Panasonic Kit lens, 14-42 vs 14-45 + GF1 battery!

Bretagnez

Bretagnez

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Hi all,

A very basic question, which I can't seem to find a definitive answer for anywhere....

Which of the two basic Panasonic m4/3 kit lenses is better?
The regular 14-42 or the older 14-45?

I've read conflicting reviews on each of them, but can't seem to come to any definite conclusion.

Also, could anyone advise on where to buy a second battery for the GF1 - not an expensive Panasonic one, though!

Thanks!
 
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14-45 is better, not sure about the new compact 14-42x though.

Not sure about batteries, I bought two and one of them has swelled up and is now unusable, but I can't remember where I got them from, sorry! You could try the big Panasonic G series thread.
 
grum said:
14-45 is better, not sure about the new compact 14-42x though.
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Looking at tests (which isn't always the best way to go) suggests the new 14-42 is the best when stopped down to around f8.

I knew I'd seen the question before - I just answered the question in the other thread ;)
 
14-45 or the new 14-42mm X, which has the advantage of being tiny, but disadvantage of being all electronic.

14-45mm is great as long as you keep away from the 45mm end
 
The 14-42mm X has been getting kicking lately, alot of users have had issues with the lens at a certain length and speed, the pictures come out blurred. Even Dpreview mention it, unfortunately Panny have been very quiet about the matter, shame as supposed to be a good lens.
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
or the new 14-42mm X, which has the advantage of being tiny, but disadvantage of being all electronic.
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I was going to go with that but was put off by the issues at 42mm with shutter speeds between 1/60th and 1/250th which look to be stability of the lens related.

Ended up with a 14-42 standard instead...
 
Thanks guys, just purchased a battery for the princely sum of £11.

Still a bit torn between the 14-45 or 14-42, I'm not looking to spend much so the X is out of the equation...
I'd mainly be using it for the reach, so sharpess at the top of end of scale around f/8 is the main priority.
 
Bretagnez said:
Are you happy overall with the performance of your 14-42?
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I've only had it a week or so and I've been playing with the Samyang fisheye more than anything else, but yes, generally I'm happy with the 14-42. The camera doesn't have the pop of a 7D/15-85, but then the whole camera/lens cost less than the 15-85 on its own!

If you want to take a look at a JPEG (converted from RAW with Lightroom) have a look at this shot at 42mm @ F5.6:

http://www.arad85.co.uk/hosted/talkp/P1000141.jpg

and compare that top the wide open shot @ 44mm @ f5 in this thread (note these were taken a day or so apart so lighting was different):

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=393127

The 7D/15-85 is definitely better but...
 
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I've had all three and from the ones I've had I would say the 14-45 is best, then the 14-42X then the 14-42 but there wasn't a huge difference. I prefer the 14-42X just for its compact size and that's the one I'll probably hold on to since I have 20mm, 25mm and 45mm primes for when I want the best image quality.
 
arad85 said:
If you want to take a look at a JPEG (converted from RAW with Lightroom) have a look at this shot at 42mm @ F5.6:

http://www.arad85.co.uk/hosted/talkp/P1000141.jpg

and compare that top the wide open shot @ 44mm @ f5 in this thread (note these were taken a day or so apart so lighting was different):

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=393127
Click to expand...
Just to say the 14-42 image has not had any processing other than default lightroom on export, the 7D image is an in-camera JPEG so has had Canon standard processing done which tends to boost the pop and sharpness of the image.
 
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