I've been waiting and finally got the Panasonic 7-14 Micro 4/3 lens. It was late and the sun was nearly gone but I snapped off a few shots and must say I'm extremely impressed. I'm feeling very comfortable about wide angle with the E-P1 / GH-1 now. I posted some quick 100% jpgs for anyone who wants to pixel peep (shot on E-P1) http://www.pbase.com/rcicala/pana7-14f4
A snapshot @ f4 with 100% crop of the wine glass in 25% frame
Nice. I'd love this lens for my E-P1, but I can't justify the cost right now. If I ever get a chance to do some real traveling once again, I might pick one up. Having 14mm equiv. width in a package this small would rock. I'm sort of hoping Olympus releases a m4/3 9-18mm that's a bit smaller and about half the price.
Excellent. Thanks for the samples. I had the Olympus 7-14mm f4.0 and it was superb. Looks very similar in image quality to the Olympus wide zoom. I have been pondering if this lens is worth the $1000 price tag... to be used with my G1.
If you don't mind sharing...which dealer did you get this lens from. There are quite a few sellers on eBay in Japan - just wondering which are the reliable sellers.
Any chance you may be able to post a picture of this lens next to any common Canon lens or Nikon lens or Olympus OM lens - for a size frame of reference and perhaps a picture of the lens on the E-P1.
pascal03 wrote:
If you don't mind sharing...which dealer did you get this lens from. There are quite a few sellers on eBay in Japan - just wondering which are the reliable sellers.
Any chance you may be able to post a picture of this lens next to any common Canon lens or Nikon lens or Olympus OM lens - for a size frame of reference and perhaps a picture of the lens on the E-P1.
New-Tokyo-Toyz was the eBay dealer. I've bought several things from them and while shipping is a bit slow they're very reputable (I've even sent something back once). I've also used DigitalRev in Hong Kong with no problem.
I'll try to post some shots with the camera this afternoon.
pascal03 wrote:
Any chance you may be able to post a picture of this lens next to any common Canon lens or Nikon lens or Olympus OM lens - for a size frame of reference and perhaps a picture of the lens on the E-P1.
I was totally unable to get a real shot today, so I have this: the Panasonic Micro 7-14 f4 and Olympus Micro 14-42 kit lens in full extension (taken very badly on the carpet between meetings)
Am I the only one thinking that the Oly m43 kit zoom doesn't really look like a nicely designed item, especially as compared to the Lumix m43 zoom lenses?
Or even compared to the timeless beauty of my OM primes...
It's not that it matters a lot, I'm just saying...
Oh, the Oly 14-42 kit zoom is built like a piece of garbage, at least, it feels that when when extended. I'm sure that if I bumped the end of it wrong it'd break. It's solid when compacted, and the fact that it DOES collapse is pretty darn cool, and makes it WAY smaller than the similar FL Panny zoom. Optically, it's pretty good too. I'm much more of a prime man on the E-P1, so I use the 17/2.8, which while still lightly built, is pretty solid (the focus rings on both are quite nice, actually). I also use the 40/1.4 Nokton, which is built VERY solidly, and with that on, the E-P1 feels like a real photographic machine. I'd like the 7-14, despite it's little bigger size, as that with the two primes would be a great little travel kit and would fit in a very small bag.
brunobarolo wrote:
Am I the only one thinking that the Oly m43 kit zoom doesn't really look like a nicely designed item, especially as compared to the Lumix m43 zoom lenses?
It does remind me of a bit of the expanding lenses on some Pentax point and shoots I used to have. Kind of rickety. It does a decent job but I wonder if its going to hold up.
I've kind of put my kit lens aside and am shooting mostly PEN and Voigtlander M mount primes. I'll definitely be carrying the 7-14 both because its the widest thing I have and at least early impression is its really quite good. And feels well built too. Nice and solid with smooth zoom and focus rings.
Thanks for the comparison shot. That pretty much tells me this exquisite lens is really quite small. I would attempt to compare it's size to the converted Zeiss 17-35mm f2.8 or the Nikon 14-24mm f2.8, but that would just be silly
The panasonic lenses definitely have a superior finish and build quality compared to the Olympus m4/3 kit lenses. Plus I liked the performance of the Panasonic kit lens over the Olympus kit lens - it is a significant enough difference to me. The panasonic 14-45mm f3.5-5.6 and the 50-200mm f4-5.6 are both really very well built. I am especially impressed by the compact size of the 50-200mm - a lens with that focal length and a 52mm filter thread.
It seems like I will now have to clear up some funds to try and get the 7-14mm f4.0.
I just picked up an Oly 11-22 to mate with an EP-1 (using the Panasonic adaptor; I got a deal that was too good to refuse). I was looking for the Panasonic 7-14, but could not find a price anywhere... where does one acquire one of those? And has anyone heard much about the impending release of a Panasonic 20mm f/1.7?
I needed the MA-1 (Panasonic) adaptor for the Hexanon 40 f/1.4, so I bought the 9-18. Also quite small and light. I would actually have liked the 7-14 but since I have excellent WA choices for my Canon bodies, I can live with the much less expensive 9-18 (IF you have use for the adaptor already). I've seen excellent shots with the 7-14--just a very nice lens it appears.
pascal03 wrote:
I am especially impressed by the compact size of the 50-200mm - a lens with that focal length and a 52mm filter thread.
I'm holding out for an Olympus telezoom... their 40-150 is only 3" long on Four Thirds. A MFT version could be even smaller. I'd gladly trade some reach for size on this camera. I'd like the 14-42 to be one of my largest lenses on this system.
CKrueger wrote:
I'm holding out for an Olympus telezoom... their 40-150 is only 3" long on Four Thirds. A MFT version could be even smaller. I'd gladly trade some reach for size on this camera. I'd like the 14-42 to be one of my largest lenses on this system.
There's no real size advantage for the telezooms on m43 since they're not retrofocus anyways. It's the reduction/elimination of retrofocus on wide or normal lenses that nets you the large size reduction (especially compared to 4/3rds which is unusual in having a register over 50% longer than the diagonal of the format which makes even lenses which would be telephotos on other systems into retrofocus designs).
The 40-150 f4-5.6 is quite compact even on the MA1 adapter and it's surprisingly good for its cost. I chose it over the Panasonic 45-200 OIS since I'm not much of a telezoom user.
