04Feb Panasonic 7-14mm f4 wide angle lens
One of the things I really missed when I first picked up the Panasonic GH4 was a wide angle lens. Until I went without it while shooting with the GH4, I hadn’t really thought about how much I actually use that focal length. In my Canon collection I currently have the 16-35mm f2.8 and the much older Canon 17-35mm f2.8. I always have one of those lenses with me when using the 5d mark III and when I’m shooting with two cameras (sony a7s + 5dmk3) I normally carry both.
The only real reason I hadn’t picked up the Panasonic 7-14 for the GH4 was that I was holding out for the Olympus 7-14mm f2.8. The Olympus has been announced as “coming soon” since early last year and I thought I could hold out until it’s release.
While I was waiting for the Olympus, I was also watching ebay, and I started to see the Panasonic 7-14 used price drop down to around $550. After living without a wide angle M4/3 lens for almost 7 months the price was finally attractive enough to suck me in and I added the Panasonic 7-14mm f4 to my collection.
One of the drawbacks to the Panasonic 7-14mm is it’s f4 aperture. While f4 isn’t a deal breaker, I’ve always kind of gravitated towards faster lenses whenever possible. The GH4 isn’t known for it’s low light sensitivity, so the faster the lens you can get, the better off you are. Still (pun intended), if you have enough light to work with, the Panasonic 7-14mm f4 lens provides sharp images. This picture of Hero (my 10 year old pomeranian) was taken at f4 1/100 iso 3200.
Some people like to correct for distortion. Sometimes I’ll fix it in post, but in many cases I enjoy the effect. This photo is from the passenger window on route to Salt Lake City shot at f8, 1/1000, iso 200.
The Panasonic 7-14mm seems to do very well through windows even though you can’t get a polarizing filter on the dang thing and you’d probably have issues (wide angle lenses don’t play nice with polarizers) even if you could. This was taken from the window of gate 4 at the Seattle airport, shot at f10, 1/200, iso 200.
This is probably the most example shots I’ve ever posted from a single lens, but I really do love the wide angle look and I’ve been surprised by how much I’ve enjoyed using the Panasonic 7-14mm. Above is Multnomah Falls, just outside of Portland, shot at f4, 1/250, iso 800.
Currently there are only 2 wide angle zooms with AF that I know of for M4/3 cameras, the Panasonic 7-14mm f4 and the Olympus 7-14mm f4. The Olympus has garnered some great reviews, but it clocks in at about $1500 and it’s an f4 lens. Olympus lenses are generally well made, but looking at them both, the used price of the Panasonic 7-14mm f4 was what made it the more attractive option for me.
My first opportunity to play around with a Panasonic lens was the 12-35mm f2.8 and i wasn’t exactly blown away by the build quality. It felt very plasticy compared to the Olympus 12-40mm f2.8. The Panasonic 7-14mm f4 is a whole different beast. The lens is small and compact, but it’s plastic/metal body feels very solid. The fly by wire focus ring isn’t anything to write home about, but at f4 on an M4/3 body, it’s not something you’ll likely use much on a wide angle zoom. The lens cap covers a full size lens hood that’s built into the lens and the hood keeps you from scratching the element when you get close to your subject (minimum focus distance of 9.84 inches).
Over all, i’m pretty impressed with the Panasonic 7-14mm f4 lens. I might still jump ship for olympus when they release the 7-14mm f2.8 (depending largely on the price), but I don’t really have any complaints about the Panasonic, it’s a good lens for the price.
February 4th, 2015 at 9:08 am
Have you had any experience with the Tokina 11-16mm 2.8 and a speed booster? That seems to be an option that people are using for a wide fast option, though not sure how the results compare to the Panasonic 7-14mm f4 or the Olympus 7-14mm 2.8 that will come out sometime soon. Also looks like Tokina will be updating this lens to a 11-20mm 2.8. Wonder what improvements there will be there…
February 4th, 2015 at 10:09 am
I sold off my 11-16 before I picked up the GH4 and speed booster so I haven’t had a chance to try it out. It probably wouldn’t be to bad of an option for filming, but the speedbooster doesn’t work with AF so you’d miss out on that in the photography side. I’m pretty interested in the Olympus 8mm f1.8 that’s coming out in a few months, it might be my next GH4 lens buy.
February 4th, 2015 at 9:26 am
I think this is a nice lens for landscape shots, but a bit too slow for interior work (events, live music, real estate). I would consider one of these, but currently used prices are closer to $700 than $550. Maybe I should start looking again.
February 4th, 2015 at 10:07 am
I was just looking on ebay’s completed listings. Looks like a few went for around $580 last week, there are currently a bunch for $700 but they are being sold by camera shops. I think the trick is to find an individual sell the lens instead of a camera shop. I think the olympus 8mm f1.8 is supposed be coming out in the next month or so which might be in the $400 range. I might end up picking that up instead of moving up to the (probably extremely expensive) olympus 7-14mm f2.8 when it finally comes out.