Lenses for M43

emzee wrote:

I have finally decided to get the M43 body (Panasonic GX8) and chose Panasonic 15mm lens as the first lens (I will be adding Panasonic 25mm lens soon). Now I am trying to find out a couple more lenses for me. Following are the choices and I am trying to get two lenses from this list

1) Panasonic 12-32mm

2) Panasonic 14-140mm

3) Panasonic 42.5mm

4) Panasonic or Olympus 40-150mm

The selection is very hard for the zoom lens. Since I am not going for expensive zooms like Panasonic 12-35mm or Olympus 12-40mm, it is very tough to select a mid-level zoom lens. I might be using this lens for video as well. Originally I was planning on Panasonic 14-140mm, but I heard a lot of complaints that it is jittery and cannot be used for video.

Could someone please provide your recommendations and suggestions?

Regards,

emzee

I must ask why you don't want to go for any of the f/2.8 pro lenses? They may cost more ($700+) but they are easily the most versatile, highest performing lenses, especially if you want to do more run-and-gun sort of video. Primes are fantastic, make no mistake, but the pro lenses do wide, they do short tele, they're fast and they're sharp, so it would make sense. They're also weathers sealed if that matters.

I would probably recommend that you steer clear of the superzooms such as the 14-140mm. They may be versatile, but their slow aperture combined with the middling ISO performance of m4/3 means that they won't be very good for low light at all.

The 12-32 is a cracker of a lens for its size, but it has no MF ring and if you were going for such a compact lens then you wouldn't be getting a GX8, a quite sizable camera. As a mid-level zoom, the kit 14-42mm will do a decent job if you want to save more money for primes.