Today, Panasonic introduced their latest full-frame L-mount lens. The Lumix S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Macro O.I.S. is a telephoto zoom lens that opens up possibilities in a wide range of shooting situations.
The new lens measures in at 3.31 inches (84 millimeters) in diameter and 5.83 inches (148 millimeters) in length and weighs 1.75 pounds (790 grams). The side of the lens has physical switches for AF/MF control, enabling or disabling O.I.S., a focus limiter, and a zoom lock to prevent creep. The lens has an 11-bladed circular aperture and 77mm front filter threads.
Featuring a focus control that can calculate autofocus up to 480 fps, Panasonic believes the S 70-300mm will deliver “fast, high-precision autofocus” needed for sports, animals, vehicles, and more. The lens has a minimum focusing distance of 1.77 feet (0.54 meters) at 70mm and 2.43 feet (0.74 meters) at 300mm for a maximum magnification of 0.5x. For video shooters, Panasonic said that they have minimized focus shifts when zooming and focus breathing during focus pulls.
As the lens’ full name suggests, it has an optical image stabilizer which when combined with the in-body image stabilization of a Lumix S-series camera can compensate up to 5.5 stops of slower shutter speeds. The lens does not have a physical “mode” switch to refine the direction of compensation.
The lens uses 17 elements in 11 groups, including 1 ultra extra-low dispersion element, 2 extra-low dispersion elements, and 1 ultra-high refractive index element. Panasonic claims this minimizes axial chromatic aberration at the telephoto end, chromatic aberration of magnification at the wide end, and uniform image quality from center to corner. The front element has a fluorine coating to repel water and fingerprints.
The Lumix S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Macro O.I.S. lens is priced at $1,249.99 and will begin shipping in April.
Despite their weight and bulk, the Lumix cameras offer a better feature set for my needs. Now, if they'd get off this split storage type paradigm, I'd be a whole bunch of happier. I prefer two storage slots with both being SDXC and both being UHS-II, rather than haviing one SDXC and one being CFexp (B). The G9 is a perfect example of doing it right. (Not that anyone might consider me to be opinionated...) They had a great opportunity to do it right in the S5, but they blew it.
I'd love a Nikon Z mount version.
Does it have to be Panasonic? Like all newer mirrorless mounts, I'm waiting for lens catalogs to be fleshed out from all brands.