LENS TEST
EXPERT OPINION ON THE L ATEST KIT
It ticks many boxes, but it’s not a total success www.panasonic.com £999/$999
Panasonic cameras go from strength to strength, and it was the fastest-growing full-frame camera brand in 2023. However, The company’s Lumix S L-Mount lineup still lags a little way behind the competition, with one major omission being the lack of a standard macro lens. The L-Mount Alliance has in the past saved the day for Panasonic shooters, with fellow members Leica and Sigma filling the gap with some superb choices, including the Sigma 105mm f/2.8 DG DN Macro, while Venus Optics and TTArtisan offer more affordable options.
Key features
But what is a camera system without good first-party lenses? Finally Panasonic has seen fit to plug this non-macro-sized hole with the new Lumix S 100mm f/2.8 Macro; although with Panasonic having a reputation of notching up ‘firsts’ with its Lumix cameras, this, not surprisingly, isn’t your typical macro lens.
Instead, Panasonic hopes to set a new bar for macro lenses everywhere with the world’s smallest and lightest full-frame autofocus macro lens over 90mm with 1:1 magnification. The lens also has the world’s closest focusing distance for a macro lens of the same description. That’s a lot of caveats to being a ‘world first’, but Panasonic’s reduction in size here is genuinely impressive.
Panasonic has achieved this size reduction with a newly developed Dual Phase Linear Motor (the motor used for focusing), which Panasonic claims offers the same performance at a fraction of the size. Eagle-eyed readers will spot fewer elements than rivals and no optical image stabilisation (OIS) as factors that have also most likely contributed to a much smaller body. But has this size reduction also reduced the performance? Let’s find out.
Build and handling
There’s nothing else to do but give a round of applause to Panasonic’s lens design team – for a standard-length 1:1 macro lens designed for full-frame cameras, it has really achieved something special with this lens. At only 82mm in length and 300g in weight, there’s no comparison with the equivalent Canon 100mm, Nikon 105mm or Sony 90mm – with those lenses being 385g, 330g and 302g heavier respectively, and 66mm, 58mm and 48.5mm longer.
