Panasonic H-HS12035E Lumix G X VARIO 12-35 mm Lens - Black

Product Information

In terms of design and build, there isn’t much that can be said against either lens. If I had to say which feels sturdier, I’d give the prize to the Olympus, but there is much to be said for the diminutive size and weight of the Lumix. Other than that, there isn't much to say. Nice beefy and smooth build in a rather compact form. That's pretty much the way you'd want it to be. The rings on the 12-35mm are rubberized but the 12-60mm has rings made out of metal as well which give off a premium look and feel. The Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 II lens has optical stabilization so DUAL IS is an option when shooting with some Panasonic cameras. Also Panasonic's DFD autofocus only works with Panasonic lenses, so AF performance will be better when using Panasonic lenses on Panasonic cameras.

The playing field evens out a little more as you zoom in to 35mm. While the difference is minute, it appears that the fastest aperture of f/2.8 is ever so slightly sharper than f/4. In fact, all the apertures between f/4 and f/11 perform in a very similar manner, and it is only once you hit f/16 that the performance noticeably decreases. Sharpness at the corners and edges is also very good from f/2.8 up to f/11, with hardly any difference in performance between the apertures. GX8, 1/640, f/2.8, ISO 200 – 35mm GX8, 1/200, f/5.6, ISO 200 – 31mm GX8, 1/800, f/7.1, ISO 200 – 35mm GX8, 1/160, f/11, ISO 200 – 33mmBokeh Balls are pleasing to the eye, considering this is a zoom lens. Panasonic and Leica did a great job rendering the specular highlights. There is some onion-ringing in some bokeh balls and some cat’s-eye bokeh towards the edges. Overall, I am very pleased with the results, and it will be a good upgrade over other zooms in the range. Panasonic Leica 12-35mm f2.8 Bokeh Balls at f2.8

The LUMIX G VARIO 12-35mm F2.8 ASPH lens is predominantly made of metal parts, including the barrel and the mount, which makes this the best constructed Panasonic lens to date. Panasonic claims some degree of weather resistance for this lens (splash/dust proof), and indeed you can see a rubber seal around the lens mount. Is the new Panasonic Leica 12-35mm f2.8 zoom lens worth it? If you don’t have a zoom lens for your Micro Four Thirds camera, it’s worth it. Version 2 owners will only see an improvement in flaring and contrast. Video performance and optical performance is essentially the same. Inside the LEICA DG VARIO-ELMARIT 12-35mm F/2.8 ASPH POWER O.I.S. are fourteen lens elements arranged in nine groups for exceptional optical performance. These include four aspherical lenses, one UED (Ultra Extra-Low Dispersion) lens and one UHR (Ultra High Refractive Index) lens, the latter being of an updated design with higher transmittance for natural colour reproduction. It’s been a few years since the Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8 received an update. But this time around, that update is pretty big! What’s so special about this one? Well, Panasonic tells us that the image quality is now going through Leica’s quality control. Leica is co-branding this lens, and it’s got the Leica name in there too. The proper name is the LEICA DG VARIO-ELMARIT 12-35mm / F2.8 ASPH. / POWER O.I.S (but no one needs to type that in all caps). So let’s dive into what makes this update so special! Panasonic Leica 12-35mm f2.8 ASPH Power OIS Tech Specs The Panasonic Leica 12-35mm f2.8 zoom is a great addition to any Lumix camera with or without an IBIS system. Paired with a GH6 or GH5II, it will enable the Dual I.S feature. This mode has the best stabilization combination on Lumix bodies. This mode is great for follow-shots or vlogging.The Lumix 12-35mm has the benefit of optical stabilisation, named Power O.I.S. on Lumix lenses. In my experience, the efficiency of Power O.I.S. slightly varies from lens to lens, with high-end products like the Lumix 35-100mm performing a little better than all-purpose products such as the Lumix 14-150mm. The performance also depends on the focal length used, with shorter focal lengths delivering better results than longer focal lengths. The Panasonic Lumix 12-35mm f/2.8 is a standard constant aperture zoom that is extremely popular with Micro Four Thirds photographers, amateur and professional alike. Mathieu used it briefly for an assignment when he was working at the National Cinema Museum in Turin and once again at a Panasonic event at Erddig Castle last summer, so this marks the third and longest period we’ve spent with the lens, and I have to say it’s lived up to its reputation. GX8, 1/160, f/4, ISO 200 – 12mm When used individually, both lenses come across as very compact and light considering that they are constant aperture mid-range zooms. Comparing them side-by-side, however, you’ll soon notice that the 12-40mm is slightly taller (8.4cm vs. 8cm at 12mm and 13cm vs. 10cm with the front element fully extended), heavier (382g vs 305g) and wider than its counterpart. The two zooms extended to their longest respective focal lengths Both have superb weather sealing, so traveling in bad weather conditions with the lenses will not pose problems because the mount is metal and there are metal gaskets around the mount. The 12-35mm handles well on the camera too. Autofocus is both exceptionally fast and near-silent in operation; during movie shooting it is, to all intents and purposes, inaudible. Panasonic's excellent implementation of 'focus-by-wire' manual focus is responsive and precise, and streets ahead of some of its rivals. It's also nice to see the retention of a physical OIS switch, a feature that's disappeared from many recent lenses.

With a maximum aperture of f2.8, this lens is a solid low-light performer on the Lumix GH5S and GH6. I shot some videos and photographs in low light and was surprised by the results. Of course, if you want the best in low light, the Panasonic 10-25mm f1.7 is the obvious choice, but this did a great job. Panasonic Leica 12-35mm 12 Low Light Photo GH6 Before, make sure that the dust you see really impacts the picture; for this use the lens at 12mm, use a small aperture (f16 or f11 for instance, or even f22) and shoot against an uniform surface , like a well lighted white wall or something like that, or against the sky (although at 12mm it would be more difficult finger an uniform blue sky that arge). If the dust doesn't show up on the picture, I doubt you would get an exchange. I don't mind paying more for a quality product, but it better be an impressive performer: superior corner to corner sharpness at all focal lengths from f2.8 - f16, minimal CA, light fall off and distortion and no vignetting when using filters and filter holders at the wide end.Image Quality – Through the lens GX8, 1/200, f/8, ISO 200 – 16mm GX8, 1/125, f/3.5, ISO 200 – 23mm Sharpness The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column. The hard with Panasonic’s Depth from Defocus contrast detection Autofocus is that it’s unpredictable. However, after testing it side by side, the new lens did perform better in all video-centric scenarios. In addition, I noticed less DFD pulsing and second-guessing with the new lens. I mentioned the Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 in the last paragraph. It's a slightly bigger lens and also a bit heavier (3 ounces heavier). On the smaller m4/3 bodies (e.g. the Panasonic GX7) I prefer the Panasonic lens, while on the larger m4/3 bodies (e.g. the Olympus E-M1) I prefer the larger Olympus lens. There are a number of other tradeoffs between the two lenses you need to consider. Optically, the performance of the Olympus is a bit better than the Panasonic. But the Olympus lens doesn't have IS, so if you're going to use an f/2.8 zoom on a Panasonic body, you're going to want the Panasonic lens. If you're into manual focusing, the Olympus' coupled focus ring will be better. In price, the Olympus is the less expensive of the two.

On basic perception, the 12-60mm’s build gives off a more premium feel but the 12-35mm isn’t built badly either. The lens delivers sharp, contrasty images with low CA and distortion, which should be expected of a pro-spec zoom. In terms of features, the lens has little to offer (aside from its fast aperture, of course). There is no distance scale and no focus limiter, although there is a handy image stabilisation switch for the Power O.I.S system which helps to combat camera shake. I have both lenses and a GH5. Optically the 12-40 is better at the frame edges at the wide settings at longer focusing distances. As a 'landscape' type shooter this would be the deal breaker. On the other hand the the 12-35 is smaller, lighter and has lens stabilisation. The 12-40 has better manual focus control which if you shoot video is an advantage. I also have the 12-60 2.8-4 and I'd say this is again better than the 12-35 at 12mm ( but not as good as the 12-40) but bigger and slower. In the end I mainly use the 12-40 as I can confidently shoot at 2.8 throughout the zoom range without worrying I need to stop down to get optimal sharpness. The 12-35 doesn't improve much when stopped down and the 12-60 needs to be at 5.6 at the longer end to achieve optimal performance at the frame edges. Sample variations may apply to my copy of the 12-60 but my 12-35 vs 12-40 results seem in line with most if not all tests I have seen over the years.on the wide angle is great for vlogging, landscapes, and wide-angle photography. Punching into 50mm will be great for getting some subject separation, and 35mm (70mm equivalent) is great for portraits and when you need to punch in without losing light. The lens is marked at 12mm, 14mm, 18mm, 25mm, and 35mm positions on the zoom ring, but there is no focus scale or DOF markings. Close focus is about 9" (.25m), which puts the maximum magnification ratio at 1:5.9. Before owning G85 (no chance yet to put it into field testing under severe weather condition), I used 12-35 mk-I on GX7 and GX85, bothe are not WR.