Lumix X 14-42

kwoff

kwoff

Well-known member
I gather from the few posts here that I've been able to find that this lens is really not considered suitable for use with the AF100, due largely to the fact that they are pretty slow, lack of a constant aperture through the zoom range, and the servo zoom not being up to snuff. Is this a fair summary of the general thinking on this forum? I was desperately hoping this lens would be the inexpensive lens with an acceptable motorized zoom that I have been looking for, but this apparently is not the case.

Thanks,
Kevin
 
Well, it's pretty much the *only* lens with motorized zoom, so -- other nitpickings aside, if you need motorized zoom, there are only two choices on the globe: the 14-42, or its companion 45-175. Period, end of story, full stop.

That aside, the iris isn't any slower than the 14-140, the general image quality is supposed to be quite good, the 14-140 doesn't have constant aperture through the zoom range either (like most lenses), and whether the servo zoom is "up to snuff" or not is, again, dependent on that original question: if you need power zoom, this is the only one there is, so it by definition is the only snuff out there. Is it up to par with a dedicated ENG lens's servo zoom? I don't know, I haven't used the 14-42.

I'm not saying it's a great lens and that you should love it (because, obviously, I haven't even used it), I'm just saying ... well, it's like the old saying goes, in the world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. And in the world of servo zooms for large-sensor camcorders, the 14-42 (and 45-175) are king because they're all that there is. Well, maybe that $12,000 Sony lens too, but obviously that's on a different price plane than the $300-$400 Lumixes.

My biggest gripe with the 14-42 isn't about the zoom, it's about the focus. It doesn't have a focus ring, it has a couple of pushbuttons for manual focus, and that just seems too ridiculous. Again, haven't used it, maybe it works fine, but I can say that's the main reason I didn't buy one of those lenses, even though the compact size makes it really appealing for use with the GH2...


The forthcoming (someday) Lumix X 12-35 f/2 and 35-100 f/2 will probably be the ultimate AF100 lenses with or without power zoom, but if they do somehow manage to fit the power zoom in there too, they'll be must-haves. But we have no idea when those lenses will actually come out; it's presumed it'll be sometime in 2012 but there's no formal announcement from the company about when they'll be released, and the last photos of them showed that they were in "concept" stage still. Which gives me hope that maybe they'll implement the servo zoom on them...
 
What about that Olympus one, with the servo as part of the zoom ring? Isn't that due out soon? No idea what the lens is like though.
 
Oh yeah, forgot about that one, mainly because I didn't know it was out yet.

The Olympus is a different design from the panasonic, the Panasonic is a collapsible pancake, whereas the Olympus is a regular fixed-size. The Olympus seems to put that size to good use, as it has a focus ring and the zooming is done by twisting the ring (a little) vs. pressing a button. But on the downside, like all Olympus lenses, there's no OIS. On the other hand, it's weather-sealed, which I'm sure the Lumix isn't.

Big question for AF100 use is: does the remote zoom port control the Olympus's zoom? It can be used to control the Lumix lens, but I don't know if it would work with the Olympus.

In any case, yes, I retract my statement that the Lumix is the ONLY one, because the Olympus is now shipping too.
 
Rather than guessing, anyone who wants to know for sure whether the new PZ lenses will work for them should rent one. The 45-175 is available from lensrentals.com. With shipping, it's $58.25 for 4 days.

Sadly, they don't seem to have the 14-42 PZ in stock yet.

Cheers,

Bill
 
I'm using the 45-175 X lens on my AF100 and I have to say that this lens is much more useful than the 14-140 lens. The main advantage over the 14-140 lens is that when you zoom the focus stays in focus and does not jump around as it is the case with the 14-140 lens. It seems not to be perfect parfocal, but nearly. You can even manually zoom when zooming. Obviously, this would not be possible with the 14-42 X lens, because of the lack of a focus ring.
The iris is not much better, than with the 14-140 lens. Except, that when you zoom it seems to adjust iris step less. That means that no visible steps in iris change are visible during zoom. Iris changes as a response from light changes are not step less and fairly slow. Probably, the AF100 is responsible for that unfavorable behavior and could be optimized with a software update, I don't know.
My experience relies only on the tele X lens (and the 14-140 lens). But, I think that the little brother of the 45-175 X lens behaves similar.
 
at the 12-35 & 35-100's size its plausible to have a electronic zoom ring like the 14-175. im just thinking it takes a lot more space if it mechanical. like the 14-140 which has the ugly extruding barrel

we wont know until it comes out. Gonna be a loooong wait.
 
While it's true the Oly and Lumix X lenses are the *only* micro 4/3 zoom lenses avail w/ servo zooms..... but they are not the only option. Others here have successfully modified 2/3" B4 mount broadcast lenses with zoom controls on the AF. As long as it has a 2x extender, and you can successfully and safely support the weight- you can have a parfocal lens with a constant aperture througout the telephoto range. Turbodog is a user around here who has achieved this.
 
Barry_Green said:
The forthcoming (someday) Lumix X 12-35 f/2 and 35-100 f/2 will probably be the ultimate AF100 lenses with or without power zoom, but if they do somehow manage to fit the power zoom in there too, they'll be must-haves. But we have no idea when those lenses will actually come out; it's presumed it'll be sometime in 2012 but there's no formal announcement from the company about when they'll be released, and the last photos of them showed that they were in "concept" stage still. Which gives me hope that maybe they'll implement the servo zoom on them...
Click to expand...


They are f/2 ? I thought they were going to be 2.8.

If f/2, then I really really want.
 
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