After my recent post about small, light lenses I decided to go back and look for images that were taken with the Panasonic GX7 which started all my thought process about the GX series from Panasonic.
I found some images taken with the Panasonic 35-100 f4.0-5.6 lens. It is really small and light and produces some lovely images. Together with it's little brother, the 12-32 f3.5-4.6 these two lenses are my favourites to take along somewhere where weight and space are a concern. These two lenses have often been with me when going sailing around the Mediteranean Sea together with two Panasonic GM5 cameras. Can't really beat that for compactness together with good image quality (just look at my sailing posts under Travel Locations). Image quality from this camera is very good and I can't imagine anyone being unhappy with the quality. The whole package is small and light but I can imagine itbeing too small for someone with large hands for example. I personally have smallish hands so I favour these kind of systems.
When on holiday of generally travelling my equipment is tailored for lightness so I ususally take 2 cameras with 2 lenses that cover most of my needs. The lenses are the two mentioned abouve because they are so small and render some lovely images. These lenses were introduced in 2013 and 2014, which is nearly a decade ago. Amazing really. Imust be getting old. These two lenses were usually offered in a kit and bundled with a camera so saving on the price of the lenses if bought individually. Nothing to sneeze at. I believe both of those lenses came as part of a kit but Ican't remember with which camera. Being kit lenses you would thinkimage quality would be poor but let me put your mind at rest if you are interested in these two lenses; these two lenses produce great quality images. I can't recommend these enough.
Let's take a quick look at prices at the time this post is being written. The GX7 can be had used for €250. No new stocks available as production has stopped. The 12-32 can be bought for €240 and the 35-100 costs only €199. A nice cheap system can be bought then for just under €700. Granted they are NOT pro lenses and are not very fast but very useable in normal lighting conditions. Landscape images donot require an aperture of f1.2. If fast lenses are your thing, look no further than the Panasonic (and Olympus) prime lenses. Small, light and sharp and do not cost an arm and a leg.
Both of those lenes do have OIS and are of the collapible type which makes then even smaller, allowing you take a small and light bag along. Enjoy the following images. Not anything to write home about but gives you an idea of image quality.
One of my favourite images taken with this system.
