Panasonic LUMIX G X Vario 12-35mm f2.8 ASPH. Power O.I.S review - Panasonic’s Quality Standard Zoom for Micro 4:3
By Ben Boswell - Wednesday, March 20, 2013 Lens Review| Introduction | Measurement | Comparisons | Conclusion |
The Micro 4:3 market is maturing nicely: there are products available now to suit a wide range of needs. Up to now the upper end of this sector consisted entirely of fixed focal length lenses, but the Panasonic LUMIX G X Vario 12-35mm f2.8 ASPH. Power O.I.S changes all that. This is the first ‘standard’ zoom lens that DxO Mark has tested that really competes with fixed lenses on this format.
The Panasonic Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm f2.8 ASPH Power O.I.S is a high quality zoom lens with a Micro 4:3 mount. It will fit onto cameras from Panasonic and Olympus. The design is of 14 elements in 9 groups, 4 of the elements are aspherical, 1 is UED (Ultra Extra-low Dispersion) and 1 is UHR (Ultra High Refractive) Glass. The lens features nano-surface coating to improve transmission and contrast.
The Focal length range of 12mm to 35mm covers the “standard” range, the relative focal length for full frame 35mm would be 24mm through to 70mm. The maximum aperture of f2.8 is fixed throughout the range and the minimum is f22. The lens is not designated as a macro lens and the minimum focus distance is 0.25m giving a maximum magnification of 0.17x. Autofocus on the lens uses a silent motor design and works during video capture. There is also ‘Power O.I.S: Optical Image Stabilizer which Panasonic claim to be twice as good as their previous system. As one would expect from a fast lens like this, it is quite solidly built, 68mm across, 74mm long and weighing in at 305g.
Measurement
Comparisons
Conclusion
Comments
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Added by ronnbot |
May 07
Better than the Canikon?
Interesting comparison. Why not compare to similar lenses in other format like what was done with the 35-100/2.8?
Anyway, this lens is a good one. It has better overall score than both Canon and Nikon 17-55/2.8 with better sharpness and CA than the Canon and better transmission and vignetting than both: http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Lenses/Compare-Camera-Lenses/Compare-lenses/(lens1)/173/(brand)/Nikkor/(camera1)/0/(lens2)/960/(brand2)/Panasonic/(camera2)/0/(lens3)/169/(brand3)/Canon/(camera3)/0 Reply | Read all replies for this comment |
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Added by sflxn |
May 12
Re: Better than the Canikon?
First, get a clue about which lens to compare with. Pana 35-100 needs to be compared with 70-200/2.8 from Canon and Nikon on a FF sensor. The dinky m43 lens isn't in the same universe as the Canon and Nikon equivalent.
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Added by sflxn |
May 12
Re: Better than the Canikon?
My bad. I saw the comments from the 'Forums' page. It didn't have a link back to the lens page you were commenting about. I just saw 35-100 and assumed you were talking about that lens. Now, I know you're talking about the 12-35 lens. The forums page is very poorly done on this site.
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Added by bobajoul |
August 24, 2012
personal use
Rented the lens for a family vacation, fantastic results. Great exposures and very sharp and vivid colors. Did punch up the saturation before use, but liked it so much i ordered one.
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