Panasonic 45-200mm f/4.0-5.6 Lumix G Vario MEGA OIS Zoom Micro Four Thirds Lens for Panasonic and Olympus Micro Four Thirds Cameras

I have five lenses for my G1, but this is my favorite. Overall, it's quite sharp and produces images with an excellent feel for them, especially for such a relatively low price.

Initial test reports indicated noticeable softness at 160-200mm, but this seems to have been fixed. One possibility is that the latest firmware can be improved auto focus at long focal lengths. This has not been verified by Panasonic, but many owners of new or updated copies of the lens routinely get sharper pictures at 200mm than the earlier test reports suggest, then it seems to be the best bet currently.

It is important to have realistic expectations for long lenses. If you have never shot with a really long lens on an SLR, it's easy to assume that such a cute little lens will be just as easy to keep as her 14-45mm fire mate. It is not.

At 200mm, it has the same long range and very narrow angle of view as a 400mm lens on a full frame 35mm. I still have one of them from my film days and it is 13 inches long, heavy and almost impossible to hand hold! This Panasonic lens at 200mm to the same laws of physics and optics, as the old 400mm bazookas, but there is so much smaller and lighter.

The optical image stabilization is good, so you can hand hold it in good light, but you should be well braced and use good technique, and there is no point in even trying to leave to keep it on 200mm at very low shutter speeds. (When I shoot at 200mm, I increase the ISO if necessary to make sure my shutter speed is 1 / 125, and I prefer 1 / 250 or faster.)

If you have never fired a long telephoto lens before you consider using a tripod, the results turn OIS off and touch-up painting autofocus manually to nail the exact part of the image you want to be the sharpest. Either that or try to get closer to your subject - sharp handheld pictures at 100-150mm is much easier to get.

In short, this lens is an exceptional value and zoom range is great for a wide range of subjects, from portraits to wildlife. If you treat it with respect in the long end, you will get many good shots with it.