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A Killer App for m4/3
This is one of the 3 pro grade lenses for the micro 4/3 system The Panasonic 20mm and, just squeaking into this category, the Panasonic-Leica 45mm are the other two. IMO this is the second most important lens for this system (The most important would be a 300mm F2.8 that would have bird, wildlife, and small format fashion photographers flocking to the m4/3 system). The reason this lens is so important is that the real weakness of the m4/3 system is wide angle lenses. And yet right out of the gate, Panasonic delivers a stunning ultra wide angle 7-14mm constant f4 zoom lens.

If you compare this to the Olympus 4/3 7-14 f4 you will be amazed how feakin small this lens is. You could also compare it to the Nikon 14-24 f2.8. Yes this lens gives up 1 f-stop to the Nikon but my GH1 and 7-14mm are smaller and lighter than either of those other lenses by themselves!!!

Ok so it is small but what is this lens good for. There are four main areas where wide angles excel.

The first is shooting in confined spaces. A good example of this is a wedding photographer shooting the bride getting made up in a small bathroom. Not much space and no other way to get the whole scene.

The second is the huge depth of field relative to distance. If you have a lot of stuff you want to get in focus yet don't have room to back up, then the wide angle is your tool of choice.

The third is wide angle perspective. If you take two objects the same height put them different distance for the camera and put on a telephoto then you get a compression effect and the two objects look the same size. If you now put on a wide angle and fill the lens the same amount with the closer object, that object will now appear much larger than the further away object. This can be used for all sorts of photo tricks. Additionally, if you are taking a group photo and the big boss is a shorter person, you can move him/her closer to the camera, let the wide angle depth of field carry the focus all the way through and now the big boss will seem bigger and more powerful. Also, if you want to give someone a clown nose or head then move close to the nose and shoot off angle. The nose will seem abnormally big. Anyway, you can use this property for many neat effects.

The fourth is wide angle distortion. Have you ever seen those stunning photos of great blue sky and clouds that stretch on forever with a little bit of land. Or stunning shots of the land and sky stretching on forever toward you. These skies or landscapes stretching toward you is a result of edge distortion. Another type of distortion you can see is curing buildings, lines that are not straight, etc. This is probably a combination or barrel distortion and converging verticals.

All of these are signatures of a wide angle lens that will give your photography a fresh and different look than the vast majority of photos.

Pros
Sharp lens
Excellent build quality
Amazingly small and light
Fast focusing
Price
Distortion that gives wide angle look

Cons
Distortion that gives wide angle look (this depends which camp you fall into)
I am really struggling to come up with anything meaningful. This is that good of a lens.

Overall
If you want to bring a new and distinct look to your photography you absolutely must by this outstanding lens.

A No Compromises Compact Ultra Wide
I wanted a high quality, lightweight ultra-wide lens to take hiking in the mountains of Colorado. The Lumix 7-14mm on my Panasonic GF1 replaces my previous UWA, the Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 that I used on my Nikon D300.

Advantages vs Sigma 10-20mmm f4-5.6
* Smaller and lighter
* Constant f4 aperture
* Better build quality
* Integrated lens hood
* Very sharp across the entire frame, even wide open
* Little barrel distortion @7mm.

Disadvantages vs Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6
* Much more expensive
* No filter thread

I occasionally used a circular polarizer with my Sigma to increase color saturation and contrast, but the effect is pretty uneven on ultra wide lenses. The Lumix 7-14mm has very good contrast and color, so I don't really miss the polarizer unless I want to reduce water reflections or glare from foliage.

If you shoot landscapes with a M4/3 camera, you'll love this little gem!

Panasonic 7-14mm Lumix Lens equals Leica quality!
This Panasonic Lumix lens is the 3rd lens I have bought from Amazon and completes my system for G series of Panasonic cameras and lenses. Even though this lens is a little pricey, it is remarkable as to how sharp it is at all f stops and in the zoom ranges. For it's price, it is a bargain in it's range for wide angle zooms and is almost a must for indoor photography. Now I'm looking forward to using it for nature photography using it's range and unique perspective. It along with all the Lumix Lenses are highly recommended!

Very small, very high quality wide angle lens for micro four thirds cameras
I use this with my Olympus PEN E-P2. The image quality is absolutely top notch, and this lens allows a micro four thirds camera to really shine. A 14mm (full frame equivalent) rectilinear wide angle is a wonderful, wonderful tool.

My only quibble is that the aperture only goes to f4. F2.8 would have been nicer, but the lens would have gotten bigger and heavier. Sigh. Images are tack sharp. Like *all* super-wide zooms, there's a bit of chromatic aberration in the corners -- most of which can be cleaned up in Lightroom, et al.

The lens is expensive when you compare it to the other micro four thirds lenses, but a deal when you look at other wide zooms.

I own this lens, and absolutely love it.

Fantastic lens
This is a fantastic lens. It's tiny compared to any other lens that covers these focal lengths. It's extremely sharp, corner to corner, throughout the zoom range. I've been taking a lot of test images with the lens on the panasonic G1, wide open at f4, throughout the zoom range. It is sharp across the frame, at all focal lengths. There is very little distortion, and when using Lightroom to process RAW images, I see no chromatic aberration.

It's pretty amazing and utilizes the potential of the micro 4/3 system. Amazing that you can take images of this quality with such a small camera and lens! Just buy it.

FYI, my background: I have used view cameras extensively for landscapes and travel photography, and more recently the Canon 5D and 5DII and a stellar copy of the Canon 17-40mm f4L lens. This relatively small Panasonic Lens and G1 camera produces, IMHO, images that are as good in many situations, and perhaps better in others than the Canon system. And the Panasonic goes a lot wider than the Canon 17-40mm f4L, providing an equivalent to a 14mm field of view at the wide end, which is phenomenal. Just compare it to the size, weight, and cost of the Nikon 14-24mm lens!