Favourite Lenses of 2013

Antipodes Islands. Panasonic GH3 with Lumix 14-140mm Mk2.

 

Most Versatile: Panasonic Lumix 14-140mm f3.5-5.6 Mk2

Highest Quality: Panasonic Lumix 35-100mm f2.8

Lots of M43 lenses  Micro Four Thirds camera users have a great selection of lenses from which to choose. Here are my two favourites.

Dream of the universal camera  I hate changing lenses. Professional photographers try to avoid changing lenses by mounting a body to each lens they expect to use on an assignment.

I suspect most camera users hate changing lenses. Ironically having to change lenses may be the least appealing aspect of owning an interchangeable lens camera.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if someone invented a universal all purpose do everything in all conditions camera/lens combination. Plenty of makers have tried.

All purpose or "Bridge" cameras can be found in the form of several models from Fuji, the Sony RX10,  Olympus Stylus 1 and several small sensor superzooms.  But there is a viable alternative with a larger and better performing sensor in the form of the Lumix 14-140mm zoom lens mounted on a  Panasonic G6, GX7 or GH3.

Panasonic's all purpose travel zoom  The first version of this appeared in 2009. It had an f4.0-5.8 aperture range. Most users found it had modest performance not matching the 16 Mpx sensors which soon came to dominate the M43 system. The current version was released in 2013. It is smaller, lighter, less expensive on release, has a wider aperture and significantly better imaging performance. Yes, it does everything better.

It is ideal for expeditions when you really don't want to be troubled by having to change lenses, but still want decent imaging quality in a lens with 10x zoom ratio.  I have been using one mounted on a G6 or GH3 for several months. It really is as good as Panasonic and the reviewers claim.

It delivers very acceptable image quality at all focal lengths with a bit of softness at the edges and corners cleaning up when the lens aperture is stopped down a little. Build quality is very good. AF is fast and OIS works well.

Total kit size and weight is about the same as one of the larger bridge cameras.

GH3 with Lumix 35-100mm f2.8.

 

The Lumix 35-100mm f2.8  This is the M43 equivalent of the classic 35mm ("full frame")  70-200mm f2.8 zoom, greatly favoured by professional and enthusiast photographers. The 35-100mm offers the same angle of view and constant aperture.  But it is muchsmaller, lighter, less obtrusive and less expensive than the 70-200mm f2.8.  In the 9 months I have been using the 35-100mm it has impressed me with excellent imaging quality at all focal lengths and apertures. It has excellent AF and OIS. It makes a very agreeable high performance walk around photographic companion.

Image courtesy of  camerasize.com.  Images of neither the  EF 28-300 nor the Lumix 14-140mm Mk2 were available so I edited this image of closely similar lenses to correct size in Photoshop.
Left, Canon 5D3 with EF28-300mm f3.5-5.6 lens. Right, Panasonic GH3 with Lumix 14-140mm f3.5-5.6.  Same angle of view, same aperture range.

Image courtesy of camerasize.com
Left, Canon 5D3 with EF 70-200mm f2.8. Right, Panasonic GH3 with 35-100mm f2.8.
Same angle of view and aperture.

M43, full frame and kit size  Much is being made as I write this about the new Sony full frame mirrorless ILC's.  Some excited commentators are forecasting the end of all systems which use smaller sensors. This is nonsense. The bodies are small but the equivalent lenses, particularly the superzooms and long zooms will be the same size as those for full frame DSLR's. The reason for this is that lens size, for any aperture and focal length, is primarily determined by sensor size. So the A7 and A7R are about the size of the full featured M43 cameras, but some of the FE lenses which have been released or planned  are a very different proposition.

My own view is that the full frame sensor will stay where it is now, in the hands of professional photographers and some enthusiasts while most development will be in systems using smaller sensors which are already delivering excellent image quality.