N°1009085 · Family detail
PanasonicCinema·MICRO 4/3 mount
Panasonic Lumix G Vario 12-32mm F/3.5-5.6 ASPH Mega O.I.S.
Specifications01
MountMICRO 4/3
Focal length12-32mm
Max aperturef/3.5
TypeCinema · Wide · Zoom
Weight70 g
Filter size37 mm
Min focus distance0.3 m
Max magnification0.1299
Aperture blades7
Optical elements8
Groups7
Lens hoodNo
Additional Info02
Category["Micro-Four-Thirds"]
Keywords["Micro-Four-Thirds","Panasonic","Standard","Zoom"]
Review AuthorKlaus
Review Rating5
Equiv Aperturef/7-f/11.2 (full format equivalent in terms of depth-of-field)
Other FeaturesMega OIS, retractable
Review VerdictThe Panasonic Lumix G Vario 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH Mega O.I.S. is certainly a decent kit zoom lens but regarding its optical characteristics it is nothing special neither in a positive nor negative sense. The image center is generally very sharp (unless you stop down beyond f/8) and the outer image region is on a good level even at wide-open aperture. There's nothing wrong with this but it doesn't compete with pro-grade lenses as Panasonic's own figures may suggest. The (corrected) CAs and distortion are quite low although the original characteristics (uncorrected RAWs) are clearly (much) worse here. The vignetting is about in line to the figures that we've seen from other standard zoom lenses. The primary feature of the lens is certainly its size and weight. At just 70g it weights next to nothing really and it's even smaller than the Lumix G X 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 PZ ASPH Power O.I.S. The build quality is unexciting. The body is made of plastics and it doesn't really feel all that solid when moving from transport to shooting mode. The AF performance of the lens is excellent - surely also because of the low weight of the focus group in the lens. The optical image stabilizer (who came up with the "MEGA" name ?) is, of course, a useful feature for hand-held photography and provides an effective gain of about "3 f-stops" in real world terms. We certainly congratulate Panasonic for having created this tiny wonder and along with his in-house cousin it is obvious choice when size and weight really matter. However, if you are after a high performance lens you should look towards the Olympus M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 ED Pro or Panasonic Lumix G 12-35mm f/2.8 ASPH Power O.I.S. instead.
Review Criteria{"Build Quality":5,"Optical Quality":5,"Price / Performance":6}
Review Published2014-05-06T12:44:00+00:00
Equiv Focal Length24-62 mm (full format equivalent)
Optical Construction8 elements in 7 groups inc. 3x aspherical and 1xED elements
Field Notes02
Panasonic Micro Four Thirds zoom lens (12–32mm) with maximum apertures of f/3.5–5.6 and Mega O.I.S. Suitable for general wide-to-standard shooting and video.
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Other Mounts03
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