A few days ago I bought a new lens, the Panasonic Lumix G Vario 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH. Quite a name, huh?
This is the lens that Panasonic released as kit lens for its minuscule Lumix GM1 camera, and my motivation for buying it was to come up with an ultra-light zoom kit of three lenses, the 9-18, 12-32 and 40-150. These three lenses together cover an equivalent focal range from 18-300Â mm, and all three together weigh just 415Â g. Isn’t that incredible?
So, how is that lens? Well, everybody says it’s just fine and I can only agree. Of course it’s a compromise, but if I need more speed or even higher image quality, but am ready to accept the weight, I can always use the heavy (for MFT) and stellar 12-40/2.8 PRO. If on the other hand I can live without the convenience of a zoom and without the ultimate wide and long ends, my set of fast Olympus primes is the way to go.
As always when I have a new lens, expect me to use it exclusively for a few days.
The Song of the Day is “At Last” by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra. Hear it on YouTube.
John Linn (2014-05-15)
I too have that lens, got it with the GM1, and am very happy with the sharpness and compactness. I have put the lens on my OMD too and it looks kinda small for that body, but it really makes for a compact system. With the lens on the GM1 it is pocketable (if you have a moderately big pocket and do not mind a bit of a bulge). Very happy so far and as you mentioned it has gotten good reviews.
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