An Insanely Fast Focusing Lens

Previously, a Panasonic 24-60mm f2.8 lens was teased to the press. And now, that lens is launching. We’ve got to be honest, we kind of wanted an f2 instead. However, we’re getting something with insanely fast focusing. In fact, we’re nearly in shock at how fast this zoom lens can focus on the subject that you want. Plus, it boasts weather resistance, an affordable price tag, and custom function buttons. We’re still testing it out, but we’re bound to really like this thing.

The Big Picture: Panasonic 24-60mm f2.8 Review Conclusions

We’re still actively reviewing this lens, and so we’re going to update this section when we’re further along in our review.

Pros

• Fast focusing
• New function buttons
• Weather sealing
• Pretty manageable size

Cons

• Weird focal length choice

Gear Used

Here’s what we’re using:

Innovations

There has been nothing like this done before. While Sigma has a 28-60mm lens, this is a 24-60mm. It goes further on the wide side while keeping the size and weight down. Still, I wish that it had gone to maybe the 20mm range or something like that. Even so, it would’ve been much cooler if they made it an f2 lens instead.

Who Should Buy the Panasonic 24-60mm f2.8?

We’ll update this section later on.

Hardware

The Panasonic 24-60mm f2.8 lens is a pretty unique one in that no other brand has made something like this before. On it you’ve got custom function controls including the control ring, switches, and the plastic body with rubber controls. But most importantly, it’s weather resistant — and that applies for it being done fully through the lens body instead of the seals being just at the mount.

Ease of Use

There isn’t much to be said about this lens and the ease of use so far in our testing. We haven’t used the custom function buttons yet, but we’ll be testing those eventually.

Focusing

The Panasonic 24-60mm f2.8 lens has the same type of focusing motor that we found in the 100mm f2.8 macro lens. As a result, it’s insanely fast to autofocus. And perhaps more than anything else that LUMIX offers for sale, I’d bring this lens with me along with the company’s very good prime lenses. We’ve got more testing to do first though.

Image Quality

This section will be updated later on.

Extra Image Samples

The Phoblographer has been huge on transparency with our audience since day one. Nothing from this review is sponsored. Further, many 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 decide for yourself.

Unedited

Edited

Declaration of Journalistic Intent

The Phoblographer is one of the last standing dedicated photography publications that speaks to both art and tech in our articles. We put declarations up front in our reviews to adhere to journalistic standards that several publications abide by. These help you understand a lot more about what we do:

• At the time of publishing this review, Panasonic LUMIX is running direct-sold advertising with the Phoblographer. This doesn’t affect our reviews anyway and it never has in our 15 years of publishing our articles. This article is in no way sponsored.
• Note that this isn’t necessarily our final review of the unit. It will be updated, and it’s more of an in-progress review than anything. In fact, almost all our reviews are like this.
• None of the reviews on the Phoblographer are sponsored. That’s against FTC laws, and we adhere to them just the same way that newspapers, magazines, and corporate publications do.
• Panasonic loaned the unit and accessories to the Phoblographer for review. There was no money exchange between us or their 3rd party partners and the Phoblographer for this to happen. Manufacturers trust the Phoblographer’s reviews, as they are incredibly blunt.
• Panasonic knows that it cannot influence the site’s reviews. If we don’t like something or if we have issues with it, we’ll let our readers know.
• Panasonic paid for the shipping of the units and met with the Phoblographer in an online meeting.
• The Phoblographer’s standards for reviewing products have become much stricter. After having the world’s largest database of real-world lens reviews, we choose not to review anything we don’t find innovative or unique, and in many cases, products that lack weather resistance.
• In recent years, brands have withheld NDA information from us or stopped working with us because they feel they cannot control our coverage. These days, many brands will not give products to the press unless they get favorable coverage. In other situations, we’ve stopped working with several brands for ethical issues. Either way, we report as honestly and rawly as humanity allows.
• At the time of publishing, the Phoblographer is the only photography publication that is a member of Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative. We champion human-made art and are frank with our audience. We are also the only photography publication that labels when an image is edited or not.

More can be found on our Disclaimers page.

Panasonic 24-60mm f2.8 Tech Specs

• A new focusing unit that’s similar to the one in the 100mm f2.8, which allows the lens to focus insanely fast
• Function buttons that can have new assignments and will work with specific cameras
• Switchable control ring
• Weather resistant
• Very lightweight
• $899, launches in June
• Also called the LUMIX S 24-60mm f/2.8.