Advice please on G80 or G90 and 24-140 lens

Lilyanna wrote:

I have been waiting for price of G80 to go down, at the moment it is variable £550 to £700 12-60 lens. But now I am thinking about the G90 with 14-140 lens £999. which seems a good price, depends on quality of lens.

14~140 (I suppose it could likely be the 14~140 f/3.5~5.6 mk-I, not the WR version mk-II) is a fantastic 10x superzoom kit lens having IQ very close to the premium f/2.8 lenses or even to prime lens. It is worth for every penny you paid.

It is a lens that changed my long old bias view on the supposed lower quality of these super zoom lens.

Unfortunately it has a narrow wide end. If you are happy with 14, 14~140 is a no brainer. Fast AF, sharp across the frame wide open, good contrast, versatile zoom range making it a perfect one lens solution, WR on mk-II, DUAL IS 2 compatible, DFD on Panny bodies...

I take nature pics, macro's and some landscapes. I like the 12fps on my fz150 to combat camera shake,

I don't think you need it under the good ergonomic of G85 or G95, plus the added weight of the lens, and 5 stops effective stabilisation to combat handshake (indeed most of us are talking about how crazy slow shutter speed we can shoot hand held, hand shaking is the least concern).

Except for the FZ1000/2500 which are as large (very often larger) than a G, those other smaller FZs are some distance on handling ergonomically.

but would like better quality pictures. My Oly E-510 had better pics, and I hope a G80/90 would be even better. But the 510 broke down after only 4/5 years leaving me with useless lenses.

I tried the G7 with 100-300 lens which felt good, but wanted the dual stabiliation. So later tried the G80 which did hurt shoulder a bit.

In terms of size, might look at the GX85 or GX95. They are smaller, lacking of the comfortable hand grip on the body (can add an extra hand grid to improve it), non WR, no microphone port, but has all features of its bigger brother G85/95.

GX85 is also under deep discount as G85. My wife has 14~140 on GX85 happily.

And the G90 is heavier, but it does have 20mp and I think more fps which is good for camera shake. But one site said the extra mp's make it worse in low light, which in the Uk is most of the time.

Is the G90 alot better than the G80. I will buy the 100-300 lens but have choice between 12-60 and 14-140, I think the gap between 12-60 and 100-300 may be annoying. Is the kit lens 14-140 good? dual stabilised?

See above.

The separate 14-140 is £400-£600+, way too expensive. And the G80 doesn't come with 14-140 in UK.

Difficult to get to a shop at the moment, the Panny shop closed down. Need to find another larger shop somewhere. Small shops too expensive and would feel guilty trying and not buying.

Need to make decision so ready to snap up when price is good. Can only afford one camera so need to get it right.

If 12 is important to us, 12~60 is the better option. Might also consider a cheap 45~150 to make it a light weight combo. To me 100~300 is for specific shooting only. Its size and weight is not my usual walking around setup. BTW, 100~300 has to shoot at stopping down to f/7.1~8 for sharpest result whereas 45~150 can produce similar sharpness wide open at f/4~ f/5.6 😉.

If 14 is workable to you, 14~140 is great single lens solution and no lens swapping.

Or might try 12~32, plus 100~300 if you always need that reaching. The ultra light weight of 12~32 can make up for the weight grain on 100~300 vs other consumer grade lenses, to maintain the overall size and weight in check. When you don't need the long reaching, 12~32 could be your ultra light weight setup.

My 2 cents.

Any advice welcome.