Evening all. My "new" Panasonic eventually turned up! My previous thread http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=194811

It's a Panasonic GF3. I'm now looking for a decent zoom lens. Has anyone one to recommend? I don't have a good budget again after a really expensive month!

I know it doesn't seem to work like this but I understand 30x zoom, but I'm a little confused by all the other measurements and sizes?!

Thanks all

The obvious choice is the Panasonic 45-150mm for around £175. The next is the 45-200mm for £225. Best UK prices here - http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/Panasonic/Panasonic-G-System

The 30x zoom is only a marketing tool and means diddly squat. For example I can have a camera with a 25-300mm lens whch is a 12x zoom (divide the two numbers) and a 30-300mm which is 10x zoom but they will have the same field of view at the long end of the zoom I.e. 300mm.

In general you should be comparing to the 35mm film/fullframe sensor equivalent focal length. In this case 300mm is a good benchmark and ok for motorsports or possibly airshows (at the other end 24mm is good for landscapes). The gf3 has a micro 4/3" sensor with a crop factor of 2. So to get the 35mm equivalent, double the focal length printed on the lens - so you should be looking for 150 to 200mm on the lens at the long end or 14m ish at the short end. There is an explanation here. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_sensor_format

Good review sites are ephotozine, photozone.de and dpreview, these should give you a review of the lenses above.

Hope this helps.

Edit - do you have a lens already (14-42mm?)?

[Edited on 25/11/14 by Ugg10]

30X zoom nonsense is for the toy cameras. The physics of optics means that decent quality of zoom lenses will be approx 4x max. and even then it is a compromise. Its like having a sports car that is good off road .

For the panasonic, there are two 'workhorse' lenses, 14-45 mm and 45-200 mm. They are reasonably priced typically £ 150 ish on ebay, possibly the shorter zoom being less than that and give very good results.

The mk2 version of the 14-45 mm is slightly smaller anf costs a bit more. Quality otics will more, sometimes many timrs the price of the camera body itself.

The 14-45 mm is a good starter lens, go and take photos to see how it limits you, then decide what lens(es) suit you, be it orime or another zoom.

[Edited on 25/11/14 by 02GF74]

What's not been mentioned here is fStop however with that camera system the lenses are unlikely to be produced better than f 4.5
If there is a choice and you can afford it the lower f stop number is prefered
If there is little choice an f stop that is consistent at both ends of the zoom range is the next best option i.e. f4.5 @ 30mm and 200mm
Wider f stops are faster (brighter, more light allowed in wide open apature) there for for any given light condition and zoom length a faster shutter speed can be used, useful for motor sport ( faster shutter speed less blur) or for seperating the subject from the background ( reduced depth of field/ focus depth)
Wider fStop lenses tend to be bigger, heavier and more expensive, that is the trade off.

Thanks everyone!

Ugg....I do! It came with a 14-42.

I think the 45 to 200 sounds just like what I'm imagining but I'll crack on with my 42 before I rush out and buy another!

Thanks again