need advice.I was shooting with car mount on Gh2 with 12-35 lens,was windy weather and after finishing my 30 min shot,I realize that my lens full of sand an dust,when zooming, was very strange noise and filing that sand is inside.any advise what can I do, possible to clean lens by self.? I bod from ebay,from Japan,and no service in My country...((

I just purchased the lens last week and immediately updated the firmware. Auto focus seems to work fine for me both on GH2 and AF105A. I can't speak to a before/after comparison, however. Fortunately, I saw no evidence of stuttering that has plagued the lens. I took the lens out on a shoot and was very pleased with the results.

Hi 12-35 owners!
Just debating right now whether to pull the trigger on this or not.
Right now I have a set of manual glass for narrative filmmaking: beautiful Rokkors and SLR 12mm to cover wide angle land. But not only one m43 electronic lens (I've had a couple of primes but sold them due to cumbersome focus by wire).
A friend of mine is going to US next week and was thinking about buying this lens as documentary IS all-rounder for my actual GH2 (and possible BMPCC or GH3 in the future).
Cheap 14-45 or waiting for new 14-140 are my other options.
Thoughts? Thanks!

You know I love those Rokkors too (plus my Zeiss C/Ys), but there's nothing really wide from either source. Well, maybe the Schneider Cinegon 10mm C-mount (1" version) for the BMPCC, but that's hard to find.

As long as nobody makes a faster one, the 12-35mm seems to be the best option for docu with it's IS (now that it has been fixed) plus fast and silent AF. With the considerable RS on both the GH2 and BMPCC, we'll need IS. And for a sharp zoom, the bokeh is still nice. I'll go for it as soon as I have sold my 12mm Oly and the 25mm Zeiss C/Y (which is not their best).

That's interesting. So it's not warmer than the Rokkors?

I just tested the SLR Magic 25 and it's considerably more yellow than my Contax C/Y glass.

So I finally got the 12-35 and have been using it on the GH3, it's amazing. The footage is really no more or less "cinematic" than any other lens, it all depends on how you use it. For use on a camera rig, there are obvious hassles (focus by wire, electronic aperture). But the hassle is worth it for essentially 5 great lenses in one for $1k.

It is extremely sharp. I find this is great for video work (events, interviews) and turning down sharpness to -5 works great for narrative work. Of course the sharpness increases the moire factor - just have to shoot smarter. The biggest advantage of the lens sharpness is that Ex. Tele. mode looks a lot better. So in essence, it doubles as a (roughly) 35mm-100mm (kind of, you of course don't get the same lens character).

Cons would be that the zoom isn't all that smooth, I don't do a lot of zooming during shooting, but those who do would be disappointed.

Okay guys - here are some dumb questions. Just got my 12-35 lens and am playing around with it and couldn't find the answer to these questions after searching around:

1) Does this lens produce more moire than other lens?

2) Are there any settings I need to set to use the Power OIS, other than the switch on the lens itself? I thought I read somewhere that there is a setting that can be selected where you pick if you will be panning vs stationary handholding. (I know with tripod, I need to turn switch off.) I ask as I tested a stationary handheld shot with and without the OIS on, and it seemed the same to me in terms of stability/shakiness. Neither shot was super shaky, but there was slight movement in both. Thought I may have missed a setting or something.

3) If I want to shoot with this lens in manual mode, are there any setting I need to select? I've always had my GH2 set up to shoot with fully manual lenses that aren't electronically connected like the 12-35, so just wanted to know if using the 12-35 in manual mode requires selecting/changing any settings.

Thanks in advance.

If you’re really looking for a great zoom lens for the Micro Four Thirds camera system, this is it without question.

http://www.thephoblographer.com/2013/07/04/review-panasonic-12-35mm-f2-8-micro-four-thirds/

@MRfanny

I do not know in detail the technical. However, I do not crush or drop the lens. Maybe, I drew the blank? With this lens, I was doing only the continuous zoom and continuous focal tests. Although it broke once before and I requested repair, possibly it was not repaired completely.

I do not know why the broken. However, as a sample the electronic controlled lens is broken, I've uploaded this.

This lens is under repair now. If it returns from repair, after I will use for a while, I report again. :-)

@vstardust

Is it possible to update lens firmware with hacked GH2

Yes, of course. :-)

@MikeA - can you post a short video showing the OIS behavior that you are describing? What firmware revision for your lens? What shooting parameters (fps, f-stop, ss, ETC, and such)?

Also, you might check out Page 3 of this thread: http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/4610/35-100mm-f2.8-x-lens-topic

There are a couple of movies posted on page 3 of this thread showing OIS behavior of the "big brother" of your lens that also include footage from the 12-35mm lens. Does the behavior of the OIS in your 12-35mm lens look like anything you see in these movies?