Having tweaked the random camera generator to give equal weighting to my Panasonic cameras compared with their Sony counterparts, the Panasonic G9 was paired with the Lumix G Vario 12-32 F/3.5-5.6. This diminutive lens, the equivalent of a 24-64 on a full frame lens, came bundled with my GX9 purchase late last year, its price approximately £130 when you factor in the cost of the camera and lens compared with if I had just bought a camera in comparable condition sans lens.

Weighing just 70g and barely the length of my thumb, this tiny zoom lens looks almost comically small on the G9 which despite its micro 4/3s moniker is more or less the same size as a regular full frame camera. It look far more at home on the GX9, but works perfectly well on the G9. Indeed the superior AF performance on the G9 means that the lens autofocuses confidently and quickly. This is just as well as the lens is so small it doesn’t feature a manual focusing ring (although manual focusing is possible via controls on the camera).

This walk was done a couple of weeks ago now when I was working nights and done in the mid afternoon while trying to stay awake. I was pretty tired, so much so, that I forgot that I took these pictures with the intention of writing about them. I stayed local, taking in a part of the Manthorpe Estate I hadn’t visited before and revisiting the new Manthorpe build to see how it was developing some months after I had last visited. After a winter as dreary and as wet as one can remember, it made a pleasant change to head out on a moderately mild early spring afternoon with the skies, for the most part, blue, and the early blossoms and daffodils making a welcome appearance.

Using the lens on this walk confirmed what I had experienced the first time I used it – sharpness and resolution is excellent, and the colours are very pleasant, although once again I did shoot in black and white and converted the raw files when desired. The lens being f/3.5-f5.6 means that for most shooting, pretty much everything is going to be in focus, which is a positive or a negative depending on what you have in mind to shoot. As some examples show though if you shoot close to your subject it is possible to have some pleasantly rendered out of focus backgrounds.

This is definitely a lens that will see use again, although it is more likely to be paired with the GX9 as a street photography lens where its reach and diminutive size would be just about perfect. With the G9 I would be more inclined to use the 12-60mm lens that is a little larger but benefits from being weather sealed as well as offering double the full frame equivalent range.

Like the Olympus 45mm f/1.8 it is a lens that makes you smile when you use it, wondering how such good images can come from something so small and why we so readily accept using far larger, heavier lenses on full frame and APSC cameras that produce very similar (sometimes worse) results.

Final conclusion: This lens comes recommended!