Panasonic Lumix G X VARIO 12-35mm f/2.8

Panasonic Lumix G X VARIO 12-35mm f/2.8 Performance

At 12mm and f/2.8 sharpness in the centre of the frame is already approaching excellent levels, and the clarity towards the edges of the frame is fairly good. Stopping down to f/4 results in outstanding sharpness in the centre of the frame, and good sharpness towards the edges.

At 23mm, overall sharpness increases a little, with outstanding sharpness being recorded in the centre at maximum aperture and good sharpness towards the edges of the frame. Again, stopping down to f/4 results in an increase in centre sharpness, but does little to improve sharpness towards the edges, which remains good.

Finally at 35mm, sharpness across the frame increases again, although clarity in the centre doesn't reach the lofty heights it did at shorter focal lengths. Even so, sharpness is excellent in the centre of the frame between f/2.8 and f//5.6 and resolution is very good towards the edges at these apertures too.

MTF@12mm

MTF@23mm

MTF@35mm

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.

Chromatic aberrations are kept under control well throughout the zoom range, only rising slightly at 12mm and f/22. This setting is affected strongly by diffraction, so is probably best avoided anyway.

CA@12mm

CA@23mm

CA@35mm

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 of the frame is reasonably well controlled for a wide aperture lens. At 12mm the corners are 1.37 stops darker than the image centre and at 35mm the corners are 1.27 stops darker. Stopping down to f/5.6 results in visually uniform illumination throughout the zoom range.

Distortion is well controlled at either end of the zoom range with only 0.543% barrel and 0.483% pincushion distortion detected by Imatest at 12mm and 35mm respectively. The distortion pattern is uniform across the frame, so any curvature is relatively straightforward to correct in image editing software afterwards if required.

No issues with flare were encountered during testing. The Nano Surface Coatings applied to this lens help to keep contrast high, even when shooting into the light. A petal shaped hood comes supplied with the lens, which does a decent job of protecting the front element from extraneous light that may cause issues.

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