Panasonic LUMIX G VARIO 45-150mm F4.0-5.6 ASPH Mirrorless Camera Lens with Optical Stabilizer, Micro Four Thirds Mount, H-FS45150AK (USA Black)

So far, so good. Very sharp and great quality overall. I'm using it with an olympus body and it works perfectly. I'm very happy with the purchase.

This lens is a perfect match for the G series cameras (I use it with a Panny G1), though it can be used with any m4/3 camera, and is a superb value. It doesn't get any better than this - a stabilized, high quality 45-200mm zoom for less than 300 dollars? You bet! Sure the aperture is f/4.0-5.6, but that's pretty typical for a low cost zoom. What's not so typical is the superb image quality, great stabilization, and quality build. It gives you good coverage at the long end up to a nice 400mm equivalent, perfect for wildlife and nature photography. The short end is a nice portrait length and you can easily go tight when you need to. It's easy to handle and fairly smooth in operation. It's mostly all been covered in the other reviews here, so I won't repeat all that, but this is a superb value and a great lens. I matched this up with the great Panasonic 14-45mm zoom to cover the short end and the highly regarded panny 20mm f/1.7 pancake prime (for best available light close-in shooting) together with my G1 and really feel like I have it covered. Possibly the nicest, lightest, most compact kit I've ever assembled (not to mention low cost as well). I am able to get some great hand-held shots and overall sharpness is very good. The OIS stabilization seems to work very well and this is definitely the easiest lens I have ever used hand-held at the full 200mm (400mm). 2012-02-19 Update: See the comments for some good info (thanks, Les!) on the "extended zoom" features -- hand-held shots at 800mm - wow! ;) 2012-04-29 Update: Still loving this lens. Wonderfully useful range, if I only take one lens, this is often my choice, though the 14-45mm is pretty handy as well. The 20mm is also very nice, but, obviously, for more specific uses. (If you're in situations where you can "zoom with your feet" it's great. Also wonderful in low light.) 2012-07-07 Update: I love this lens! I get an impressively high percentage of good shots with this lens. The quality is superb and it is a joy to shoot with. When you shoot with a fine lens, it really does make a difference. For the price asked, this one is hard to beat.

So where do I start?! This lens is absolutely amazing to say the least!!! I’m a freelance videographer/filmmaker, but I’ve been playing around with still photos as of late to broaden my skill set. This lens is absolutely fantastic in so many ways. The size and weight are both great. I love the compact form factor hence the reason I’m using the micro 4/3 system. The build quality is pretty good given the fact it’s a plastic lens. It doesn’t feel flimsy. Some reviews claim you can’t attach filters to the lens but you can. You Just have to remove the cosmetic ring. The image quality is super crisp, especially when you’re in good lighting. 25mm (50mm full frame equivalent) is a great focal length and is a must have for any camera owner. The fact it’s a prime lens is great because it forces you to move your camera and be more creative with your shots vs just zooming. This lens has a VERY close focusing distance! It’s nearly macro lens close! In one of the attached photos I literally had my camera sitting on my desk about 7 inches from the power brick I photographed. In that same photo you can also see how shallow the depth of field gets wide open at f1.7! Not to mention the f1.7 aperture comes in handy in low light situations! This is a VERSATILE lens that I HIGHLY recommend! If you don’t have a camera and you’re looking to purchase one. I suggest skipping the kit lens and buy the body only. Let this be your first lens!!! Trust me you won’t regret it! You can’t get that bokeh (blurry back ground) with the kit lenses. The kit lenses aren’t fast enough (have low enough apertures). All images and the video attached were all taken using the LUMIX GH4 & 25mm f1.7 lens IG: AirwayAmmz

This is an inexpensive mass market lens targeting casual photographers looking for something more versatile than a P&S but less expensive than a 1st tier major manufacture's medium to long telephoto zoom. Judged as such it is a pretty nice lens capable of producing some very nice photographs as evidenced by user contributions. It is conveniently small, focuses fast and does a pretty good job focusing in low light situations. It's basic design is attractive but its general build quality belies its modest pricing. It has only modest close up capabilities and is not suitable for macro work. As I recall there is about a 3 or 3.5ft minimum focusing distance which is fine for blossoms, insects or other relatively large "small items" but using it for close up work can be a bit frustrating especially at maximum zoom and stopped down a little. To Panasonic's credit they do not promote it as a macro lens. Despite some reviewers questioning the efficiency of the OIS capabilities, my personal experience is that it works very well *with the potential* of producing sharp hand held shots down to 1/10th of a second at full zoom, a feat that I would not have believed was possible but have meta-data to confirm. (Photo w/notes attached to lens main page) It's small size and general competency make it an ideal component of an *relatively* inexpensive but capable travel or walk around kit when paired with a 14-45mm Lumix zoom and a Panasonic G Series M4/3 camera. It seems to me that the Panasonic "kit lenses" represent some of the better performing budget minded lenses available and it would appear that most photographers in its target market would be very pleased with a non-defective copy of this lens. Why some enthusiast, purist or pro wannabes would be first attracted to buy and subsequently apply unrealistic performance expectations to an under $300 zoom, (I got mine for $250) and dismiss the lens as a poor performer puzzles me. Those individuals would be better advised to look at some of the remainder of the Lumix lens line bearing the Leica badge. As it stands, The 45-200 appears to be a bargain when price/performance is a determining factor.

After fiddling around with my excellent Panasonic 20mm 1.7 lens and GF-1, I felt that I wanted a zoom lens, especially since I like to capture nature. There's not many zoom lenses that is supported for the micro four-thirds format, the price was good, and I heard good things about this lens, so I grabbed it. Image quality: it handles pretty well from the 90mm-400mm range (adjusted for 35mm equivalent). With the right aperture setting, it has beautiful bokeh and the image quality is pretty good, though I can see this lens upstaged by more pricey lenses. Auto-focus: This is one of the more disappointing areas of this lens. From the distance, it does okay on medium to larger sized objects, but as the object gets smaller the more this lens struggle to focus, and it gets worse if it is a moving object. Unfortunately, even if you are using manual focus, I found the focus-by-wire system used on Panasonic micro four third lens to be quite frustrating, as it is quite easy to slip in and out of focus at the slightest touch, and when you are zoomed in and trying to focus, you really don't get a feel of whether you are moving to the right focus range. I am not sure capturing fast moving objects at the distance from out of focus would work well. Aperture: It starts from 4.0, and while it is not unreasonable for a zoom lens, it is a bit tough for me to shoot from ISO of 400 and up even on a bright sunny day. The noise at 400 is not so bad, and it is hard to expect a faster lens at the price range. Stabilization: This is one area Panasonic loses to Olympus is that they chose the lens stabilization option, instead of the body stabilization option. With my GF-1, this lens is much bigger and heavier than my camera- easily twice the size and weight of the camera. There is a certain reason for most dSLRs to have that heft, and that is for image stabilization. Not sure how this lens would fare with heavier cameras like G2 and GH1, but for the GF-1, the camera/lens balance is definitely not good. Build quality: It's okay. Doesn't exactly feel robust in your hands, but it doesn't feel like it's going to break once you drop it. Still, I'd be quite careful with this lens. Overall: This is a great zoom lens for anyone starting out with the GF-1. The 400mm zoom can add some extra length, which makes it that more fun for outdoor photography. However, I feel that this lens in general is a cheaper one even compared to the 20mm lens. I would say this is about a kit lens quality. Still, a steal at this price point, but there will be some little disappointments.

Wow, I’m really impressed with the Panasonic LUMIX G VARIO 45-150mm F4.0-5.6 ASPH lens! As a photography enthusiast, I love how versatile this lens is. The zoom range is perfect for capturing everything from distant landscapes to candid shots at events. The optical stabilization is a huge plus — I’ve taken some handheld shots at slower shutter speeds, and they come out crisp and clear. The build quality feels solid, and since it’s designed for Micro Four Thirds mount, it fits perfectly on my mirrorless camera. The image quality is sharp, and the autofocus is quick and smooth, making it super easy to get those perfect shots. Plus, the compact size makes it easy to carry around, which is great for travel and everyday photography. Overall, a fantastic lens that offers great value and performance!

Panasonic apparently do not believe in catchy names for their lenses. But it does at least tell you exactly what you're getting. Since this is a micro four thirds lens you're looking at a zoom of 90mm to 400mm on the standard 35mm scale. That's a pretty good range and certainly brings things much closer to you. I got the chance to really put this lens through its paces during my Disney World trip. I was regularly switching between this and my standard 14-45 kit lens. Obviously it was great in the animal kingdom for getting really close to animals, but it also works rather well for parades when your view angles are somewhat limited due to the crowds. You can also take unposed shots without shoving your camera in people's faces. I got pretty good at doing on the fly swapping of the two lenses and it's certainly very practical to have them both handy even on long outings like that. Of course like any zoom lens it does weigh quite a bit more than the smaller lenses and inevitably it makes the camera front heavy. Since it's a micro 4/3rds it's not really that heavy in comparison to mirror lenses, but this lens easily weighs more than the camera it's attached to. That said, it's light enough that you absolutely can handhold and shoot even at relatively slow shutter speeds. I don't know if I would go much below 1/50th at full zoom if I wanted to be sure of getting a shot though. As far as shot quality is concerned there's nothing but good things to say. Images come out sharp and I haven't noticed any distortions or fringing. It may be a budget price, but it's a quality lens. If you're looking for a zoom lens for your micro four thirds camera this is the one you want.

Having finally sold the last of my Nikon digital (and film) gear, and replaced it with M-4/3 bodies and lenses, I needed one last lens to complete my kit: A telephoto. Panasonic makes several telephotos for the M4/3 system, of which this is the cheapest, and I was concerned as to whether it was good enough to produce the level of quality I was looking for. Some reviewers have complained about soft images at certain focal lengths, and if that was true, I figured I'd better bite the bullet and splurge on the newer 45-175, which has been getting excellent reviews and is a good deal more compact to boot. But then I saw some references to updated versions of the 45-200 that fixed what amounted to a software problem that resulted in inaccurate focussing at some parts of the lens's zoom range. I decided to go ahead and buy the 45-200. I've been doing test shots with the lens since it arrived, and I think it's safe to say that any problems with focusing or unsharp images have been fixed. Hand-held results at full 200mm zoom, with the stabilization turned on, show good sharpness throughout on images taken from 50 feet away. Enlarging up small segments of those images and comparing those taken with and without IS turned on show a significant difference. I'm impressed. I'm also impressed at how fast, and how quietly this lens focuses, especially when compared to the autofocus Nikon G lenses used on my D70 and D80. There's no hesitation or hunting. Push the shutter release lightly and boom, you're in focus. Some reviewers have commended on the relative bulk of this lens in comparison to the 45-150 and 45-175 lenses, and while it is somewhat bigger, it's still very manageable. Cup your left hand under the lens, grasp the camera with your right (for right handers) and it's a very comfortable package- again, comparing this to my old Nikon setup, it's much smaller and lighter than the D70 or D80 with the standard 17-70 zoom. Another nice feature of this lens is the included light shade, which can be stored in reveres position right on the lens, much like my old 105/2.5 and 135/3.5 Nikkors. It takes up very little space in my camera bag (currently a Lowepro Stealth Reporter D200 AW Camera Bag ) and does a great job at preventing flare. The included lens bag protects somewhat against damage but I'm keeping mine in a neoprene lens bag that provides a bit more protection. In short, then, a versatile telephoto at an attractive price. Combined with the standard 17-45mm zoom it should cover 99% of all your needs with a M34 camera.