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Lenses

The Big City Lens: The Panasonic 16-35mm F4 PRO Review

Chris Gampat
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04/13/2020
6 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO review product photos 2.81-125s1600

The Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO is very nice, but it’s not outdoing Sigma’s 14-24mm f2.8.

When we called the Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO lens in for review, we were pretty excited. Panasonic has done a positively stellar job of designing lenses for the L mount system. But when looking at prices, I was scratching my head. One would think the Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO would be the affordable wide-angle zoom amongst the lineup. But the truth is it isn’t. Sigma’s 14-24mm f2.8 is a bigger lens that lets more light hit the sensor, and it’s more affordable than the Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO. As I sit in my office typing that sentence, I’m still perplexed as to why. The Panasonic is an excellent lens in every single respect, but I would sooner reach for an f2.8 lens if I could. That’s also not to say that the Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO isn’t a great performer. In fact, it’s exceptional.

Update May 2021. We’ve made changes to this review. You can track them in bold and italics.

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Small
  • Amazingly lightweight for an L mount lens
  • Sharp optics
  • Weather sealing
  • Nice feeling in the hand
  • Firmware 2.0 on the Leica SL2s showed us how fast this lens can focus.

Cons

  • We wish it had a faster aperture, but understand why it doesn’t
  • $1,497.99 is sort of high, and higher than Sigma’s pricing

Gear Used

We tested the Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO with the Panasonic S1, a Manfrotto BeFree tripod, and PolarPro QuartzLine Polarizer filters.

Tech Specs

Specs are taken from the Lensrentals listing

Angle of View107° to 63°
Aperture Blades9, Rounded
Aspherical Elements3
AutofocusAutofocus
BrandPanasonic
Diameter3.3″
Extra Low-Dispersion Elements1
Filter Size77.0mm
Focal Length16.0-35.0
Groups/Elements9/12
Hood IncludedYes
Image StabilizationNo
Item TypeLens
Length3.9″
Lens TypeWide Angle
Max Aperture4.0
Maximum Magnification0.23x
Minimum Aperture22.0
Minimum Focusing Distance0.8′
MountL Mount
Ultra High-Refractive Index Elements1
Weight1.1 lbs.

Ergonomics

The Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO is a compact lens with two main controls, and it will be useful to the landscape and cityscape photographers who are bound to use it. The lens isn’t that heavy, and so it will appeal more to those who hike and g on long treks. But for more professional work, you may want to reach for the Sigma wide-angle zoom. Similar to many other zooms like the Sigma, photographers will find a focusing ring and a zoom ring, though we doubt they’ll really use the manual focus ring towards the front.

Both of these rings are rubber and help with gripping the lens. In our tests, we found that to be more critical in the rain. And though the lens looks large here, it really isn’t. It’s delightfully small, unlike Panasonic’s cameras.

The front of the Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO holds a 77mm filter thread. We used this for ND filters and Polarizer filters.

If you’re using a lens filter, then you’re typically going to need to ditch the lens hood. Luckily, this hood isn’t all that large and fits fine in a jacket pocket.

“The Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO survived being outside in the rain for four hours. And it probably would have survived even longer.”

Build Quality

We think the photo above shows how durable this lens is, doesn’t it? Our standard torture tests involve our staff going out into the rain or snow with gear and shooting. The Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO survived being outside in the rain for four hours. And it probably would have survived even longer. We’re incredibly impressed with how well this small lens performed while shooting.

What’s more, even when the lens was wet, it’s very comfortable to hold. There is just enough of a balance between rubber and hard plastic. Additionally, the texture on the plastic gives photographers a better grip. You’re not going to have a significant reason to complain here.

Ease of Use

The Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO is pretty straightforward to use: just slap it onto the camera, point, focus, and shoot. Well, it should be that easy, at least. You see, it’s not the lens’ fault that Panasonic’s autofocus isn’t that great. This lens would do so much better if Panasonic just got their autofocus act together.

Autofocus

Speaking of autofocus, the Panasonic S1 and the Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO don’t do so well in low light and while tracking fast-moving subjects. That’s an issue: Canon and Sony do a much better job here. Overall, Panasonic’s autofocus just isn’t that great. Again, that’s not the lens’ fault. This lens would probably be fantastic on the right camera with the right autofocus. But, this is hard to rate as the Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO can probably do well at autofocusing, but their cameras don’t.

That doesn’t mean that fresh images can’t be created. You just need to be creative with the way you do things. In this case, some help from RNI films in Capture One Pro 20 did the trick.

As of May 2021, the Leica SL2s received a big firmware update. For stills shooters, that update brought a lot of autofocus upgrades. The Panasonic 16-35mm f4 now autofocuses faster on the Leica camera than it can on Panasonic’s own cameras. What’s more, the autofocus is accurate. Tracking autofocus and continuous autofocus work well for journalistic situations.

Image Quality

“If you like wide angle black and white images, then get ready to stare at some beautiful images.”

The strongest features of the Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO include the image quality. In regard to the images this lens creates, it’s positively stellar. There’s less distortion than what I’ve seen with Sigma’s offering, and I find it challenging to take a bad photo with this lens. Landscape and cityscape photographers will thoroughly enjoy it. What they’ll appreciate the most is the sharpness mixed with the convenient size. And while the colors are a bit muted for a Panasonic L mount lens, they’re still better than lots of what I feel Panasonic has put out in the past. The really lovely kicker, though, is using the Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO on the S1 with the L Monochrom D setting. If you like wide angle black and white images, then get ready to stare at some beautiful photos.

Bokeh

With the Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO, photographers get bokeh that’s okay: nothing to write home about. When it comes to telling a story, I didn’t feel like it’s anything that significant. I like using out of focus areas to give people a hint of what’s going on around the main subject. You’ll get that here. But quite honestly, the bokeh from the Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO is only slightly better than what some phones are doing these days. While it’s a million times more organic, the bokeh isn’t a strong suit of the Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO.

Chromatic Aberration

Edited for distortion and color

In our tests, we found a fair amount of distortion at the wider end. Once you get to 35mm, though, the distortion is mostly gone. In Capture One 20, we were able to correct this. Luckily, we didn’t find any significant issues with color fringing.

Here’s the distortion in the original shot with color editing

Color Rendition

I really, really like the colors from the Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO. I still think Panasonic has lenses with even better tint though. However, for small documentary-style setups, cityscapes, or landscapes, you’ll be happy. As stated earlier, we really like the look of the images with L Monochrome D enabled.

Sharpness

Stopped down to f5.6 the lens becomes very sharp. At f11, it’s also incredibly sharp. While I still think Sigma’s option is more acute, the Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO isn’t any slouch. And if you’re using post-production, you’re probably going to sharpen in post anyway. But you also have to consider the higher price point of the Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO.

Extra Image Samples

Conclusions

Likes

  • Small
  • Light
  • Sharp optics
  • Build Quality

Dislikes

  • L mount cameras need better autofocus
  • The price

The good news about the Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO is that it’s an excellent lens. What’s holding it back most is the autofocus on L mount cameras. But once you nail that focus, you’ll get beautiful photos each and every time. Cityscape, landscape, and interior photographers will like the lens. And with the right post-production, you’ll do even better with it. The problem otherwise is the price point; I’m not quite sure I want to pay for a slower aperture lens that’s smaller when Sigma’s closest competitor is more affordable and lets more light hit the sensor. With that said, if Panasonic dropped the price on the Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO and improved the autofocus on their cameras, it would be one of the reasons to switch over to the system.

As of May 2021, Leica has released firmware 2.0 for the Leica SL2s. And it has supercharged the autofocus speed of this lens. It’s incredibly capable now.

The Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO receives four out of five stars. Want one? They’re $1,497 right now.

autofocus Bokeh build quality cityscape color rendition distortion ergonomics landscape panasonic Panasonic 16-35mm f4 Panasonic 16-35mm f4 PRO panasonic s1 sharpness sigma Sigma 14-24mm f2.8 DG DN Art weather sealing
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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