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Panasonic Lumix G 30mm f/2.8 ASPH Mega OIS macro - Review / Test |
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Lens Reviews -
(Micro-)Four-Thirds
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Page 1 of 3
Review by Klaus Schroiff, published August 2016
Introduction
The Panasonic Lumix G 30mm f/2.8 ASPH Mega OIS macro is the third AF macro lens for the micro-four-thirds system. At 30mm it is currently the widest macro option with a field of view equivalent to "60mm" on full format cameras. Thus it behaves like a moderate tele macro lens. Such lenses are usually not the first choice among enthusiasts because of the minimum working distance is very close to your main subject. Small critters tend to get rather nervous ... who wouldn't at just 2cm or so? A max. aperture of f/2.8 may also be fast by zoom standards but it's not overly exciting when compared to -say- a 25mm f/1.4. On the positive side, it is the most affordable of the MFT macro gang at around 300US$/EUR.
The build quality of the Lumix lens is pretty good. The body is, surprisingly, made of metal based on a metal mount. The focus ring operates smoothly. The physical length remains constant throughout the focus range. The lens features an optical image stabilizer (Mega OIS) which should give you an equivalent gain of 2.5-3 f-stops. Unfortunately you have to fiddle around in the camera menu to (de-)activate it - there's no dedicated switch for this on the lens itself. The OIS is active on Panasonic cameras only. On Olympus cameras you have to rely on the camera's stabilizer (which works nicely anyway). A cost cutting measure is the lack of a supplied lens hood.
Macro lenses are usually not terribly fast when it comes to auto-focusing but the Lumix 30mm f/2.8 does actually a pretty good job here. Of course, it takes a while to focus throughout the focus range but as long as you stay at conventional distances it operates quite fast and essentially noiseless. A focus limiter is not provided unfortunately. Manual focusing works "by wire" thus you trigger the AF motor by turning the focus ring.
| Specifications |
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| Equiv. focal length | "60mm" (full format equivalent) |
| Equiv. aperture | f/5.6 (full format equivalent in terms of depth-of-field) |
| Optical construction | 9 elements in 9 groups inc 1x aspherical element |
| Number of aperture blades | 7 (circular) |
| min. focus distance | 0.105m (1:1) |
| Dimensions (L x W) | 63.5x58.8mm |
| Weight | 180g |
| Filter size | 46mm |
| Hood | - |
| Other features | macro, image stabilizer |
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