Can't make that shit up.

Polish (!) Panasonic repair center, said that "during many days of testing" - we found no error in the optical performance of the lens, nor with other cameras.

A was bit stumped.

So, perhaps i should insist on a replacement ? And do optical tests myself, and show them with help of Canon Selphy 1500 photos, the lack of optical performance at various apertures at infinity - compared to other lenses. So, that there is proof.

I'll have to think over my strategy.

To be honest, i don't look forward to fight about this. Doing all the testing. But since i do have that awesome Canon Selphy printer 1500, i can at least show them how bad things are optically. (it is pretty bad, so it is easy to spot !) Plus i can embed information into the photos, as well; what aperture was used, which focal length, and which part in the photo is being referred to.

So, having printing ability in my home, is quite useful to show example of things !

Second observation
(something changed - or is it just wishful thinking ?)

For unknown reasons, the lens *appears* to perform better than i remember. which is a bit strange, to be honest. This is still a highly premature observation - but I find most images to be simply better in sharpness in both at the border, as well in the extreme corners (where it naturally is a bit less defined at wide open aperture ƒ1.7). But it is now better than my older photos for sure !

Overall, there is a difference in sharpness, dependent on whether i focus in the center, or at the border. When focused at the border, the center is unsharp. When focused in the center, - well the border sharpness is so-so (at wide open aperture ƒ1.7). I still feel that the lens isn't up to what it has been originally designed for.

The jury is still out there.

Main photo

In images taken like the one from our living room, you can't tell anything about the issues I have with my Panasonic Leica Zoom lens. Because when you make an image smaller, the image looks sharper. And my room isn't something at "infinity", so you can't really tell. With such images, there are no problems really. at 100% it is a bit fuzzy in the border, but i focused in the middle of the frame, while the border to the left was closer to me - which can result into a slight (natural) blur of course.

My main issue with the Panasonic Leica lens was, that even stopped down to ƒ4.5 - the borders where still unsharp. THAT IS UNEXCEPTABLE for a professional lens of course !

So, again. I'll have to test it more.

Again.