Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH / MEGA O.I.S. Lens for Micro Four Thirds Lens Mount Systems

2018-08-13T04:35:56

Goes wide to tight with a smooth action and tends to be a good all around lens.

Wilson D.

2016-02-16T19:00:00

Maybe one of the best zooms I have ever had in my over 20 years in photography - beats all the other micro four standard zooms Stays on the camera very often

Corot2

Originally posted at

2015-11-16T19:00:00

I use Olympus OM-D cameras and wasn't happy with my kit zoom lens. I saw a lot of online recommendations for this lens, so decided to give it a try. It's an older lens, bigger than the newer zooms covering the 14-42mm range. The zoom ring is large, rubbery, and tactile. I wouldn't say it sticks, but its action does have a cheapness to it - perhaps owing to the plastic materials, which are noisy and not particularly smooth. The manual focus ring is very good - tight and smooth, though not silent. The image quality is excellent. At 14mm, it seems sharpest at f/4. At longer focal lengths, I find sharpness peaks at f/5.6-f/8. It can be just a bit sharper than the 14mm f/2.5 prime, particularly at the edges - though not always. I've compared a lot of images and generally prefer the prime at 14mm. The 14-45 produces images with a lot of microcontrast, but sometimes to the point that very fine details are not resolved as clearly as I'd like. (Black details on a white background can look a bit fat.) The problem is minimized with good light and an electronic shutter. I do not use the in-lens stabilization, so cannot fairly comment about it.

Egregius V.

Originally posted at

2015-06-30T21:00:00

I have a few APS-C bodies, and a full frame Nikon... And a mix of consumer and pro lenses to go with them. The 14-45 isn't pro level, and the aperture is on the slow side, but the results are pretty darn good for a "kit lens".

Faust

2014-08-23T20:00:00

I bought this lens because I needed something wide. It still not as wide as I would like. The build quality is nowhere near that of the HD lenses. It's plastic with a sticky zoom.

Spanky

Originally posted at

2014-05-19T21:00:00

This lens is FAR superior to the 14-42mm "kit" lens now supplied with Panasonic Lumix cameras. I was giving my Grandson my Lumix GX1 to start him off and needed a lens for it. I tried an very clean Lumix 14-42mm but the zoom action was so sticky & jerky it was almost unusable even for stills. On my own cameras I replaced the 14-42 I had with one of these Lumix 14-45mm and those (being metal construction rather than plastic) are much smoother. This one, ordered from Adorama, "filled the bill".

BRUCE F.

2014-03-31T21:00:00

While both this (14-45) and the 14-42 were first issued as kit lenses and neither would be considered prime, recall that the only "kit" this lens was ever on was an original G. It is, in my opinion, a far superior zoom for this range and my GX7 loves it. BTW, I kinda' like it as well.

THOMAS D.

2013-11-26T19:00:00

Quick, fun to use lens, gets the results, fast focus, capable of even poetic, fascinating images. The only limit is what you can do as a photographer.

villageidiot

Originally posted at

2012-08-19T21:00:00

While back I had bought the kit of the Panasonic G3(Brown), which included the 14-42mm as a stock lens & Included the 45-200mm with it. Photos and video were just somewhat average with the 14-12mm, but compared to some things with the 45-200mm I noticed a number of things in terms of color quality, field of view, better image stablization, and autofocus response. I'm very glad I bought the new 14-45mm, not only the super fast autofocus, there's the rich vibrant color quality, much better steady shots, great depth in the field of view, a lot more durable with the metal locking ring than compared to the plastic one on the 14-42mm, and it's a lot more compact than the 14-42. This 14-45mm should have been the stock wide-angle zoom lens included with the kit to begin with.

Scott S.