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Panasonic LUMIX G X Vario PZ 14-42mm Pancake/Zoom Tip

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Jan 17, 2019
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Arguably, can an inexpensive zoom rival prime lenses, nope, but they do have a place in the arsenal of a photographer and suspect videographers as well. Having recently acquired the Panasonic 14-42 zoom/aka pancake model, that can zoom via the Go 4 app on my Inspire 2, I was a bit daunted by balancing rings and came up with a this idea, where the solution is not only a balancing ring, but also a lens hood. This solution is only good for lightweight lenses where the gimbal must be FRONT-LOADED. These are filter rings that build up on one another. Use the 37 mm ring and keep adding until the lens is balanced on the gimbal. BTW, the lens does a decent job and the power zoom in the app makes it a neat acquisition.
 

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I have been considering purchasing that lens, but never actually saw any zooming footage from that lens. Do you have any you can share?
Tell what you’d like to see and I can try to accommodate you. I’d classify it as a good utility lens where you don’t want to bring all your primes. Then again consider the X5S as a camera, decent but not up to snuff with Nikons, Canons, or Sony’s, but good enuf for the amateur photographer and quite honestly, I like its versatility.also, google the lens and you’ll find reviews tho most on point and shoot cameras. The zoom feature on go 4 is priceless!
 
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You appear to have way too much weight on the front of that! Did you balance it with the lens closed?

I take of the rear plastic ring and achieve balance with the small & light hood that came with the lens or a single ND filter. No need to stack that many filters/rings!
 
To help balance the Panasonic 14-42 zoom I bought a 37mm to 46mm stepping up ring for a few £'s from ebay and added the 46mm balancing ring from the DJI 15mm kit lens plus a 46mm UV filter and it balanced about half zoomed. The 46mm rings don't effect the zooming action. Different amounts of zoom don't seem to upset the balance. (testing it on the ground with the drone switched off)
With the stepping ring I can also use the 46mm ND filters that fit the 15mm kit lens.
My view of the quality o the glass based on initial trials suggest it is not a very good lens. No zoom is ever going to match a good prime lens.
 

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