Panasonic G 14 mm f/2.5 ASPH. review - Build quality

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Panasonic G 14 mm f/2.5 ASPH.

16 November 2010

Arkadiusz Olech

3. Build quality

The first contact with the tested lens proves at once that the word „micro”, appearing in the description of the whole system, fits here perfectly. Exaggerating a bit you could write that the Panasonic LUMIX G 14 mm f/2.5 ASPH is smaller and physically lighter than most of normal full frame lenses’ caps. It is not such a big overstatement after all - my first meeting with the lens can prove it. I took the original carton into my hands and I opened it. I took out a wad of documents and the operating manual wrapped in plastic, then I took out a piece of bubble wrap and I found, with a start, that there is no lens in the box. Well, I was wrong. The lens was precisely inside that small piece of bubble wrap...

Tradition must be followed so in this chart we compare the tested lens with other Micro 4/3 „pancakes”. In the following chart we can see how the Panasonic 2.5/14 presents itself against the background of other mirrorless systems’ wide-angle “pancakes”

In the photo below the tested lens is positioned between the Leica 2.8/45, designed to work on Micro 4/3 devices, and the Olympus 2.8/25 “pancake” for 4/3 system reflex cameras.

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Panasonic G 14 mm f/2.5 ASPH. - Build quality

The Panasonic LUMIX G 14 mm f/2.5 ASPH, although small and physically light, features a metal mount which surrounds contacts and a rear element, about 1.5 cm in diameter. The element is only slightly hidden inside the barrel and it remains immobile so the inner part of the lens is completely sealed.

The barrel itself starts with a gray strip 7 mm wide. We can find the „LUMIX” inscription on it, the focal length’s value, the range of focus, the serial number and info that the lens was made in Japan.

Further on, we find a manual focus ring. It is 9 mm wide, ribbed and it doesn’t feature any distance scale. You could hardly call it ergonomic or comfortable but if you take into account the dimensions of the lens and its significant depth of field, connected with its parameters, manual focusing shouldn’t be problematic at all. Turning the ring you don’t shift inner elements.

Immediately behind the manual focus ring the lens ends. At the very front we find a non-rotating filter thread with a diameter of 46 mm which surrounds the inscription with the name and the parameters of the lens and the front element, 16 mm in diameter.

The inner design of the lens consists of six elements in five groups and three of them are aspherical. The aperture has seven diaphragm blades and can be closed down to f/22.