Panasonic’s new 14-42 pancake zoom lens seems promising for use with GF1 or GX1 small good quality cameras although I may lose some shots because zooming is slow.
Here are my initial observations before I’ve had a chance to take any real-life photos. This is not a full review, just a description how the lens matches with my personal expectations.
- Auto focus speed very promising
- not radically different from 14-45 kit lens = quick enough for me
- Auto focus reliability & tracking
- can’t test today
- Very small, feels light.
- Small size is the whole point of GF1 & GX1 cameras.
- Zooming is slooooow compared to zooming using a manual ring (that the lens doesn’t have)
- Canon S90 compact camera zooms faster from wide to tele
- Canon S90 has 3.8x range, this lens is only 3x.
- Lens cap ridiculously small & could be easier to insert/remove
- I’m going to lose it one day
- No irritating wait between power on + first photo
- 14-45 kit lens is faster because no need to move optics during power on
- Build quality good
- Would feel safer with manual zoom ring instead of electronic zoom
- Image quality: can’t test today
- consult pixel peepers
- I don’t expect radical difference to 14-45 kit lens and that is good enough for me (for a small camera).
I tested with GF1 that doesn’t have the latest firmware. The lens might perform better with the newer GX1 body.
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Haven’t had much chance to test the lens yet. It’s dark when I go to work and dark when I return. (and on Saturday it’s supposed to rain…)