Conclusion
Pros
- Extremely compact lens with excellent collapsing mechanism
- Relatively well-built for a kit lens
- Excellent sharpness across the frame throughout the focal range
- Good color and contrast
- Very fast, accurate and silent autofocus
- Low chromatic aberration and good control of distortion
Cons
- No manual focus ring
- Bokeh is underwhelming
- Only available in the US as part of the GM1 kit
If you’ve read my review of the Panasonic GM1, you’ll know I quite liked that tiny little camera. However, as much a I liked the camera, I feel the real gem of that kit is this outstanding tiny zoom. This little lens is not only exceptionally small, but one of the best kit zooms around. It’s sharp throughout the focal range right from wide open and has minimal aberrations. While the rendering is a little clinical, it gives you an outstanding base from which to create beautiful images. Its slow speed means that you’re not going to be blurring the background out much, but for an all-purpose travel or street lens, it is exceptionally useful. I had a blast shooting with this lens.
The only real downsides are less than stunning bokeh, and the fact that you can’t buy it in the US by itself. While the lack of a manual focus ring is a little annoying, a lens like this is rarely manually focused anyway, so I don’t view that as a major compromise. Panasonic has seemingly bent the laws of physics and created a zoom that is versatile, excellent optically and extremely small. Highly recommended.
Image Samples
(click on an image to enlarge)
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