panasonic m43 focal length

hi, i'm just wondering if the focal length of panasonic m43 lens are the same as my compact camera (samsung wb1000), i read from a website that the focal length of panasonic m43 lens are actually doubled. i'm quite confused here, thanks for all who replies

Not sure about your compact, but yeah, m43 is basically doubled to get to the equivalent from the 35mm film cameras, which is the frame of reference most people have. So the kit zoom at 14-42 is the same as a 28-84 zoom from the old film days - pretty good wide angle out to a short portrait telephoto. The 7-14 is a real wide angle at a 14-28 equivalency. And the 45-200 is a pretty long telephoto (at least from what I was used to) with a traditional range of 90-400.

My compact, a Panasonic ZS3 has an effective range of 25-300 for comparison.

-Ray

Yes and no - it's a little complicated.

The focal length of all of the four thirds and micro four thirds lenses is listed at the physical focal length, like all SLR lenses.

Your compact camera almost certainly listed "35mm equivalent" focal lengths - which depending on the compact are 4-7x the actual focal length.

To get equivalent fields of view to 35mm film, four thirds focal lengths are doubled - the excellant 20/1.7 pancake has a field of view similar to a 40mm lens on a 35mm film camera. (though 35mm film is 3:2 aspect ratio, and four thirds is 4:3.)
Walter

thanks! i guess my compact has the same 35 film equivalent of 24-120mm

yeah, i was always wondering how the pancake lens doesn't have distortion at 20mm, lol