In summary
As one of the most versatile lenses available for cameras that use the L-mount, the Lumix S 28-200mm f/4-7.1 Macro O.I.S lens is likely to be popular with travellers, who will appreciate its compact size and light weight.
As well as offering better-than-average close focusing, this lens will be ideal for photographing everything from portraits to landscapes and cityscapes as well as sports and wildlife. It can also be used for close-ups of flowers and insects and its built-in stabilisation will allow users to work in low light levels.
Relative immunity to camera shake and focus breathing make this lens equally useful for shooting video and its balanced centre of gravity will enable it to be used on gimbals and with drones. It’s also priced to be affordable to keen photographers.
We’ve given this lens an Editor’s Choice award because its overall performance and handling characteristics were so much better than we expected for an all-in-one zoom and it’s offered at an affordable price. It represents a good choice for owners of Panasonic’s full-frames S-series cameras who want a ‘do-everything’ lens for general photography that’s compact and well balanced on the camera body.
Full review
Announced on the opening day of the CP+ show in Yokohama on 22 February, the new Panasonic Lumix S 28-200mm f/4-7.1 MACRO O.I.S (S-R28200) lens is the first of its type for L-mount, full-frame mirrorless cameras and the smallest in its class. Weighing less than 500 grams with the supplied lens hood in place, it is ideal for travellers and photographers looking for a one-lens option. It’s not the fastest lens at the telephoto end of its zoom range but many owners of Panasonic’s S-series cameras will be prepared to trade lens speed with easier mobility. A Lumix S5 II camera was supplied with the lens for this review.
Angled view of the Lumix S 28-200mm f/4-7.1 MACRO O.I.S (S-R28200) lens without its lens cap and lens hood. (Source: Panasonic.)
The optical design of this lens (shown below) contains 17 elements in 13 groups and includes four extra-low dispersion (ED) elements, along with one aspherical and one ultra-high resolution (UHR) element. A fluorine coating has been applied to the front element to keep it free from dust and moisture and make it easy to clean.
Panasonic doesn’t specify the kind of AF drive this lens uses but claims it supports high-speed, high-precision and silent autofocusing with minimal focus breathing. Built-in Optical Image Stabilisation (O.I.S.) technology provides up to 6.5 stops of 5-axis Dual I.S.2 shake correction with compatible cameras.
The lens is supplied with front and rear caps plus a petal-shaped lens hood that includes a locking button. The minimum focusing distance of 14 cm at the 28mm focal length provides a maximum magnification of 0.5x – or half life size reproduction.
Who’s it For?
As one of the most versatile lenses available for cameras that use the L-mount this lens is likely to be popular with travellers, who will appreciate its compact size and light weight. As well as offering better-than-average close focusing, this lens will be ideal for photographing everything from portraits to landscapes and cityscapes as well as sports and wildlife. It can also be used for close-ups of flowers and insects and its built-in stabilisation will allow users to work in low light levels.
Relative immunity to camera shake and focus breathing make this lens equally useful for shooting video and its balanced centre of gravity will enable it to be used on gimbals and with drones. It’s also priced to be affordable to keen photographers.
Build and Ergonomics
It goes without saying that a lens this light must have a high percentage of polycarbonate in its structure, although this information is not provided in the product’s specifications. Nevertheless, the review lens felt well-constructed and quite sturdy.
The large front element has a diameter of roughly 50 mm and is slightly recessed into the inner barrel, surrounded by a raised threading for 67 mm diameter screw-in filters. A bayonet mounting on its outer edge accepts the petal-shaped lens hood, which has a locking button and can be reversed for transport and storage.
The inner barrel extends in two sections during zooming, adding roughly 50 mm to the overall length of the lens at the 200mm focal length. Fortunately, the front of the lens doesn’t rotate, allowing angle-critical filters to be used.
All the controls are on the outer barrel, starting with the focusing ring, which is approximately 14 mm wide and entirely clad in fine rubberised ridging. Since focusing is driven from the camera, this ring turns through 360 degrees when power is off.
A10 mm wide section of the barrel separates the focusing and zoom rings, with the 30 mm wide zoom ring having a large grip band of fine rubberised ridging around its leading edge. A 4 mm wide unridged band around the trailing edge carries index marks for the 28mm, 35mm, 50mm 70mm, 100mm, 135mm and 200mm settings, which are aligned with a prominent white line on the fixed section of the barrel behind the zoom ring.
This section of the barrel, which is roughly 20 mm wide, carries the slider switches for the focus modes (AF/MF) and O.I.S ON/OFF settings. Branding information is also printed on this section of the outer barrel.
The barrel ends in a solid, chromed metal mount with a narrow rubber gasket sealing the interface against dust and moisture. Ten gold-plated contacts inside the bayonet mounting transmit signals between the lens and camera.
Performance
Our Imatest tests showed the review lens to be a good performer for an extended-range zoom lens, even with the in-camera optical corrections disabled. While centre resolutions on JPEG files either met or came close to expectations for most aperture settings and measurements taken roughly mid-way between the centre and edge of the frame remained relatively high, edge softening was present throughout the focal length range.
RW2.RAW files converted into 16-bit TIFF format with Adobe Camera Raw delivered higher resolutions across the board in our tests. This is to be expected. The highest resolution measured was at f/6.3 with the 35mm focal length and diffraction only began to affect resolution from about f/11 onwards.
In essence, this lens scored Grade A ratings across all our assessment criteria. The graph of our test result below shows potential purchasers can use this lens with a fair degree of confidence in obtaining good results, whatever the focal length and aperture settings they choose.
Lateral chromatic aberration remained mostly within the ‘negligible’ band for most aperture and focal length settings, dipping into the ‘low’ band at the extremes of the aperture ranges for the longer focal lengths. In the graph of our test results below, the red line separates ‘negligible’ and ‘low’ CA.
Since this aberration is easily corrected in-camera it won’t be an issue for most potential users of the lens. Nor will the relatively small amounts of and rectilinear distortion in uncorrected files, which are easily corrected in the camera.
The vignetting we found in uncorrected RW2.RAW files could actually be seen as an advantage as it would direct a viewer’s attention towards the centre of the frame. distortion is also a minor issue, even at the 28mm focal length where barrel distortion is obvious. Across the remaining focal length settings, the degree of distortion remains relatively low.
The review lens handled backlighting surprisingly well and produced some nice 14-pointed sunstars when stopped right down. A few flare artefacts were present is direct contre-jour shots but little in the way of veiling flare, representing good overall performance.
Close-up performance was also good and bokeh was smooth and attractive at longer focal lengths – although it could become a bit choppy at the other end of the zoom range. Bright out-of-focus highlights were smoother than expected in shots taken at 28mm.
Autofocusing performance was generally good, no apparent hunting with low-contrast subjects at the longer focal length settings. This is better than expected given the relatively slow maximum aperture (f/7.1) at 200mm. Focus pulls were smooth and silent and we found no noticeable focus breathing while zooming in or out.
The built-in 5-axis Dual I.S. 2 stabilisation is a real advantage in this lens and we were able to use shutter speeds as slow at 1/15 second with the 200mm focal length and get more than half of the shots nice and sharp. In bright conditions, close-ups were easy to frame at 200mm thanks to the steady viewfinder image.
Conclusion
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SPECS
Picture angle: 75 to 12 degrees diagonal
Minimum aperture: f/32-f/45
Lens construction: 17 elements in 13 groups (including 1 aspherical, 4 ED and 1 UHR elements) plus fluorine coating on front element
Lens mounts: L-mount
Diaphragm Blades: 9 (circular aperture)
Weather resistance: Dust and Splash Resistant
Focus drive: Type not specified; internal focusing
Stabilisation: Yes, up to 6.5-stops with 5-Axis Dual I.S.2
Minimum focus: 14 cm (at 28mm focal length)
Maximum magnification: 0.5x (at 28mm focal length)
Filter size: 67 mm
Dimensions (Diameter x L): 77.3 x 93.4 mm
Weight: 413 grams
Standard Accessories: Front and rear caps, lens hood
Distributor: Panasonic Australia; Ph. 132 600
TESTS
Based on JPEG files taken with the Lumix S5 II camera.
Based on ARW.RAW files recorded simultaneously and converted into TIFF format with Adobe Camera Raw.
SAMPLES
Vignetting at 28mm f/4.0.
Vignetting at 35mm f/4.5.
Vignetting at 50mm f/4.9.
Vignetting at 70mm f/5.5.
Vignetting at 100mm f/5.9.
Vignetting at 135mm f/6.3.
Vignetting at 200mm f/7.1.
Rectilinear distortion at 28mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 35mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 50mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 70mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 100mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 135mm.
Rectilinear distortion at 200mm.
28mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/160 second at f/9.
200mm focal length, ISO 320, 1/250 second at f/8.
Close-up at 28mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/500 second at f/4.
Close-up at 200mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/160 second at f/7.1.
Close-up at 28mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/2000 second at f/3.5.
Close-up at 200mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/1000 second at f/6.3.
Close-up at 200mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/250 second at f/7.1.
Stabilisation test at 200mm focal length; ISO 100, 1/15 second at f/7.1.
Backlit portrait; 200mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/60 second at f/7.1.
Sunstar at f/32; 28mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/100 second.
Sunstar at f/45; 200mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/250 second.
200mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/125 second at f/7.1.
200mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/60 second at f/7.1.
Backlighting; 29mm focal length, ISO 100, 0.77 second at f/22.
28mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/640 second at f/8.
164mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/125 second at f/6.7.
52mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/20 second at f/5.6.
200mm focal length, ISO 800, 1/250 second at f/10.
200mm focal length, ISO 6400, 1/200 second at f/10.
200mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/200 second at f/8.
52mm focal length, ISO 125, 1/60 second at f/5.
200mm focal length, ISO 1250, 1/250 second at f/7.1.
57mm focal length, ISO 400, 1/60 second at f/6.3.
28mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/125 second at f/11.
Still frame from 4K 25p video clip.
Rating
RRP: AU$1599
- Build: 9.0
- Handling: 9.0
- Image quality: 9.0
- Autofocusing: 9.0
- Versatility: 9.0
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