PRO
Good- Focal
- 12-40mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/2.8
- Filter
- ⌀62mm
- Weight
- 382 g
No hot spots. Fabio Canevarolo
Panasonic LUMIX G VARIO 12-60mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 ASPH. POWER O.I.S.
Good- Focal
- 12-60mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/3.5-5.6
- Filter
- ⌀58mm
- Weight
- 210 g
Work very well in infrared—no hotspots and very little color cast in color infrared. Comments
Panasonic LEICA DG VARIO-ELMARIT 12-60mm ƒ/2.8-4 ASPH. POWER O.I.S.
Good- Focal
- 12-60mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/2.8-4
- Filter
- ⌀62mm
- Weight
- 320 g
Absolutely no hot spots with this lens on a full spectrum converted OM1 mkii. MikeB
Olympus 14-42mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 EZ ED MSC
Good- Focal
- 14-42mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/3.5-5.6
- Filter
- ⌀37mm
- Weight
- 93 g
No noticeable hotspots, any mild center brightness above ƒ/8 is easily overcome. With a JJC 3rd party lens hood, you can use 37mm, 43mm and 58mm filters. Christo vR
OM System M.Zuiko ED 14-42mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 EZ
Good- Focal
- 14-42mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/3.5-5.6
- Filter
- ⌀37mm
- Weight
- 93 g
Mild hot spot at ƒ/11 sometimes, easy to fix. No hot spots. Fabio Canevarolo
Panasonic 14-42mm G ASPH MEGA OIS
Good- Focal
- 14-42mm
- Aperture
- Filter
- ⌀52mm
- Weight
- 110 g
Hot spots Not detected. Christo vR
Olympus 14-150mm ƒ/4-5.6 II ED MSC
Good- Focal
- 14-150mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/4-5.6
- Filter
- ⌀58mm
- Weight
- 285 g
Barely visible, very mild center brightening at wide angle over ƒ/11. Over 40mm, no hotspot detected. Christo vR No hot spots. Fabio Canevarolo No hot spots. Best performance overall ƒ/5.6-8. Andrew Richards
Panasonic LUMIX G VARIO 45-150mm ƒ/4-5.6 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S.
Good- Focal
- 45-150mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/4-5.6
- Filter
- ⌀52mm
- Weight
- 200 g
Work very well in infrared—no hotspots and very little color cast in color infrared. Comments
OM System M.Zuiko ED 12-45mm ƒ/4 PRO
Bad- Focal
- 12-45mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/4
- Filter
- ⌀58mm
- Weight
- 254 g
Hotspots badly at all apertures. On a “normal” camera it is great. MikeB
Olympus M.Zuiko ED 9-18mm ƒ/4-5.6
Good- Focal
- 9-18mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/4-5.6
- Filter
- ⌀52mm
No hotspots, best performance is ƒ/5.6-8. Andrew Richards
Panasonic LUMIX G VARIO 12-32mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S.
Good- Focal
- 12-32mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/3.5-5.6
- Filter
- ⌀37mm
No hot spots.
Panasonic LEICA DG VARIO-ELMARIT 8-18mm ƒ/2.8-4 ASPH.
Good- Focal
- 8-18mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/2.8-4
- Filter
- ⌀67mm
Excellent throughout aperture & zoom range.
Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm ƒ/4 IS PRO
Bad- Focal
- 12-100mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/4
- Filter
- ⌀72mm
Bad hot spot and brown cast. Excellent normally.
Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm ƒ/4 PRO
Good- Focal
- 40-150mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/4
- Filter
- ⌀62mm
No hot spots or casts, and very sharp.
Primes (6)
Panasonic LEICA DG SUMMILUX 9mm ƒ/1.7 ASPH.
Good- Focal
- 9mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/1.7
- Filter
- ⌀55mm
- Weight
- 130 g
No hot spots. Fabio Canevarolo
Panasonic LEICA DG SUMMILUX 12mm ƒ/1.4 ASPH.
Good- Focal
- 12mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/1.4
- Filter
- ⌀62mm
- Weight
- 335 g
No hot spots. Fabio Canevarolo
OM System M.Zuiko 20mm ƒ/1.4 PRO
Good- Focal
- 20mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/1.4
- Filter
- ⌀58mm
- Weight
- 247 g
No hot spots. Fabio Canevarolo
Panasonic LEICA DG SUMMILUX 15mm ƒ/1.7 ASPH.
Good- Focal
- 15mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/1.7
- Filter
- ⌀46mm
No hot spots.
Laowa 7.5mm ƒ/2 MFT
Bad- Focal
- 7.5mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/2
- Filter
- ⌀46mm
Awful hot spot and color cast. Excellent normally.
Samyang 7.5mm ƒ/3.5 UMC Fisheye MFT
Good- Focal
- 7.5mm
- Aperture
- ƒ/3.5
- Filter
- n/a
Has not given hot spots yet, mainly used at ƒ/5.6-8. Andrew Richards
Next step
Ready to shoot infrared on Micro Four Thirds?
Links to Kolari Vision are affiliate links: if you buy through them the site earns a commission at no extra cost to you. They are the shop my own conversions and filters came from, and the recommendation would be the same without the program — full disclosure.
Links to Kolari Vision are affiliate links: if you buy through them the site earns a commission at no extra cost to you. They are the shop my own conversions and filters came from, and the recommendation would be the same without the program — full disclosure.
Related guides
Where this data comes from
These ratings are compiled from the community-maintained Infrared Lens Database, with contributor credits kept in the notes. Ratings are submitted by photographers using different conversions, so results vary by wavelength, aperture and individual lens copy — treat them as a strong starting point, not a guarantee. Retailer links from the source have been removed. If you have tested a lens, contribute your result back to the original database so everyone benefits.