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kit 14-42 or used prime wide such as Panasonic 14mm?

Started Oct 3, 2014 | Discussions thread
0MitchAG Contributing Member • Posts: 538
Re: kit 14-42 or used prime wide such as Panasonic 14mm?

I did the exact same thing as you are currently thinking! I hated the stiffness and size of the 14-42 I kit lens and thus I refused to put it on my camera anymore, now owning just telephoto lenses (funnily enough, 45mm became one of my favourite focal lengths and I didn't feel limited to even require a wide angle for the shooting I was doing).
I went on Ebay and bought one of those Japanese-stock 14mm F2.5's for $169 and I have not at all been disappointed! Optically, it is as good as the 14-42 but it fits in your pocket!! ... And it's 1 stop faster - matching or even beating the 14-42 when shot at F2.5 so there's definitely nothing to complain about. It makes for an excellent lens in the street where the pancake size is much more inconspicuous. It will also be better kitted if you eventually buy the 20mm pancake or especially if Panasonic (and I really hope they do) release a pancake telephoto around 45mm as an equal quality, more expensive but smaller design vs the Oly 45mm.

The only criticism of this lens seems to be the large sample variation resulting in some dissapointed owners - but my copy is excellent from corner to corner.

 0MitchAG's gear list:0MitchAG's gear list
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G5 Panasonic Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm F2.8 ASPH OIS Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 ASPH OIS Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-150mm F4-5.6 ASPH Mega OIS Panasonic 20mm F1.7 II +6 more
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