speCamera

The Lumix G Vario 7-14mm F4 ASPH was the third lens Panasonic announced for its fledgling Micro Four Thirds system, back in March 2009. It certainly created a significant buzz on release, with the company taking advantage of the short back focus of the mirrorless mount to deliver a lens whose compact size belies its dramatically wide 114º angle of view and constant F4 maximum aperture. The 7-14mm is far and away the smallest zoom currently available to offer such a wide angle of view; compared to the Olympus equivalent for Four Thirds DSLRs its dimensions are shrunk by at least 20% each way, and it's just 40% of the weight.

Like all other zooms this wide, the 7-14mm F4 features a distinctive design, with a bulbous front element and an integrated hood to protect that large expanse of glass against stray light. The compact barrel houses no fewer than 16 pieces of glass, arranged into 12 groups, and including two aspherical and 4 extra-low dispersion glass elements to combat aberrations. However a side-effect of that large dome of glass at the front is that there's no facility to attach filters to the lens.

The Lumix G Vario 7-14mm F4 ASPH is small and impressively spec'ed, but this does come at an eye-watering price: its $1000 tag is significantly higher than any APS-C wide zoom, and not so far off the Nikon 14-24mm F2.8, which not only covers a full frame sensor but is also a stop faster. It's also a lot more than Olympus's Micro Four Thirds wideangle - the tiny M Zuiko Digital 9-18mm F4-5.6 - which we praised for its combination of decent optics and remarkable compactness. So what extra does the Panasonic offer that might tempt you to spend all that money?