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You Should Be Hyped for The New Panasonic 24mm f1.8

Chris Gampat
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08/31/2021
3 Mins read
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Today, Panasonic is announcing their new Panasonic 24mm f1.8 S. This is for the Leica L-Mount–so you’ll be able to use it on their full-frame bodies like the Panasonic S5. We know some folks aren’t the biggest Panasonic S fans, but they’ve taken a major step forward with firmware updates. And if anything, this new Panasonic 24mm f1.8 S will work splendidly on the Leica SL2s, which I think is probably the best L mount camera. For sure, it’s designed for landscape photographers. But believe it or not, you’d be shocked. Panasonic provided us with portrait photos. That means that they’re just that confident about the image quality.

Panasonic 24mm f1.8 Tech Specs

  • 24mm lens
  • Maximum f1.8 aperture
  • Weather sealing like the Panasonic 50mm f1.8 and 85mm f1.8 that came before them
  • 12 elements in 11 groups
  • 3 aspherical lenses
  • 1 UED element
  • 3 ED elements
  • 9 aperture blades
  • 67mm filter thread
  • 2.9 inches in diameter
  • 3.23 inches long
  • 0.68 lbs
  • $899, available in mid-October 2021.

Below are sample images shot with the Panasonic 24mm f1.8 S and the Panasonic S5. These images were provided to us by Panasonic.

Panasonic is Delivering Exactly What the L Mount Needs

I’m incredibly excited about the new Panasonic 24mm f1.8 S. This is what I’ve been wondering about for a very long time. Leica gives us fairly large, heavy lenses with beautiful image quality. They’re pricy, but they’re also boasting some of the best build quality I’ve seen in my career. The Leica 28mm f2 SL basically lives on my Leica SL2s. Plus, there’s the image quality. Sigma believes that a lens should be big and heavy with weather sealing or lightweight with no weather sealing. Let’s not even get into their autofocus performance.

But instead, Panasonic is giving the L mount exactly what it needs. Seriously, why is it that Sony, Nikon, and Panasonic understand this so well? All folks want are fast focusing, small, lightweight, and well-built prime lenses. Sony has a whole lineup of them. Lots of Nikon’s primes are too. And the Panasonic 24mm f1.8 S will be the third entry into this series. 

My only complaint? Well, I wish these lenses were made with metal. I’ve got serious environmental concerns about these in the future, and pieces can be recycled pretty easily with metal. I have yet to hear of a camera manufacturer using recycled plastics. 

Let’s get back to the lens itself, though! This is around 30 grams lighter than the Sony 24mm f1.4 G Master lens. Of course, the Panasonic isn’t an f1.4. But I’m curious to see how it will compare. Combine this with the Live Composite mode in the Panasonic S5, and you’ve got a fantastic camera for astrophotography. I’m inquisitive to see how it stacks up against Sony!

Technically, this completes the trinity for Panasonic. You could easily ask for a 35mm f1.8. In fact, that’s what I would’ve liked more than a 24mm lens. But a 24mm, 50mm, and 85mm is more or less all you need. Otherwise, you could just grab a 35mm and an 85mm and be all set. That will do most of what you need.

Considering I bought both the Panasonic 50mm f1.8 and the Panasonic 85mm f1.8, I’m curious to see how this performs. I adored the 85mm in our review! We’ll see when it comes in for review!

image quality panasonic panasonic 24mm panasonic 24mm f1.8 panasonic 24mm f1.8 s panasonic 50mm panasonic 85mm panasonic s5 sony sony 24mm tech specs weight
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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.