Panasonic 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Micro Four Thirds Zoom Lens Review

Panasonic 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens Handling and features

The lens barrel is constructed from high quality plastics with a matte finish and weighs only 165g. The lens mount is also plastic, as is typical with kit lenses like this. The size and low weight make it balance extremely well on the Panasonic Lumix G3 used for testing.

As focusing is performed internally the 52mm filter thread does not rotate during use, making this lens ideal for use with graduated and polarising filters. Focus speeds are quick and the manual focus ring offers just the right amount of resistance to make fine adjustments easy.

The minimum focus distance of 30cm makes this lens suitable for frame filling close ups at maximum zoom, and is also great for shooting in claustrophobic environments.

With a little care, the optical stabilisation system allows sharp shots to be taken just over half the time at 1/10sec, which is roughly three stops slower than the usual rule of thumb would dictate.

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