35-100mm f/4-5.6 Lumix G Vario

As can be read in specs above this is a small lens. OK, let's make that tiny. Like it's little brother 12-32mm f3.5-5.6 this lens was primarily designed for the smallest Panasonic MicroFourThirds cameras GM1 and GM5.

A GM1 with both lenses (spanning a very useful 24-200mm range) weighs just 484 grams.

I'm a fan of Panasonic lens design since the days of the "serious compact" LX3. That camera had a fantastic Leica branded 24-60mm f2-2.8 lens.

The 35-100mm lens is very good lens optically. CA is virtually non-existent. No need to stop this one down unless you want to control dof. Center is sharp from wide open and the borders are almost at center level sharpness.

This is not an expensive premium lens, in fact it can be bought cheaply on eBay as a lot of GM1/GM5 sets were taken apart to sell the items separately. I bought mine from a Hong Kong seller for just € 139.

Lens design and coatings are obviously not on premium level but with care during exposure and processing this lens is capable of producing quality images.

The lack of micro-contrast is something that shows this lens limitations. On critical images I add contrast and sharpen with Nik Output Sharpener as this does a better job than Lightroom.

A full set of 35-100mm images can be viewed on my Flickr account Panasonic 35-100mm f4-5.6 images