A quick review of the new Panasonic Lumix S 20-60mm f/3.5-5.6 lens for Leica L-mount by Thomas Walter (website) – a very versatile lens and a great enhancement to the L-mount system. A few sample photos are available here. The lens is already shipping in Germany (in the US pr-orders are open at Adorama and B&H).
Lumix S 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 L-Mount – first experience
The last days I could test a production example of Panasonic’s new Lumix S 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 on both SL bodies.
This new lens is a very versatile “walk-around” lens. In my eyes, 20-60mm is a very useful range. And most important: lens weight is only 350g – the SL moves to a small, light, and very handsome camera in combination with this lens.
AF is very fast and absolutely silent. L-mount works flawlessly, you can even use the mechanic AF/MF button on the lens to control autofocus on the SL.
Handling
Maybe the most important point: the combination SL2 (and SL 601 too) with Pana’s 20-60mm is absolute good operable – like it’s a new camera
Image Quality
What can we expect from this lens? My first shots are very satisfying without being outstanding. The Panasonic doesn’t love the corners – here it’s going to be soft.
A quick comparison to my old walk-around-lens, the Leica T(L) 18-56mm 3.5-5.6 shows much better results of the new Panasonic lens. On the other hand, the image quality of the (famous) Summicron-SL 35mm is much better.
The lens’ close up capability is very useful.
Although maximum aperture is mediocre in combination with the excellent IBIS of SL2 the lens is useful in low light (most examples here are without tripod down to 1/8 sec handheld).
My opinion
Panasonic’s new 20-60mm is a very versatile and lightweight lens which will be a real enhancement for the total L-mount System and especially for the SL2. I tried it only on (both) Leica SL bodies with good results. SL2 handling is a new experience. My next holiday lens will be the new Pana – whereas high-end prints will still need Leica’s Summicrons SL.
During we have to wait for the Summicron-SL 21mm we can have a lot of fun with the new Pana!
You can find some examples and short comparison to Leica T 18-56 and 35SL here (metadata included):
https://adobe.ly/327f1YA
If you have an interesting idea for a guest post, you can contact me here. Additional information on the Panasonic Lumix S 20-60mm f/3.5-5.6 lens can be found here.
