This is a great announcement for Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera owners. Panasonic has announced a much-needed addition to the Micro Four Thirds lens options, a fast, fixed-aperture zoom lens. The new Panasonic Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm/F2.8 Asph./Power O.I.S. zoom lens has a large f/2.8 aperture and the 12-35mm focal length is equivalent to 24-70mm on a 35mm/full-frame camera. The 24-70mm f/2.8 lens is standard equipment for pro digital SLR shooters. The 12-35mm f/2.8 zoom is also the first fixed aperture zoom lens to be introduced for Micro Four Thirds cameras – that includes Olympus’s Pen cameras and their new OM-D E-M5 as well as Panasonic’s G-Series interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras.
Panasonic Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm f/2.8 Lens Key Features & Specs:
- 12-35mm zoom range – equivalent to 24-70mm in 35mm/full-frame format
- Optics: 14 lenses in nine groups
- Seven aperture blades
- Inner focus system with silent auto focus for stills and video
- POWER O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer)
- 58mm filter threads
There are plenty of fast prime lenses available now for Micro Four Thirds and other mirrorless camera systems. But there is a distinct lack of pro quality zooms. I’ve recently been testing Olympus’s new OM-D E-M5 Micro Four Thirds camera, a much-higher performance body than their smaller, less-expensive Pen cameras. One of the things I noted while using the E-M5 is the higher level of performance makes the need for pro-level zoom lenses more obvious. So I’m really pleased to see that Panasonic has stepped up and made a worthy zoom. I saw that dpreview had a pre-production lens to play with so I took a look at their preview article and sample photos. The sample photos look good, with more depth-of-field control than I’m used to with Micro Four Thirds cameras. However, the article points out that the smaller Four Thirds sensor means the f/2.8 aperture behaves more like an f/3.5 lens on an APS-C camera or an f/5.6 lens on a full-frame camera. That sounds about right. It would be nice to have an f/2.0 or f/1.8 version for better depth-of-field control. But let’s not forget that there are no other fast, fixed aperture zooms for the Micro Four Thirds system and the Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 is going to be a huge improvement over all the f/3.5-5.6 and f/4-6.3 zooms we have right now. Also, a larger aperture would have meant a bigger lens. With the f/2.8 aperture, Panasonic was able to keep the lens under 3 inches in length and less than 2.5 inches wide – a very travel-friendly package. To my mind, the bigger concern is, when can we expect a 35-100mm f/2.8 zoom lens?
The new Panasonic Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm/F2.8 Asph./Power O.I.S. zoom lens is scheduled to be in stores in August. No price has been announced yet.
Panasonic Lumix G X Vario 12-35mm f/2.8 Lens Press Release >>
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Me too, despite the fact it’s Panasonic and not Olympus.
Now I have the OM-D I don’t need the Panasonic OIS.
It’s pretty much equivalent to my standard walk-around paddock lens for the 1D.
So once we have the f/2.8 35-100 as well that will replicate my standard short to medium range sports lenses.
Thanks for the comment, Paul. I agree that it’s too bad its a Panasonic and not an Olympus lens since we’re both looking at it for the OM-D. I do think the 12-50mm power zoom that comes with the OM-D is a nice lens – especially for video. But I think a lens like the new Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 would have been a more worthy match for the launch. I hope Olympus comes out with something comparable soon. Using the OM-D really made me feel like I need some serious Micro Four Thirds zoom lenses. The primes are nice but I don’t really use primes much. It’s zoom lenses that are on my cameras 90% of the time. Right now, I mostly use the Olympus 14-150mm lens with the Micro Four Thirds cameras. I love the versatility of that lens but I wish I had a zoom with better depth-of-field control.