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Prime lenses are a personal favorite. I appreciate their sharpness, swiftness, and specific vantage point. Plus, I like to move around my subjects for the perfect composition. Wider focal lengths are enticing because they fit the bill for many applications. The Panasonic Lumix S 24mm f1.8 is a welcome addition to the existing lineup of L Mount lenses.
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The Panasonic Lumix S 24mm f1.8 lens has a lightweight, compact design that you can take with you anywhere. The versatile focal length is perfect for attaching to your camera and leaving it there for long periods of time. Unlike many YouTubers, I found there to be noticeable distortion at the edges of the frame. As someone who tries to get it right in-camera, this was disheartening. Even though it is annoying to either correct the heads and feet or shoot wide and crop in, I still think it’s a great lens. Does its performance justify the moderate price tag? We think so! Keep reading to find out why.
Too Long Didn’t Read
The Panasonic Lumix S 24mm f1.8 lens is lightweight and compact. Its versatile 24mm focal length is great for landscapes, cityscapes, street photography, and architecture. The lens produces beautiful neutral tones with plenty of sharpness and bokeh when you want it. Distortion is minimal and easily corrected. It doesn’t have the fastest lowlight AF performance, but it’s fast enough. Plus, its weather-resistant design allows you to shoot with it almost anywhere.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Sharp
- Beautiful colors
- Images require minimal editing when using film simulations
- Compact and lightweight
- Weather-resistant
- Versatile focal length
Cons
- Distortion isn’t always easily corrected.
- Noticeable vignetting, although it’s easily remedied
- Not as fast as other prime lenses on the market
Gear Used
I tested the Lumix S 24mm f1.8 S lens with the Panasonic Lumix S1R and a Profoto B10x Plus.
Innovations
The Panasonic Lumix S 24mm f1.8 lens isn’t the most innovative lens. But, its simplistic and lightweight design is easy to shoot with and makes great images. Plus, it’s weatherproof; you can take it almost anywhere. The 24mm focal length is a welcome addition to the Panasonic L-Mount lineup.
Tech Specs
Tech specs are from the LensRental listing.
- Angle of View: 84°
- Aperture Blades: 9, Rounded
- Aspherical Elements: 3
- Autofocus: Autofocus
- Brand: Panasonic
- Diameter: 2.9″
- Extra Low-Dispersion Elements: 3
- Filter Size: 67.0mm
- Focal Length: 24.0-24.0
- Format: Full-Frame
- Groups/Elements: 11/12
- Hood Included: Yes
- Image Stabilization: No
- Item Type: Lens
- Length: 2.9″
- Max Aperture: 1.8
- Maximum Magnification: 0.15x
- Mfr. Model Number: S-S24
- Minimum Aperture: 16.0
- Minimum Focusing Distance: 0.8′
- Mount: L Mount
- Ultra Extra-Low Dispersion Elements: 1
- Weight: 0.7 lb.
Ergonomics
The Panasonic Lumix S 24mm f1.8 lens boasts a very simplistic and compact design. Its compact and lightweight design fits comfortably in your hand. And there is a weather seal at the lens mount.
The lens only has one switch to choose between autofocus and manual focus. The textured focusing ring is wide and located towards the end of the lens.
The filter size is 67mm. That means, all things considered, this lens isn’t all that large.
Build Quality
The Lumix S 24mm f1.8 lens is weather-resistant and dustproof. On a windy day in South Central Montana, I took it out, and sensor dust was not an issue. The lens also performed very well on a snowy day up in the mountains. Although it’s made of primarily plastic components, it feels solid and performs as such.
Autofocus
The Panasonic Lumix S 24mm f1.8 lens focuses reasonably well. In AF-C mode with Animal Detection, it kept up with my cat as he played outside. There were only a handful of unusable frames, and that was because I didn’t anticipate him sprinting across the yard.
The lens accurately achieved focus in different lighting situations in AF-S mode with different focus areas. It was the most accurate when using a single focusing point and utilizing the touch AF on the touch screen.
Its f1.8 aperture allows you to work in low light and achieve sharp images. Focusing time was more lethargic. Don’t expect it to be as fast as Sony’s offerings. This isn’t the fastest focusing body and lens combination I’ve shot with, but it’s sufficient. I appreciate how Panasonic highlights the in-focus areas with blue on the LCD screen. It makes manual focusing a breeze.
Ease Of Use
This Lumix S 24mm lens is very user-friendly. Attach it to your camera, choose which focusing modes you want to use, and have fun. Its lightweight and compact design make it ideal to put on your camera and leave it for a day hike. If you prefer manual focus, you will appreciate the enlarged focusing area in the viewfinder. The blue highlight areas on the LCD screen make it easy to identify sharp areas quickly.
The lens does not come equipped with image stabilization, and it doesn’t need it. The S1R’s built-in IS is perfectly suitable. I was able to handhold an image for three seconds.
Image Quality
The Panasonic Lumix S 24mm f1.8 lens produces sharp images with plenty of contrast and background separation. The neutral colors are great to work with and require minimal editing time.
Bokeh
The minimum focusing distance of the 24mm f1.8 lens can create a shallow depth of field. The bokeh isn’t perfectly round or technically superior. It can get geometric towards the outer edges of the frame. It can also be painterly smooth in less busy scenes when shooting wide open. The lens offers plenty of background separation when stopped down.
Sharpness
Images are sharp through the center of the frame with softer edges when shooting wide open. At f2.8, the sharpness is extended through most of the frame. And while the 24mm lens offers plenty of detail, it isn’t too sharp for portraits.
Lens Character
At 24mm, this Lumix S lens does indeed produce distortion. You can lean into it and create some fun portraits or do your best to minimize it. The distortion of buildings is pretty simple to correct in Capture One. Things like feet and people’s heads require a bit more finessing if they’re at the very edges of the frame. I’d recommend giving your subject a bit more room and cropping in during post in the beginning.
Sun flares and sun stars are easy to achieve. Chromatic aberration is minimal and more noticeable when shooting wide open. The lens produces a natural vignetting when shooting wide open. This can be mitigated by either stopping down or reducing it in post-production if you don’t want it. It offers plenty of background separation and can create painterly bokeh. The colors and contrast are beautiful.
Color Rendition
The natural tones and contrast created by the Lumix S 24mm f1.8 lens are very pleasing. The cool pastel hues next to the warmth of the setting sun make for gorgeous winter sunsets. Skin tones are not too magenta or too green. They’re very accurate.
One of the things I enjoy most about shooting with Panasonic Lumix is the film simulations. I hope that Capture One fully supports those simulations in the raw files someday soon. It would make the already beautiful hues even more glorious.
Extra Image Samples
From day one, The Phoblographer has been huge on transparency with our audience. Nothing from this review is sponsored. Further, lots of folks will post reviews and show lots of editing in the photos. The problem then becomes that anyone and everyone can do the same thing. They’re not showing what the lens can do. So we have a section in our Extra Image Samples area to show edited and unedited photos. From this, you can make a decision for yourself.
Edited
Unedited
Conclusions Of The Panasonic Lumix S 24mm F1.8 Lens
Likes
- Beautiful colors and contrast
- Great focal length for a variety of applications
- Distortion can easily be played up or toned down.
- Weather-resistant
- It’s lightweight and compact.
Dislikes
- Autofocus could be faster.
- Vignetting can be a bit heavy, although it’s easy to correct.
- The distortion can be a bit much for some full-body portraits if you aren’t careful.
There’s a lot to like and not much to complain about with the Panasonic Lumix S 24mm f1.8 Lens. The autofocus isn’t the fastest when paired with the S1R body, although it’s very doable. Unwanted distortion and vignetting are easy to rectify most of the time.
The lens is lightweight, compact, and can handle adverse weather conditions like a champ. The colors are beautiful, and skin tones are easy to work with. It produces sharp images and offers plenty of bokeh when you want it.
We’re giving the Panasonic Lumix S 24mm f1.8 Lens four out of five stars. Want one? You can pick one up for $894.95 at Amazon or Adorama. Otherwise, rent it from LensRentals to experience it yourself.
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