Panasonic 14 mm 2.5 lens

EarthQuake wrote:

cairdie wrote:

Hi

Thinking of buying this lens to use on my EM5. Have any of the forum members used this lens and what do they think of it?

I was never particularly impressed with mine, but that may be due more to it being a focal length that I find boring than anything. It's small and cheap, those are the biggest reasons to get it. For about the same size, the 12-32 performs similarly and with a lot more range (though is a stop slower, but it's not like the 14/2.5 is "fast").

The 12/2 and 15/1.7 are better lenses by most metrics if price and/or size/weight are not big issues (even if small size is desired, the 12 and 15 are very small lenses).

Edit: I see you're not interested in zooms, and the 12/2 is too expensive for you. Even still, I wouldn't pay 270 pounds for this lens. Thats about what (when considering currency conversion) a 12/2 goes for used over here. I wouldn't pay more than 150 for a 14/2.5 (used or new). You can often find brand new 14/2.5s split from kits sold from Asia for ~$150.

Here is one split from a kit in the UK for 153 pounds: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NOT-IN-BOX-New-Genuine-Panasonic-Lumix-G-14mm-F2-5-ASPH-H-H014-UK-Stock-/151964735666?hash=item2361cdd8b2:g:lzkAAOSwsFpWSW8H

This lens was sold as a kit lens with certain Panasonic bodies, so you can find excess stock split from kits and should not pay retail for it. For 270 pounds, you can probably find a brand new one attached to a brand new GF2 or GF3.

Looks like the 12/2 sells for about 280-350 pounds used on eBay, just for reference.

I picked mine up second hand, but unused, for about $180 Au. With a filter & square hood. Someone bought it for a video/film project, but never used it.

I then managed to acquire a new old stock Panasonic lens adapter kit mentioned previously, for $89 Au. One can not go wrong for that -getting 10.5 & 14 mm at f/2.5 for that little size, weight & cost. The wide angle adapter really is quite good. I use it heaps. Great little bit of kit