I've seen the shorter problem with user fonts. Specially Italics. It doesn't always rending them fully on certain letters. I sometimes have to guess what the letter is suppose to be.
I read at 3x so I don't notice them being wider.
I'm currently using these custom fonts.
Gentium Book Basic
Fontin Sans
Thesis Sans
Arial Narrow
Helvetica Neue
Almost all have rendering issues with Italics on long letter such as t,f,y...etc