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**Klaus** · 07-30-2013, 11:01 PM

Nice & tiny:

http://www.opticallimits.com/m43/844-pan...442f3556ii

Size-wise it is as small as the Oly 14-42mm II R in transport mode.

07-31-2013, 01:47 PM

Silence? I guess many people are thinking how it compares to the 14-45mm...Will the 14-45mm be tested on GX1?

From the specs published in PZ I found that the max magnification ratio of the 14-45mm is 1:[email protected] and minimum focus distance 0.5m. Is this the FF-equivalent ratio or the native ratio (i.e., size of image on the sensor/size of the target)? If it is the native magnification ratio then it seems to have a much better macro ability than the 14-42 which has 1:6 with minimum focus distance 0.3m but I feel this is hard to believe. So I gues the 1:3 magnification ratio of the 14-45mm displayed here is the FF-equivalent ratio i.e. the native ratio multiplied by a factor of 2.

**Klaus** · 07-31-2013, 02:06 PM

You are right - there was an error in the specs. The 14-45mm has a min. focus of 0.3m and a max. mag of 1:6. Sorry for that.

The latter bug came in via Panasonic's statement compared to 35mm format lenses. The native mag is just 1:6 though.

As far as a retest of the 14-45mm is concerned - I don't think it's gonna happen.

I'm not even sure whether the lens is still in production. Over at B&H it is out-of-stock, for instance and it isn't sold anymore in the current kit offerings.

08-02-2013, 12:59 PM

The 14-45 is still rather easy to find in the netherlands for about 245€ "in stock", maybe just existing stocks.

Remember I got mine for 99€, aaah should have bought a truck of these :-)

**Klaus** · 08-02-2013, 01:21 PM

Honestly, I wasn't quite as impressed by the 14-45mm (nor by the 12-35mm).

I'd say that MFT still lacks a truly high performing standard zoom.

The 14-42 II is the probably best bet for the time being.

08-02-2013, 01:55 PM

Hum. Would be interesting to test the 14-45 on the same body. I will say from the samples that the 14-42 looks pretty decent and punchy - or maybe it was the lighting that helped ?

joachim · (This post was last modified: 08-04-2013, 09:29 AM by joachim.)

Quote:Nice & tiny:
http://www.opticallimits.com/m43/844-pan...442f3556ii

Size-wise it is as small as the Oly 14-42mm II R in transport mode.

You got a side-by-side picture? It seems you had them at the same time.

One thing in favour of the Oly lens is the speed at 25mm. The Oly is 4.4 while the Panasonic is 5.3 (according to you graphs). That is about 1/2 EV and based on my experience with the E-P1 has usage implications. Might ba less an issue on newer bodies with better high ISO behaviour.

08-05-2013, 03:13 AM

Quote:One thing in favour of the Oly lens is the speed at 25mm. The Oly is 4.4 while the Panasonic is 5.3 (according to you graphs).

Interestingly the 14-45mm is just in between: f4.9 at 25mm.

08-05-2013, 04:22 AM

Quote:Honestly, I wasn't quite as impressed by the 14-45mm (nor by the 12-35mm).

I'd say that MFT still lacks a truly high performing standard zoom.

The 14-42 II is the probably best bet for the time being.

Given the small size of MFT sensor I think a mid-zoom MFT lens is hard to be impressive unless some specific features are added e.g. with good macro ability and/or super-good MFT charts etc; or with very large aperture like f2 or specially interesting zoom range like 10-50mm but then the lens would be very bulky and pricy :blink:

**Klaus** · 08-05-2013, 09:37 AM

The Pana 12-35/2.8 had potential but it was too under-designed to be stellar.

I'm still placing my hopes on the rumored Oly 12-60/2.8-4.

The problem isn't really to reach a sufficient performance but to keep the size and weight down.

The Pana 12-35 was too much on the latter side.