Review of Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm Telephoto Zoom Lens With F35-56 Ii Asph

In summary

With its 10x zoom range, this lens will suit photographers who want an all-in-i lens that volition encompass most shooting situations.  Its lite weight (roughly 200 grams less than the original 14-140mm lens) makes it a better selection for travellers, while the improved stabilisation will deliver a higher percentage of sharp pictures and picture show clips in poorly-lit situations.

Performance-wise, this lens is more suitable for snapshooters than serious photographers who are picky most image quality. Still, information technology's a proficient choice for anyone wanting a quiet and versatile lens that zooms and focuses smoothly for shooting picture clips.

Full review

Appear in April, the Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f/three.five-5.half dozen ASPH Power O.I.S. lens is a 2d-generation 10x zoom lens that is smaller, lighter, faster and less-expensive than the G Vario HD 14-140mm f/4.0-v.8 ASPH Mega O.I.South. which nosotros reviewed in June 2009. Roughly one third of the original'south price, the new lens features internal focusing using linear stepping motors, along with a beefed-up POWER O.I.S. stabilisation system.

The optical design has been revised and the new lens contains 14 elements in 12 groups (compared with 17 elements in xiii groups in the previous lens). Included are three aspherical lenses and ii ED (Actress-low Dispersion) lenses, which have been used to reduce size and weight, while also  minimising distortion and chromatic aberration. Multi-coating is used to minimise ghosting and flare.

Build and Ergonomics

Made from high-quality polycarbonate plastic, this lens has a metal bayonet mounting plate with a shiny black ring between the camera trunk and the zoom and focus rings. This ring carries the on/off slider switch for the built-in MEGA O.I.Southward. stabilisation system, which engages quickly and works virtually noiselessly.

The new POWER O.I.S. (Optical Prototype Stabiliser) system can compensate for both the pocket-size and rapid vibrations feature of camera shake and large, tiresome movements, providing improved operability for low-lite shooting. The increase in lens speed at the wide end of the zoom range provides a small reward over the previous lens.

The new stepping motor AF drive interfaces finer with the contrast AF systems in recent G-series cameras to provide fast, well-nigh silent autofocusing for shooting still pictures and pic clips. It is also uniform with the upward to 240 fps sensor drive in cameras like the DMC-GH3 and the new DMC-G6 for high-speed AF in both modes.

The overall length of the lens changes equally you zoom, extending from 75 mm at the 14mm position to 115mm at the 140mm position. Every bit you motion the zoom ring, the maximum discontinuity changes with focal length every bit follows:

Focal length	Max. aperture
14mm	f/3.five
18mm	f/iii.7
25mm	f/4.1
35mm	f/iv.five
50mm	f/5.9
70mm	f/5.4
100mm	f/5.4
140mm	f/5.half dozen

Internal focusing means the inner barrel doesn't rotate during focusing or zooming. The new lens too has a seven-bladed iris diaphragm that closes to create a circular aperture. Minimum aperture at all focal lengths is f/22.

The focus ring is about 8 mm broad and made from hard, ribbed plastic. It rotates through 360 degrees and there are no stops for setting close-upwards or infinity positions. Manual focus over-ride wasn't available in AF fashion with the GF6.

The zoom ring is just behind information technology. Roughly 23 mm wide, it carries a 16 mm broad ribbed grip band and  turns smoothly with minimal creeping. It rotates through roughly a quarter of a plough as you span the focal length range.

Focal length settings stamped on the trailing edge are lined upwards against a white marking on the rear section of the lens barrel, which is approximately 20 mm wide. Behind it the lens narrows to a five mm wide band that carries the indicator marking for fitting the lens to a camera body.

Handling

Being considerably lighter than its predecessor, the review lens was a practiced friction match for the Panasonic DMC-GF6 body nosotros used for our tests. Information technology would also fit well on Panasonic'south larger G-Micro bodies. Nosotros found the metal bayonet mount easy to attach to the camera trunk and fitted snugly and deeply.

The supplied cylindrical lens hood, which attaches via a bayonet mounting is made from rigid black plastic. Information technology adds just under 40 mm to the overall length when it is in place but reverses over the barrel for storage. Front and terminate caps are provided for the lens, along with a soft conveying pouch.

Performance

While subjective assessments of test shots and video clips showed them to be passably detailed, with natural-looking colours and an acceptable dynamic range in outdoor lighting, our Imatest tests revealed the new lens suffered from the same performance bug equally nearly extended-range zoom lenses.

At no point did the resolution recorded in our tests reach expectations for the 16-megapixel sensor in the GF6. Interestingly, corner and edge softening was less than we institute with the original 14-140mm f/iv.0-five.8 lens.

The highest resolutions were recorded between f/4.5 and f/7.1 with the 35mm focal length setting providing marginally higher resolution than the 25mm setting. Overall resolution declined progressively at higher focal lengths, with the 100mm setting (the longest we could test) showing significantly lower resolution.

Diffraction caused a plunge in resolution at f/11 and we wouldn't   recommend using this lens at smaller apertures with any lens aperture. Shots taken at f/16 and f/22 appeared slightly soft.

Lateral chromatic aberration ranged betwixt negligible and low, with shorter focal lengths beingness more affected than longer ones.

Rectilinear distortion was generally depression, with just slight barrel distortion visible at the shortest focal lengths. Vignetting was also finer negligible.   When the Shading Compensation setting in the camera was switched off, slight corner concealment could be seen in shots taken with the widest apertures at the extremes of the zoom range but not at other focal lengths. Switching Shading Compensation eliminated information technology.

Backlighting was generally well handled and flare was relatively low. Artefacts were easily produced with wide-angle settings when the lens was pointed directly towards the sun.  However, the lens hood prevented a significant loss of dissimilarity and colour saturation and was very effective for avoiding artefacts at longer focal lengths.

The small sensor made it quite hard to obtain truly out-of-focus backgrounds at wide apertures when the lens was ready betwixt the 18mm and 45mm focal lengths. However, at longer focal lengths some bonny out-of-focus blurring in backgrounds was obtained and we noticed no trend for the lens to produce outlined highlights.

SPECS

• Picture bending:  75 degrees to 8 degrees 8 minutes
• Minimum aperture: f/22
• Lens construction: 14 elements in 12 groups (including 3 aspherical lenses and two ED elements)
• Lens mounts: Micro Four Thirds
• Diaphragm Blades: 7 (circular discontinuity)
• Focus bulldoze: Linear stepping motor (internal focusing)
• Stabilisation: Power O.I.S.
• Minimum focus: thirty cm at xiv-21mm; 50 cm at 22-140mm
• Maximum magnification: 0.25x
• Filter size:   58 mm
• Dimensions (Diameter x L): 67 x 75 mm
• Weight:  265 grams

Rating

RRP: AU$ tbc; United states of america$699.99

• Build: 8.5
• Handling: 8.viii
• Prototype quality: 8.3
• Versatility: 9.0

Buy

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Source: https://www.photoreview.com.au/reviews/mirrorless-lenses/mirrorless-lenses-m43/panasonic-lumix-g-vario-14-140mm-f35-56-asph-power-ois-lens-h-fs14140e-k/

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