Panasonic 14mm F2.5 arrived!

Just recently bought a 14mm F2.5 for my GM5 (wanted a faster prime that is still compact to go with the camera to compliment the 12-32)

I ordered the mki from Ebay for $180 (no box but new, possibly pulled from a kit in asia) and just recently received it.

It looks great on the GM5 and and I just went out to shoot some test shots with it. It is not a perfect lens (the copy I had was slightly decentered but for a $180 lens, I will let it go as it is wasn't too noticeable unless I shoot landscapes wide open which is unlikely since I will be stopping down). If I paid full retail price for the lens I'd go and get it exchanged but its not worth the hassle with the current situation and overall pretty happy.

The lens is just slightly decentered in a way that the left side is tilted so focus is biased towards the further distance while the right side is biased towards the closer distance. So when focusing on the center, you will have the left side slightly back focused and the right side slightly front focus, but it is really minor compared to other decentered lens I owned.

how it looks on the camera

Congrats!

I bought mine used too and it's the chief resident on my GM1.  I also bought a wide converter giving me a 10.5mm f2.5 super wide lens

As for your pic, it's hard to see the decentering.  Perhaps a shot of a flat object like a wall picture in a mounted frame at close range?

It's a nice little lens .I use it for wide angle street night shots  . Here is a test shot when I received it

addlightness wrote:

Congrats!

I bought mine used too and it's the chief resident on my GM1. I also bought a wide converter giving me a 10.5mm f2.5 super wide lens

As for your pic, it's hard to see the decentering. Perhaps a shot of a flat object like a wall picture in a mounted frame at close range?

I sold mine last year with a lot of qualms after having it as my 'standard' lens on the camera for about two years -- moving to the 12-32; I really, really like that extra bit of width.

But the 14 served me marvelously and after a contretemps, I can remember posting on this forum how happy I was to have it in hand again!

An excellent lens, lightning fast focus in all kinds of lousy light, sharp, nice stars from lights within the frame when stopped down a little. A bit subject to flare from light just outside the frame, but that's manageable.

Adding the wide converter is a really good idea -- the fastest UWA around! I can appreciate what you are doing with that; I was actually running my 14mm on the Oly E-PL3 initially and bought the wide converter for the Oly 14-42 kit lens for a similar effect (it was a lot cheaper than the Panny adapter although not quite as wide). Great idea, did a very good job for the price, but it also persuaded me that I really needed the 9-18 UWA zoom because I had lot of work at the widest end.

So all in all, OP, you'll enjoy the 14mm and even if it is decentered a little, bear in mind that most of the world is not flat planes so nobody much will notice!