Pansonic has officially announced its new LUMIX S 50mm F1.8 L-Mount full-frame prime lens.
This now joins the LUMIX S 85mm F1.8 in the series. In the near future, Panasonic will also announce a 24mm F1.8 and a 35mm F1.8 to complete the set.
Panasonic has been pretty slow with releasing full-frame prime lenses and L-mount lenses in general. The whole concept behind the LUMIX S primes is to create a set of reasonably fast, compact lenses that are all the same size. All the lenses in the series have the same front filter diameter and the Manual/AF switch is located in the exact same position.
These lenses are well suited for video use as they have minimized focus breathing and you have the ability to increase the focus thrown in the camera menu when you are shooting in MF. There is also micro-step aperture control so you can make very subtle adjustments when shooting.
According to Panasonic, the optical design of the lens features pair of extra-low dispersion elements, which help to reduce color fringing and chromatic aberrations in order to achieve high clarity and accurate color rendering. The lens also has 3 aspherical lenses and a rounded nine-blade diaphragm.
The lens is dustproof, splash-resistant, and freeze-resistant.
Price & Availability
The Panasonic LUMIX S 50mm F1.8 will be available this month for $449.99 USD / £429. This makes it a very affordable and attractive option for anyone utilizing a full-frame Panasonic hybrid camera.
The lens looks to be fairly similar to Nikon’s NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S Lens that retails for $496.95 USD. It should also offer very comparable performance.
