Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens Review

Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 Handling and Features

Weighing only 265g, this lens is quite lightweight and compact, especially for a 10x zoom. High quality plastics finished with a gun-metal effect have been used for much of the lens barrel and a metal lens mount adds to the overall robustness. The lens balances well with the Panasonic Lumix G3 used for testing.

Much like its predecessor, this lens doubles in length as it is zoomed to maximum telephoto. The zoom action is smooth, not tightening at any point in the zoom range and zoom creep isn't an issue.

Focusing is performed internally, so the 58mm filter thread does not rotate, making this lens ideal for use with graduated and polarising filters. Autofocus is very quick in good light, only struggling slightly in darker conditions. The manual focus ring is smooth to operate and well damped, which makes applying fine adjustments a pleasure.

The Power Optical Image Stabiliser is activated via a switch on the lens barrel. It allows sharp hand held images to be taken at shutters speeds as low as 1/20sec at 140mm, which is roughly four stops slower than the usual rule of thumb for sharp hand held images allows.

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