Micro 4/3 My first shots with the Panasonic 7-14mm f/4

entropic remnants

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John Griggs
I was feeling the need for something wider than the 18mm equivalent of my Olympus 9-18mm so I sold it and some other lenses I use infrequently and bought the Panasonic 7-14mm used and got what I believe is a good copy.

Here's some initial shots I took at Longwood Gardens and I'm not holding these up as my best, lol -- but mainly just looking at the lens to see what it can do. Mainly, I'll use it for urbex stuff.

My conclusion is that this is an excellent lens and I'm glad I picked it up.

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Panasonic 7-14mm Test: Morning in the Garden by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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Panasonic 7-14mm Test: Eye of the Temple by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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Panasonic 7-14mm Test: Epiphytic Box by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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Panasonic 7-14mm Test: Queen Palm Halo by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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Panasonic 7-14mm Test: 3 of 4 Dragons Love Longwood by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

All the above were at 7mm. These next two are at the full zoom of 14mm (28mm equivalent).

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Panasonic 7-14mm Test: Purple Bell 1 by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr

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Panasonic 7-14mm Test: Purple Bell 2 by Entropic Remnants, on Flickr
 
Wow to the palm. And ... are you pleased/disappointed/surprised so far with the results? And most importantly, probably to early to tell, but do you think the extra buck for the two millimeters were well spent?

G
 
Very nice John! We're these done with the G5 or the OMD? I've read about some purple flair issues with that lens on the OMD and wondered if you'd seen it?

Edit - never mind, clicked through and saw for myself that they were the G5... If you ever do use it on the OMD, I'd be interested. I've toyed around with the idea of swapping the 9-18 for the extra width. Or of waiting for the Fuji 10-24, which will be about a 15 equivalent in 3:2, which ought to be at least as wide...

-Ray
 
Nice set John, I was toying with the idea of picking up a 7-14mm too. An outstanding lens based on reviews I have read. I went with a Lumix 14mm and a Rokinon 7.5mm duo instead. They will be delivered tomorrow from B&H. Your set has me excited to play with them.
 
Very nice John! We're these done with the G5 or the OMD? I've read about some purple flair issues with that lens on the OMD and wondered if you'd seen it?

Edit - never mind, clicked through and saw for myself that they were the G5... If you ever do use it on the OMD, I'd be interested. I've toyed around with the idea of swapping the 9-18 for the extra width. Or of waiting for the Fuji 10-24, which will be about a 15 equivalent in 3:2, which ought to be at least as wide...

-Ray

Quite a few threads/post on the P7-14-OM-D-CA. What I can ascertain is the CA is present with every OM-D/7-14 combo, but some combos are much more severe than others. With my combo I found the CA relatively controllable ... it has to be a strong light source and pretty direct for the CA to raise it's ugly. But TDP's combo seems significantly worse, even a weak light source sets off this explosion of CA. I think what I am experiencing is more common than TDP's experience.

Gary
 
V I've toyed around with the idea of swapping the 9-18 for the extra width. Or of waiting for the Fuji 10-24, which will be about a 15 equivalent in 3:2, which ought to be at least as wide...[/I]

-Ray

according to my calculations, a 14mm equivalent at 4:3 aspect ratio is just as wide, horizontally, as a 14,56mm equivalent at 3:2 aspect ratio... so the Fuji's 10mm wide angle would come very close, but be a tiny bit less wide horizontally, and a good bit less wide vertically (assuming the lenses' FOV's are indeed 14 and 15mm equivalent respectively, and aren't changed by any distortion correction etc).
 
Wow to the palm. And ... are you pleased/disappointed/surprised so far with the results? And most importantly, probably to early to tell, but do you think the extra buck for the two millimeters were well spent?

G

Thanks, Gary!

I'm happy so far with the results. I've shot now with three different ultrawides (first two from my Nikon days): Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6; Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8; Olympus 9-18mm f/4-5.6; and now the Panasonic 7-14mm f/4.

The Panasonic corresponds mostly to the Tokina in quality arena I think. The Sigma was wide at 15mm equivalent and the Tokina was more like 17. Believe it or now, I missed the width of the Sigma -- except that the Sigma edges and corners were not good so it wasn't really that useful -- which is why I got the Tokina.

All the ultrawides are a bit funny in the corners where the image is stretched so much -- but the Tokina and Panasonic appear best, followed closely by the Oly and trailed miserably the the old Sigma, lol.

To me, and it's so subjective: both the additional quality I seem to be seeing and the extra width make me happy with my purchase. I need to see how bad that flare problem is on the E-M5. What I suspect is that the sensor on the E-M5 is more reflective at certain angles and this causes the problem. Not sure if that has anything to do with the reality but there isn't a whole lot that could cause the problem I don't think?

By the way I did have to touch up the palm on the trunk near where the sun was. It was bluish in tint and washed out from the sun in the brightest shots and that is an HDR merge. I darkened the flare on the trunk, changed the white balance in that area and increased contrast to fix it -- though it's still not quite right on the trunk there.

The rest are single shots.
 
Very nice John! We're these done with the G5 or the OMD? I've read about some purple flair issues with that lens on the OMD and wondered if you'd seen it?

Edit - never mind, clicked through and saw for myself that they were the G5... If you ever do use it on the OMD, I'd be interested. I've toyed around with the idea of swapping the 9-18 for the extra width. Or of waiting for the Fuji 10-24, which will be about a 15 equivalent in 3:2, which ought to be at least as wide...

-Ray

Ha ha! I should post that to save folks the trouble. I'll try to remember to do that. I was rushed today and was thinking even less than usual, lol.

I really like your compositions here, and the colours too!

Thanks!
 
You make a strong case for that lens, John! You have me really wanting to buy it, and I don't even have a body it would fit! :rofl:

Now THAT is a bad case of GAS: "I want it and I can't even use it..." -- LOL!

Thanks all for the nice comments! I can't wait to use this for an urbex run, but that might be awhile.
 
(My first post on SC -- longtime DPR guy and m43 user...) Lovely images! The 7-14 has long been on my list of lenses to get. But at the moment I'm using ultrawide on my serious non-compact. I especially enjoy the perspective of the first two images, although all are engaging.
 
(My first post on SC -- longtime DPR guy and m43 user...) Lovely images! The 7-14 has long been on my list of lenses to get. But at the moment I'm using ultrawide on my serious non-compact. I especially enjoy the perspective of the first two images, although all are engaging.

Well first, Stan -- Welcome to Serious Compacts! I'm a former Nikon user who went to micro four thirds to lighten my kit. I generally don't shoot action so the contrast detect autofocus is just fine for me. I have the OM-D E-M5 and the Panasonic G5 as my main cameras now. I'll be taking the 7-14mm out to shoot some urbex stuff in a couple of weeks. On APS-C Nikons I've owned the Sigma 10-20mm, and the Tokina 11-16mm and the Tokina won hands down. On mft I've had the Oly 9-18mm which is excellent but sold it for the 7-14mm to get a little wider.

Second -- THANKS!
 
Well first, Stan -- Welcome to Serious Compacts! I'm a former Nikon user who went to micro four thirds to lighten my kit. I generally don't shoot action so the contrast detect autofocus is just fine for me. I have the OM-D E-M5 and the Panasonic G5 as my main cameras now. I'll be taking the 7-14mm out to shoot some urbex stuff in a couple of weeks. On APS-C Nikons I've owned the Sigma 10-20mm, and the Tokina 11-16mm and the Tokina won hands down. On mft I've had the Oly 9-18mm which is excellent but sold it for the 7-14mm to get a little wider.

Second -- THANKS!

Thank you for the warm welcome, John! Like you I enjoy m43 very much for the small size, nice lenses, and quality files. I still have my Canon FF gear for when I need the DOF control, performance, or high ISO. But for most of my hobby/personal work I'm fine with m43. Love the primes especially!
 
Beautiful images, John - and more fuel to my long burning (or simmering?) fire to eventually get myself a 7-14mm lens. My biggest problem, to date, apart from justifying the cash (or indebtedness), or finding it....is that the 7-14mm lens is sizable - and I think it might outweigh or seriously unbalance my relatively tiny E-PL5 body.

Of course, were I to acquire a new GX7 body to mate it with, that would solve that problem. :)
 
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