Panasonic LUMIX G X VARIO 12-35mm F/2.8 ASPH POWER OIS

Specifications01

MountMICRO 4/3

Focal length12-35mm

Max aperturef/2.8

TypeCinema · Macro · Wide · Zoom

Release year2012

Weight305 g

Filter size58 mm

Physical length74 mm

Min focus distance0.25 m

Max magnification0.1701

Aperture blades7

Optical elements14

Groups9

AutofocusYes

StabilizationYes

Aperture controlNo

Lens hoodpetal-shaped, bayonet mount, supplied

Sensor coverageMicro Four Thirds

Additional Info02

Category["Micro-Four-Thirds"]

Keywords["Micro-Four-Thirds","Panasonic","Standard","Zoom"]

Lens TypeZoom lens

Review AuthorKlaus

Review Rating6.5

Equiv Aperturef/5.6 (full format equivalent, in terms of depth-of-field)

Other FeaturesNano-Coating, Power OIS, weather sealing

Review VerdictI reckon that there'll be MFT users out there who will argue once more that we at OpticalLimits "hate MFT" (apply variations at will) but the truth is that two of the three team members (and that's me included) are using the system for our private photography and we are doing so because we think it's great and aligned with our other hobbies (like e.g. outdoors). That said, we also have the obligation to rate lenses are neutral as possible and after all the hype around the Panasonic Lumix G X 12-35mm f/2.8 ASPH Power OIS we are simply a bit disappointed. The lens is, undoubtedly, a good one but not stellar. It is chili-sharp in the image center but the border region isn't quite on this level in the lower focal length range. At 35mm it is more impressive with very sharp results across the image field. While distortions are nothing to worry about from a user perspective, Panasonic relies on a very heavy auto-corrections at 12mm. The amount of vignetting is about average for a lens in this class with weak spots at the extreme ends of the range at fully open aperture. Panasonic cameras also care about the correction of lateral CAs but Olympus user will experience some higher than expected color shadows in their images. Due to the rather limited depth-of-field potential we didn't really look deeper into the quality of the bokeh. However, we pushed it a couple of times in our real world sample images (by taking close-ups at 35mm) and the bokeh looked very nice indeed and better than average for such a lens. The build quality of the lens is fantastic and it was also a joy to use it in the real life thanks to a super-fast and silent AF and smooth zooming and focusing. Size- and weight-size it just feels right. We also appreciate the low-light capabilities thanks to the combination of high speed and image stabilization. That said we are still not convinced that the lens is really worth its very high price tag although there's no doubt that most users can get perfectly happy with it.

Review Criteria{"Build Quality":9,"Optical Quality":6.5,"Price / Performance":6}

Review Published2012-09-06T09:03:00+00:00

Equiv Focal Length24-70 mm (full format equivalent)

Optical Construction14 elements in 9 groups inc. 4x aspherical, 2x UED, 1x UHR elements

Field Notes02

Micro Four Thirds zoom lens (12–35mm) with constant f/2.8 maximum aperture and POWER OIS stabilization for general photography, including low-light and video use.

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Catalog note · source: opticallimits