Panasonic Lumix 12-32/3.5-5.6 vs Olympus 14-42/3.5-5.6 II R MSC

Oleksak wrote:

photofan1986 wrote:

I sure would. But be aware that there might be shutter shock problems with this lens on the Epl5. I know there were on the Epm2.

Frankly speaking I had never seen shutter shock problems on my images with E-PL5 before I saw Your post. May be I was not careful enough. But when I looked through a number of posts about the problem in MFT forums I was shocked that it is considered as a so big problem of MFT, that can destroy all the advantages of any high-quality optics. Is it worth to invest in MFT then?

Shutter shock is a universal problem, and is not new, not even new to digital. This is why we had mirror lockup on SLRs 40+ years ago. Higher resolution sensors are just making it more noticeable. But it is not universal in mFT or any other system either. As in other systems, certain mFT lens/body combinations are more prone to SS than others.

Here are just the first examples found on the topic in other systems:

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3836204

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/55591675

http://blog.kasson.com/?p=4674

Personally, I have seen examples of SS with the 40-150R lens on my E-M5. Once I confirmed this, and did some reading on it, I set 1/8s anti-shock on both my E-PM2 and E-M5 and don't worry about it anymore. I will turn off the 1/8s AS if I know that I need instant shutter response or that SS will be above 1/250s consistently, or if I want to be quieter, since the 1/8s results in a noisier shutter sound. But it doesn't affect my IQ or shooting otherwise.

I have never seen evidence of SS on my 12-40, which is now used for 90% of my work.

Allan Brown wrote:

Hitherto wrote:

e_kjellgren wrote:

Cyberphoto gives the edge to either the Panasonic G X Vario PZ 14-42/3,5-5,6 or the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 14-42/3,5-5,6 II R.

http://www.cyberphoto.se/info.php?article=pana1232silverbulk

/Evert

This is pretty good for a kit lens

http://www.imaging-resource.com/lenses/olympus/14-42mm-f3.5-5.6-ii-m.zuiko-digital/review/

The 12-32 is slightly off it in the centre according to SLR Gear but its not bad either. You can't go wrong unless you go for the 14-42 EZ pancake lens from Olympus.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/lenses/panasonic/12-32mm-f3.5-5.6-asph-mega-ois-lumix-g-vario/review/

What do you mean by that? All the reviews and my experience shows that the lens is very sharp in the centre.

Allan

I don't mean anything by it, just look at the sharpness test above. Both lenses are sharp but the 14-42 would appear to have 1 less blur unit in the centre. The 12-32 suffers some barrel distortion at 12 also, but aside from the 12-50 its the only lens that goes to 12 and it's sharper than the 12-50. If you don't need weather sealing and you want 12mm on the short end its a good lens.

Note that the 14-42 review above is for the II version, not the IIR. I believe the IIR might be a bit softer.

My understanding is that the only difference was cosmetic with a minor change to the focus motor. Both lenses have the same glass and coatings.

Yes, this may be true, I just noticed it was and older review.

I didn't use my 14-42IIR much, since I had the 12-50 on my E-M5 at the time, and I shoot at 12mm a lot. But I used the FT 14-42 for four years on my E-410, and it seemed to perform better than the MZ 14-42. Since I wanted the 12mm, the 12-32 was the answer, although at almost as much as I paid for the E-PM 2 lens kit, it was more than I wanted to pay. But the lens is very small, well built, and performs well across the frame. I have not done any testing, but the corner softness I often saw on the 14-42 is gone on the 12-32.

The only things I don't like:

- CA can be an issue on Oly bodies (E-M5 and E-PM2 in my case)

I use mine on my EPL5.

- will miss focus occasionally even though focus confirm light is on, often with close subjects. I have to watch for this, as I have ruined some shots due to this. Close focus also not quite as good as 14-42.

I find this to be an Oly body problem, not a lens problem. I can easily get all my Oly bodies to misfocus with non-Oly lenses (Panasonic and Sigma) whereas, my Panny G5 does not care what lens is on as it will focus properly every time.

Yes, it may be so; I've never used a Pany body. But I've also never experienced this with Oly lenses. Perhaps this will be addressed in newer bodies, or already has been. It's not a big deal now that I am aware of it.

Even when set not to take a photo until it is in focus, the Oly bodies will. Panny bodies will not.

- zoom ring turns the wrong way!

- no manual focus ring

Not even close to being an issue for me.

Nor for me really. I just like to be thorough. The zoom ring takes seconds to get used to, and AF lock on a subject then re-compose solves the lack of MF problem. It's not like the DOF is razor thin...

Anyone using the 12-32mm on an E-P5? I just got a 12-32mm with a GM1 used. Works perfectly on the GM1 and my E-M1, but on my E-P5 it gives a dark image in live view, roughly a stop dark, then if I take an image it looks about a stop too bright? Everything has the latest firmware. 
Not a huge problem as I'll mostly use that lens on the GM1 it came with, but it would be nice to use it on the E-P5 without having to put up with the inaccurate LV and exposure.