In summary
The Panasonic Lumix S 24-60mm f/2.8 is a fast, wide-angle to short telephoto lens with dust- and splash-resistant construction and features technologies that will suit both photographers and videographers.
The zoom range of this lens makes it a worthwhile choice for landscape and architectural photography, where the wider angles of view will come in handy At the other end of the range, the 70mm focal length will be good for portraiture, aided by the fast maximum aperture, which allows depth-of-field control.
The optical design of the lens, with internal focusing and a structure that suppresses focus breathing make this lens a good choice for videography. In high-contrast scenes, micro-step aperture control enables smooth aperture transitions to prevent sudden exposure changes.
This lens is also quite compact and lightweight for its wide maximum aperture, so it’s quite portable. The light weight and compact size, coupled with its weather-resistant construction will make it ideal for location work.
Full review
Announced on 14 May simultaneously with the Lumix S1 II camera, which we used for this review, the Lumix S 20-60mm f/2.8 lens is positioned between the lighter, slower (and cheaper) Lumix S 24-60mm f/3.5-5.6 and the heavier Lumix S 24-70mm f/2.8 lenses. With its constant f/2.8 maximum aperture, it is relatively compact and affordable for its speed. Compact and lightweight for its speed, this lens will suit both photographers and videographers, thanks to such as fast and precise autofocusing and micro-step aperture control.
Angled view of the Lumix S 20-60mm f/2.8 lens without the supplied end caps and lens hood. (Source: Panasonic.)
The optical design for the Lumix S 20-60mm f/2.8 lens contains 14 elements in 12 groups and includes three aspherical elements plus two ED (extra-low dispersion) elements and one ultra extra-low dispersion (UED) element to address common aberrations and deliver sharpness, smooth bokeh and close-up detail. A fluorine coating on the exposed lens elements repels moisture and dust and makes the lens easy to keep clean.
This diagram shows the positions of the exotic glass elements in the optical design of the Lumix S 20-60mm f/2.8 lens. (Source: Panasonic.)
Autofocusing is driven by a new dual-phase linear motor, a technology that was quietly introduced with Panasonic’s 100mm f/2.8 macro lens to keep it as small and light as possible. This has been augmented in the 20-60mm lens by an optical encoder system that keeps track of the focus group’s position to ensure high-speed, high-precision autofocus performance.
This diagram shows the structure of the dual phase drive, which operates continuously by alternating the current through a two-phase coil and has magnets on both sides of the coil. (Source: Panasonic.)
Manual focus is available throughout the zoom range, making it easy to pull focus between subjects for a more cinematic feel. The focus ring supports both linear and non-linear response modes:
- In non-linear mode, focus speed changes with how quickly the ring is turned, allowing quick, instinctive adjustments.
- In linear mode, focus shifts at a steady, user-defined pace, providing the precision required for repeatable, controlled adjustments.
The new lens the first S-series lens to support control ring assignment. This allows users to assign settings such as aperture control and exposure compensation to the focus ring if they don’t require it for manual focusing. Users who don’t take up this option can customise the focus ring’s rotation direction in manual focus mode. The lens also carries a programmable focus button.
Who’s it For?
The zoom range of this lens will make it a worthwhile choice for landscape and architectural photography, where the wider angles of view will come in handy At the other end of the range, the 70mm focal length will be good for portraiture, aided by the fast maximum aperture, which allows depth-of-field control.
The optical design of the lens, with internal focusing and a structure that suppresses focus breathing make this lens a good choice for videography. In high-contrast scenes, micro-step aperture control enables smooth aperture transitions to prevent sudden exposure changes.
This lens is also quite compact and lightweight for its wide maximum aperture, so it’s quite portable. The light weight and compact size, coupled with its weather-resistant construction will make it ideal for location work.
Build and Ergonomics
Panasonic doesn’t specify the construction materials used in this lens but it’s a safe bet its barrel is made mainly from high-quality engineering plastic on a solid metal base and mount. The lens feels solidly constructed and well designed, despite its relatively light weight. It also has extensive dust and moisture excluding seals through the lens barrel.
This diagram shows the positions of the weather-resistant seals in the lens barrel. (Source: Panasonic.)
The front element is approximately 60 mm in diameter and surrounded by a narrow plastic border that has an inner threading for a 77 filter, which is a common size for Panasonic’s faster lenses. The lens surface is fluorine coated to repel moisture and dust particles. A bayonet mounting for the petal-shaped lens hood surrounds its outer edge.
The focusing ring is located roughly 12 mm behind the front rim of the lens. It’s 16 mm wide and has a 10 mm wide ribbed, rubber-like band around its trailing edge. This ring turns through a full circle when the camera’s power is off but operates smoothly in manual focus mode.
Immediately behind the focusing ring is a fixed, 8 mm wide section of the outer barrel that is indented for easy identification. Behind it is the 27 mm wide zoom ring, which has ribbed, rubber-like cladding covering a 21 mm wide band around its leading edge.
The trailing edge of the ring is stamped with settings for the 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 40mm and 60mm focal lengths, which are aligned with the white marker on the 17 mm wide section of the barrel behind the ring. The programmable focus button and AF/MF switch are located on the left side of the index line, with the lens name and minimum focus distances on the right.
Zooming from 24mm to 60mm extends the inner barrel by 27 mm, without changing its orientation so angle-critical filters can be used without issues. Nor does it change the lens balance, enabling this lens to be used with a gimbal.
The lens barrel slopes inwards for approximately 11 mm to a 4 mm wide section of the barrel that ends in the chromed metal lens mount. Inside the mount are ten gold-plated contacts for passing signals between the lens and the camera body.
The petal-shaped lens hood supplied with the lens has a locking button to prevent it from being accidentally dislodged. It can be reversed on the barrel for transport or storage.
Performance
The review lens comfortably met expectations for the test camera’s 24-megapixel resolution with JPEG files in our Imatest tests and did even better with RW2 raw files, which were converted into 16-bit TIFF format with Adobe Camera Raw. Resolutions in the central area of the frame remained relatively constant across the focal length range but, as expected, dipped significantly near the periphery.
Some edges softening was evident at the widest lens apertures, which is expected with fast lenses. Diffraction began to take effect from about f/8 onwards with a sharp drop between f/16 and f/22, as shown in the graph of our test results below.
Like all modern cameras, the Lumix S1 II camera we used for our tests automatically corrects lateral chromatic aberration by default. So do recent versions of Adobe Camera Raw so in order to evaluate aberrations such as chromatic aberration, vignetting and distortion we had to switch off those we could in the camera and also disable any profile corrections in ACR. This had no effect on chromatic aberration and our Imatest software showed both JPEGs and the TIFFs we obtained from the camera’s raw files to be relatively free of this aberration. We also found no signs of coloured fringing in test shots.
We observed slight vignetting at f/2.8, for the five focal lengths we investigated: 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm and 60mm. Corner darkening was greatest at 24mm and least at 60mm, which is to be expected. Also expected was the reduction in darkening as the lens aperture was stopped down with most visible vignetting disappearing by f/4 with the 24mm focal length and f/3.5 at 60mm.
Rectilinear distortion ranged from obvious barrel distortion at 24mm through to very slight pincushion distortion at 60mm. Switching on the in-camera corrections effectively eliminated both vignetting and distortions and, since most raw file converters will also correct them both by default, neither is a serious issue.
The review lens handled backlit subjects quite well and resisted flaring under most conditions. Sharp18-pointed sunstars were possible at f/22 with all focal length settings. None were associated with noticeable flare artefacts.
The minimum focus distance of 19 cm can be used for close-ups of larger subjects if you can make use of the inherent distortion at 24mm. Close-up shooting is more comfortable at 60mm, where the minimum focusing distance is 33 cm.
As usual, bokeh in wide-aperture shots is influenced by the selected lens aperture as well as the background lighting. With evenly-lit backgrounds, the f/2.8 maximum aperture produced a pleasant degree of blurring in out-of-focus foregrounds and backgrounds, as shown in the Samples section of this review.
Autofocusing performance with the S1 II camera was generally good, thanks largely to the dual linear autofocus motors. We also found the lens had no issues focusing in very low light levels, although very low contrast scenes caused the occasional difficulty in locking-on. Manual focus over-ride was easy in such situations, thanks to the smooth torque and precise adjustments provided by the focus ring.
We encountered no focus breathing issues in the course of our tests and focus pulls were smooth and well damped. Both focus and exposure transitions between one subject and another were equally smooth and subject tracking was as effective as we expected, given the subject detection capabilities in the camera used for our tests.
Conclusion
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SPECS
Picture angle:84 to 40 degrees diagonal
Minimum aperture: f/22
Lens construction: 14 elements in 12 groups (including 3 aspherical. 1 UED and 2 ED elements), fluorine coating on front element
Lens mounts: L-Mount
Diaphragm Blades: 9 (circular aperture)
Weather resistance: Dust- and splash-resistant
Focus drive: Dual Phase Linear Motor
Stabilisation: No; relies on camera IBIS
Minimum focus: 19 cm at 24mm, 33 cm at 60mm
Maximum magnification: 0.30x at 30mm
Filter size: 77 mm
Dimensions (Diameter x L): 84.0 x 99.9 mm
Weight: 544 grams
Standard Accessories: Front and rear caps, lens hood
Distributor: Panasonic Australia
TESTS
Based on JPEG files taken with the Panasonic S1 II camera.
Based on ARW.RAW recorded simultaneously and converted into 16-bit format with Adobe Camera Raw.
SAMPLES
Vignetting at 24mm.
Vignetting at 28mm.
Vignetting at 35mm.
Vignetting at 50mm.
Vignetting at 60mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 24mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 28mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 35mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 50mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 60mm.
24mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/40 second at f/8.
60mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/80 second at f/8.
24mm focal length, ISO 400, 1/10 second at f/9.
60mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/3 second at f/7.1.
Close-up at 24mm focal length, f/2.8, ISO 100, 1/1300 second.
Close-up at 60mm focal length, f/2.8, ISO 100, 1/25 second.
Sunstar at 24mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/10 second at f/22.
Sunstar at 60mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/50 second at f/22.
60mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/10 second at f/5.
27mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/125 second at f/7.1.
35mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/50 second at f/7.1.
60mm focal length; ISO 200, 1/8 second at f/6.3.
24mm focal length, ISO 640, 1/8 second at f/8.
24mm focal length; ISO 3200, 1/6 second at f/6.3.
60mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/10 second at f/6.3.
60mm focal length, ISO 2000, 1/8 second at f/5.6.
24mm focal length, ISO 3200, 1/4 second at f/8.
24mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/40 second at f/5.
39mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/60 second at f/2.8.
60mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/400 second at f/5.6.
Additional image samples can be found with our review of the Panasonic S1 II camera.
Rating
RRP: AU$1899
- Build: 9.0
- Handling: 8.9
- Image quality: 9.0
- Autofocusing: 9.0
- Versatility: 8.9
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