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Panasonic 45-200mm f/4.0-5.6 Lumix G Vario MEGA OIS Zoom Micro Four Thirds Lens for Panasonic and Olympus Micro Four Thirds Cameras

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Product Description Lumix G VARIO 45-200mm/4.0-5.6 zoom lens w/MEGA Optical Image Stabilization covers the 35mm equivalent from 90-400mm to help the user capture crisp, blur-free, shots when shooting sports events, wildlife and other distant subjects Reviews I have been using this product frequently for my recent 3 weeks visit to California. I'm satisfied with the product because: 1. I have been using film cameras for almost 20years and had recently switched to Panasonic G1 because I want to maintain compatibility with my bunch of Leica M lenses and Nikon lenses. The smallness and lightness of the system impresses me. 2. Never have I dreamed of holding a 400mm FOV with my hand and tracking birds in the air and capturing candid shots. I tried fixing the G1 to the monster 400mm F2.8 Nikon and find it totally not feasible for hand held shots. I must admit a more direct comparison would be to 80-200mm f2.8 which I also tried and dreaded the weight. 3. The pana 45-200mm is compact and could fit into my jacket. There is no need to use a camera back during my recent trip to California since the camera + kit lens can be slung and one pocket holds the 45-200mm lens and the other holds the spare battery which I also purchased from Amazon. 4. The built in OIS also helps me capture shots at lower shutter speed. This is an present surprise since there isn't any OIS function during the old film days. 5. I'd shot birds, scenery, candid and sports (ICE hockey) and find the image to be sharp. Most of the unacceptable image are result of high ISO (more than 800), using OIS during panning and low shutter speed (In my opinion, setting it to 1/500sec at Shutter priority for this lens is safe enough for most situations) 6. The small aperture is a downside of this lens, I would not because penalize this because this is a calculated decision as I wanted a portable system. Furthermore, there is nothing to complain about for such low price. As many people already said, it's not the sharpest, fastest, best bokeh lens available, but it's small, light and has a very decent performance. Excellent for the price. I would certainly recommend for a friend. I couldn't pass up this lens at the price it was offered on Amazon. It completes the upper end range for my G1 Panasonic after buying it with the kit lens. It is the equivalent of a 90mm - 486mm range on the 35 MM film camera. It is very compact and has the image stabalization system built into the lens. It is the Lumix Leica design and is extremely sharp at all focal lengths, but does benefit from the use of a tripod at the long end of this zoom since it and the camera are both very small and lightweight. I am very impressed by the sharpness and also the rendition of colors produced by this lens and recommend it to Panasonic G series camera owners. It is of exceptional value and quality for it's price! I have five lenses for my G1, but this is my favorite. Overall, it's quite sharp and produces images with an excellent feel to them, particularly for such a comparatively low price. Initial test reports indicated noticeable softness at 160-200mm, but this appears to have been fixed. One possibility is that the latest firmware may have improved the autofocusing at long focal lengths. This has not been verified by Panasonic, but many owners of new or updated copies of the lens are routinely getting sharper images at 200mm than the early test reports would indicate, so it seems to be the best guess at the moment. It's important to have realistic expectations for long lenses. If you've never shot with a really long lens on an SLR, it's easy to assume that such a cute little lens will be just as easy to hand hold as its 14-45mm brandmate. It isn't. At 200mm, it has the same long reach and very narrow angle of view as a 400mm lens on a full frame 35mm. I still have one of those from my film days, and it's 13 inches long, heavy, and almost impossible to hand hold! This Panasonic lens at 200mm is subject to the same laws of physics and optics as those old 400mm bazookas, even though it is so much smaller and lighter. The optical image stabilization is superb, so you CAN hand hold it in good light, but you need to be well-braced and use good technique, and there's no point in even trying to hand hold it at 200mm at very low shutter speeds. (When I'm shooting at 200mm, I increase the ISO if necessary to make sure my shutter speed is at least 1/125, and I really prefer 1/250 or faster.) If you've never shot a long tele before, consider using a tripod, turning OIS off, and touching up the autofocus results manually to nail the exact part of the image that you want to be the sharpest. Either that or try to get closer to your subject - sharp hand held shots at 100-150mm are much easier to get. In summary, this lens is an exceptional value and the zoom range is great for a wide range of subjects, from portraits to wildlife. If you treat it with respect at the long end, you'll get many great pictures with it. This telephoto lens is just an above average performer. It is light and does its basic job well.