My own set of Panasonic 14-140 f3.5-5.6 questions before I take the plunge...

geepondy wrote:

- Reviews I read mentioned shutter shock but these are older reviews with G7 and G7X cameras.

I have being using G7+14-140 for over a year. It was my main camera for my 2018 spring trip to Tuscany (Firenze, Pisa, Siena, san Giminiano).

The G7 firmware update introduced a turnaround "auto e-shutter" to avoid the shutter shock on lenses prone to it. The 14-140 belongs to this category.

I enabled this option which automatically switches to e-shutter for shutter speeds between 1/60 and 1/320 when using the 14-140, and never experimented shutter shock in my photography.

This auto e-shutter is lens dependant and the 14-140 seems to be the only lens in my set to trigger its activation.

Do you think I would experience this on my GX9?

I think all recent Panasonic models now have an electronic first curtain shutter which avoids shutter shock.

-Just how prevalent and serious is this issue of not allowing a shot to be fired in low light situations? That sounds like it could be quite aggravating.

Never met that though I shot a lot inside churches or at night. But of course, If you select Focus priority, the shutter wont fire if the camera cannot focus, which may happen when there is no contrast on the target. When this happen, I just focus on a contrasty or textured target at the same distance, and recompose.

-I know image quality questions get asked a lot about this lens but currently I have the kit 12-60 f3.5-5.6 lens, and the 45-150 f4-5.6 lens (as well as the Leica 15 f1.7). The 12-60 is sharper than the 45-150 and the Leica (as expected) is sharper than the 12-60 even when both lens stepped down. Would the 14-140 be giving up anything in sharpness (as well as color and contrast perhaps even more important), compared to the 12-60 and 45-150 within the overlapping focal ranges?

IMO, there is no free meal and I disagree with previous posters who said that the 14-140 is as sharp as the 12-60 f3.5-5.6.

I have both, and my 12-60 f3.5-5.6 is obviously sharper, both in the center and across the frame. It also delivers more optical contrast and clarity and thus the images dont need as much contrast and clarity optimization in post-processing.

IMO, the 14-140 is really outstanding for a 10X zoom, but, as with all superzooms, there is a visible regular decrease in sharpness and contrast when zooming towards the long end.

Though I dont have one, I believe that a moderate 3.3X zoom like the 45-150 should probably outperform the 14-140 across their common range.

But that extra IQ of a 2 lenses set is to balance with the convenience of an all-in-one lens like the 14-140 which will deliver "good enough" IQ as long as you dont pixel peep and are ready to push the sliders in post processing when needed.

The Leica 15mm lens has me drooling and makes me wonder just how much sharper the Leica 12-60 f2.8-f4 lens would be over the Panasonic 12-60 but in reality whenever I'm out doing nature walks, I'm constantly swapping between the 12-60 and the 45-150 so in practicality the 14-140 makes more sense. This would be the last lens I would buy for quite some time although if I find necessity dictates, I may get the 12-32 pancake as it's cheap.

I also have the 12-32 and shot a lot with it. It is almost as good as the 12-60 across their common range but 32 at the long end is not very long.

My experience is that the 12-32 is a good complement to the 14-140 at the wide end, but, depending of your most used focal lengths, you might find yourself swapping between the 12-32 and the 14-140 as often as between the 12-60 and 45-150.

The main trump of the 12-32 is its very compact size when collapsed. But this may be less obvious on a medium sized GX9 than on my GM5.

I am going to visit China within a few weeks and I will probably bring two bodies, my new GX8 and the tiny GM5, with three zooms: 12-60, for cityscapes and landscapes, the 14-140 as it is my only real tele lens, and the 12-32 on GM5 when small size is paramount, or as a ready to shoot second camera when the 14-140 will be mounted on the GX8.

Thanks for any thoughts...