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12-35mm F2.8 Panasonic lens topic
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  • @mee yes I am in Tokyo, might be a good idea to go to Akihabara directly to Panasonic office. My lens is with Bic Camera.

    @ge0rge thanks for the video, I agree with valpopando that I do not see any jitter in there.

    I have just finished the testing with my new copy of the lens, here are the results I obtained with the new 12-35mm lens (serial XT3B).

    • 12-35mm lens at 35mm with OIS OFF -> jitter still visible, clearly visible if I take the video with the digital zoom 4X enabled, not much visible at 2X digital zoom enabled and not visible when digital zoom disabled. The linked video is taken at 4X digital zoom.

    • 12-35mm lens at 35mm with OIS ON -> jitter is gone! Tried with digital zoom 2X/4X and without, I never see any jitter. With my old lens I could see the jitter regardless of the OIS setting OFF or ON. The linked video is taken at 4X digital zoom.

    As a reference I tried again with my 35-100mm lens at 35mm as well, there is NO jitter visible in any test I have done (OIS ON/OFF). Videos not uploaded.

    Now although this is an improvement compared with my previous situation, I still don't get why with OIS OFF I see the jitter, especially because the 35-100mm lens performs well regardless of the OIS setting.

    Anyway my original lens is still with Panasonic, so I am still waiting to hear from them what the problem is

  • To be precise I would like to mention that the lens I took to the dealer has been with them for weeks, even though they told me that they would send it right away to Panasonic Japan they never did so. So the story about "normal functioning" of the lens does not come from Panasonic, it comes from the dealer itself (Bic Camera, if you know it). Eventually they sent the lens to Panasonic Japan, together with the videos I took that show the issue, so hopefully they will get to the root cause of this problem

  • @Nakame78 that's a good news Mate !! after these latest developments, Yesterday I've called Panasonic Italian assistance , and they allowed Me to make another change , and as you did, I asked for a XT3 serial. So finger crossed , and I will keep informed as soon as I will receive replaced.

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev thanks for adding a new review

  • Hi :-)

    I also noticed this problem today. Soon, I also ask Panasonic. Although I am not reading all the past comments, I think that AF is doing mischief.

  • @bkmcwd welcome in the "Unlucky 12-35mm team" , But I guess is a OIS issues

  • @valpopando

    "Unlucky 12-35mm team"

    Yes sure. ;)

    In my experience, it is thought to me that it is shaking only while AF is working. Although ON and OFF of OIS are not related and it happens, it does not occur, while it is in focus.

  • Try with AF off? If i get time tonight, I'll try.

  • @bkmcwd Wait a moment , if it happen only while AF is focusing maybe there is nothing to be worried . Is better if You check out our previuos posts and take a look at videos tests , trying to follow how to perform the test. because in our cases the shaking issue is always presents , not only during AF

  • In all my tests AF was always on, just for your reference. To me this is clearly something with the OIS, anyway I just hope Panasonic can fix it via a firmware update

  • @valpopando

    OK, I will check out them when I have time.

    At least, there is no issue in my using other Panny lenses. And the issue which I experienced seems to be the same as it in your videos. Furthermore, I also make Panasonic investigate it. :-)

  • Did another small test regarding AF. Angle -45 degrees. Switched Off continuous AF. Prefocused once and set manual focusing mode. Made two clips OIS ON and OFF. Exactly same as with focusing ON. OIS does not matter. You say you don't see the jitter in my video but it is definitely there at 300% about one pixel. No jitter at 15 and 0 degrees.

    Personally, I don't see any problem here. If I had the jitter at smaller angles or if it was noticable at 100%, I would consider it as an issue.

    Today I did a thorough long exposure still shots test regarding possible blur. I confirm there is no jitter related issue at all. I did test series at angles -45, -15, 0, +15, +45 on tripod. In every serie I used manual focus: prefocused before the first shot and locked the focus in MF. In every shot the shutter was released by 10 sec. timer. One serie had 8 shots, all combinations of next:

    • Mechanical/Electronic shutter (MS/ES)
    • Short/Long exposure (short was 1/80 and long was 1 second)
    • OIS On/Off

    Long/short exposure shots are equal in sharpness at any angle or OIS state. I have noticed a slight tendency for blurring while using MS comparing to corresponding ES shot. Nothing to worry about at all. It is understandable and less than a pixel in 16MP shot.

    As a conclusion I would say I'm happy with my lens copy regarding mentioned jitter issue. The thing that disappointed me a bit is a noticable vignetting, especially at the wide end and open apperture.

    Btw, I did also some 15 seconds shots at ISO 200, horizontal (zero degrees) and very dim light so that colours are almost indistinguishable for naked eye. The result is stunning: bright natural colours as in day light and the shots are razor sharp.

  • Even if we agree that the image is perfectly acceptable/fine (which I do for my usage), one of my concerns is that this constant movement of the lens, even with OIS off, has to be a symptom of a problem that causes unnecessary consumption/waste of battery power when we use that lens. I am of course not saying that battery capacity is a problem as it is - we all know it is excellent - but maybe it could be even more so? :)

  • Dear Mates I would like to share my happiness !! cause finally I got my last copy of 12/35mm replaced , and no jitter issues at all ! ( I did all test in manual and AF , OIS on and OFF , but still I didn't yet a test at different angles degrees ) I can't believe after 6 months , between 3 lenses replacements , tests , experiments and frustrations , now I can really enjoy the quality of this lens. The serial is XT2 . I would like to say thank to those who have contributed to make this known in all forums , and discussion about , and that helped us get in contact with the Panasonic World assistance. and Of course PV forum too. I want to say thank also to my Italian Panasonic Assistance ( Marraghini AREZZO Italy) for the professionalism and attention that they had to solve my problem . Still the fact that Panasonic has no yet explained the reason why !

  • I also received a replacement lens (SN: XT2...) and this lens has no jitter.

  • Would be good to know what they have done on the lens though to fix it. I got a replacement lens but still with the issue, although with OIS ON it seems to work well now. I am still hoping for a firmware issue..

  • @Nakame78 That's really strange ??? ,I don't understand why in your lens issue stills with OIS off !!

    anyway they does not fixed my old lens , they just sent me a new one that works well , and as I said above , panasonic assistance doesn't give me any explanation about this , but at this point PANSONIC can not ignore it, because they will be going back a lot of defective lenses.

  • I made a test of the warp stabilizer tool in CS6 to fix the jitter. I don't have the lens myself yet, so I used Nakame78's footage - I hope that's ok, otherwise let me know and I'll delete the video! Here's the test:

    Password: jitter

    EDIT: I tried on a few other samples and it works very well. So if you have CS6 and a 'bad' lens, you can still enjoy jitter free footage. But of course Panasonic should fix this and replace the affected lenses.

  • @Madmanden Thank you for the effort and help , but the stabilization requires waste of time in rendering and loss of IQ cause it makes a small crop of frame area , and this is not fair for someone who has spent 1200 bucks for this lens . So for me, the best choice is always to request the replacement as long as do not get the right copy .

  • @valpopando Which letter in the serial number of your last lens after XT2?

  • Hi guys,

    My 12-35 lens has returned from repair. The contents of repair were "OIS exchange." For the moment, on the lens, I cannot recognize a jitter issue. I am going to look at a situation for a while.

    BTW, the serial number of my lens is XT2FB.

  • @bkmcwd I'm happy for you mate.