First impressions: Panasonic 12-32mm pancake zoom

zuikowesty wrote:

I received a silver 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 in the mail a few days ago for my wife's E-PM2. It was removed from a kit and sold on ebay for $280 free shipping.

I have only taken a few test photos inside, and managed some outside tonight, so can't judge the IQ too much yet. So far, here are my impressions:

Pros:

• nice feel, I like the metal zoom ring
• focus is fast and quiet
• about half the length of the 14-42IIR collapsed, and still shorter than Oly when extended
• 12mm end nice to have
• makes the E-PM2 more pocketable

Cons:

• zoom ring very stiff, not comfortable on a small body like the E-PM2
• difficult to mount/unmount due to smooth barrel
• focus not always accurate, especially up close - I can consistently get it to indicate a focus lock on subjects less than 12" away when it is clearly OOF. I cannot get the 14-42IIR to ever do this - it either locks or it doesn't.
• CA is really awful in the corners, sometimes beyond what LR can deal with even with manual adjustments - some strange examples I've not seen before.
• Contrary to reviews I've read, the CA doesn't change much with aperature - tree branch against sky shows it clearly, starting about just inside the centre 1/3 of the frame, increasing quickly toward the edges. This CA is handled by LR fine.
• 32mm end a bit short

So far the IQ appears to be quite even across the frame, but the sharpness seems about the same as the 14-42IIR.

More to follow when I have time to compare with the 12-50 and 14-42IIR

Thanks for the information.  280 is a good price since it is now up to 330. Its too bad that CA is a problem because it would go really well with the EM5.  It would be interesting to see more of a comparison with the other zooms.