Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-200mm f/4.0-5.6

Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-200mm f/4.0-5.6 Performance

Sharpness in the centre of the image area at f/4 is already very good, with the clarity towards the edges of the frame falling slightly behind. Stopping down the lens improves sharpness across the frame with peak clarity being attained at f/8.

Zooming to 75mm improves overall clarity, with excellent sharpness levels being recorded by Imatest at maximum aperture in the centre of the image area and very good sharpness towards the edges of the frame. The resolution of the lens doesn't change much with stopping down as far as f/8, where it remains excellent in the centre and very good towards the edges of the frame.

Finally, at 200mm, overall sharpness is reduced somewhat, with the clarity recorded just exceeding good levels in the centre and only being fairly good towards the edges. Stopping down improves sharpness towards the edges until f/11, but it never quite reaches good levels of clarity.

Resolution at 45mm		Resolution at 75mm
Resolution at 200mm		How to read our charts The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column. The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple. For this review, the lens was tested on a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 using Imatest.

Levels of chromatic aberrations hover around the borderline of acceptable throughout the zoom range towards the edges of the frame. CA levels peak at 75mm and maximum aperture, with fringing here exceeding one pixel width. This may start to become visible in images with high contrast areas towards the edges of the frame, especially in large prints, or harsh crops.

Chromatic aberration @ 45mm		Chromatic aberration @ 75mm
Chromatic aberration @ 200mm		How to read our charts Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software. Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. For this review, the lens was tested on a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 using Imatest.

Falloff of illumination towards the corners is reasonable, with the corners being 1.32 stops darker than the image centre at 45mm, and 1.44 stops darker at 200mm. Visually uniform illumination is achieved with the lens stopped down by two stops form maximum aperture throughout the zoom range.

Distortion is extremely well controlled, with Imatest only recording 0.227% barrel distortion at 45mm and 0.153% pincushion at 200mm. These levels are so low they will be virtually imperceptible in most images. If absolutely straight lines are paramount, then what little distortion is there should be relatively straightforward to correct, as the distortion pattern is uniform across the frame.

A deep circular hood is supplied as standard, which does an excellent job of shielding the front element from extraneous light that may cause a loss of contrast, or flare. Even when shooting into the light, contrast levels hold up well, only being reduced slightly at 200mm and maximum aperture.

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