Panasonic Lumix 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II OIS : Specifications and Opinions

Reviews

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Fritz Panter

sent on 27 Novembre 2024

Pros: Relatively compact and light, fast and silent AF, sharp with no major aberrations

Cons: Not much considering its price and weight, maybe minimum focus distance could be a little lower

Opinion: My favourite travel zoom for MFT. All better zooms are bigger and heavier. Mine is surprisingly sharp at all focal lengths. Very little aberrations, not very sensitive to backlight, with good colour and contrast. If I should find a weak point, I would say vignetting and distortion at 14 mm - but this can be corrected in camera or by software. As I use a MFT camera because I can carry it in my jacket pocket when on a walk or traveling light, I usually use them with a small kit zoom or even a body cap lens. This lens fits the bill perfectly and I will probably never replace it. My first MFT standard zoom was the first version of the Olympus M.Zuiko 14-42 - also a very nice lens, but a little heavier and AF was quite slow. I replaced it with a modern pancake zoom, the Olympus M.Zuiko 14-42 EZ. This pancake was much smaller and AF was really fast, but it lacked a bit sharpness and contrast at the long end, and I could never get used to its electronic zoom (I never managed to find a speed setting which allowed me to adjust the image frame both fast and precisely). This was the reason why I finally replaced the Olympus pancake with this Panasonic 14-42 II. To me, it has all the qualities of the first M.Zuiko 14-42 with a faster AF and less weight as a plus. It perfectly fits the bill and fullfils my expectations from such a small zoom - I therefore voted it a "9" although there are certainly higher quality lenses out there.

The following opinions have been automatically translated with Google Translate.

Alex170290

sent on 12 Maggio 2021

Pros: a great lens.. light, great hike, all-do for travel, AF RAPIDO,lampshed

Cons: the front upholstery is too easily paraded if we really want to find the hair in the egg. vignette a bit like all 14mm zoom lenses... the important thing is that of the defect you make a virtue of it perfection exists only in paradise XD

Opinion: it is a great lens, crisp, very balanced colors, I always use it and I get dream photos like never before. The surrender is great and has a pat on the ass! IF YOU HAVE TO make yourself a self-portrait with af always takes us ! if you have to make a video it's top there too. In short, it is perhaps the lens that I use the most but above all for yield and for the af che is excellent. if you do not use af there is always analog photography waiting for you :)

Aleziggio

sent on 08 Gennaio 2020

Pros: very compact, better yield than the similar Zuiko, exceptional sharpness at 14 mm, mounts filters from 46

Cons: made by lens kit, very "digital", tends to burn the highlights in hard light conditions

Opinion: I have owned several cheap kit targets, the Zuiko 14-42, the Panasonic 14-42 II and the Panasonic 14-45, and I would say we can safely put them in this order of increasing performance. The Panasonic 14-42 II I found it better built than the Zuiko counterpart, plus it has a really high sharpness to 14 mm. On the other hand, the optical performance as the focal points get longer, as opposed to the Panasonic 14-45, which instead gives its best at 45 mm. The 14-45, however, gives warm images and a microcontrast that the other kit lenses do not have. A positive feature of the Panasonic 14-42 II is that it mounts 46 filters, a diameter common to many MFT optics. Overall it is a good kit lens, very light and well built, with good sharpness but let's say it does not have the "magic" of the higher-end optics. Preferable anyway to Zuiko 14-42, in my opinion

Berny Fra

sent on 15 Ottobre 2019

Pros: Image quality, low distortion, stabilization, weight.

Cons: Zoom dile that hardens easily with dust.

Opinion: After a year of use and having compared it with a Canon kit lens I can say, that, my 2013 model is much better performing than the competition, especially in distortion. I never missed anything and I snapped quietly at 1/60 freehand. The only problem is the zoom dial that becomes less fluid due to the dust, otherwise it took sea water, sand and rain and always worked properly.

Johnnymich83

sent on 18 Novembre 2015

Pros: price, weight, focal range

Cons: Vignetting at TA, plasticky, flare, zoom ring in stuttering

Opinion: a lens absolutely the worst handyman, is lightweight and compact size, sofre terribly flare and vignetting wide open, but is resolved by closing a couple of stops. the zoom ring is a bit 'rigidina and this makes it hard for precision zooming. but after all, considering the price, to use a "tourist" is a lens that makes' his duty. returns saturated colors and sharp images.

Mariobex2015

sent on 26 Aprile 2015

Pros: standard zoom very light, portable, weighs practically nothing, quite compact, well clear in all conditions and good color rendering, suitable handyman statement.

Cons: little light, so with reduced blur, attack to the body in plastic, a slight "stiffness" scroll of zooming.

Opinion: One of the best goals economic standards, made in interior very good, quality very cheap price, low cost of used, one of the best standard zoom m4 / 3, together with the Panasonic 14-45 but is a bit 'more cumbersome, especially in relationship to pancake the same brand that is 14-42 12-32, which Olympus brand.