fbpx
Features

The Best Full-Frame Panasonic Lenses Under $700

Chris Gampat
No Comments
04/11/2022
3 Mins read
Hillary Grigonis The Phoblographer Panasonic 35mm f1.8 review-0693

Panasonic has an incredible lineup of lenses. Photographers have known this for many years, but their full-frame offerings are a bit newer. Lucky for you, we’ve reviewed a ton of their offerings. So we dove into our Reviews Index to find the best Panasonic lenses under $700. If you’re on a budget, this roundup is just for you.

View this article with minimal banner ads in our app for iOS, iPad, and Android. Get no banner ads for $24.99/year.

Making the Most of Panasonic Lenses Under $700

Even though these Panasonic lenses under $700 may seem cheap, they’re not! Here’s what we found:

  • We’re showcasing only the lenses we’ve reviewed and tested. And honestly, we’ve tested the majority of lenses available for the L-mount.
  • All these Panasonic lenses under $700 are also weather-resistant. You can see more about this in our hyperlinked full reviews. They survived quite a bit of abuse yet are very affordable.
  • These lenses are for full-frame Panasonic cameras. So they’ll also work on Leica and Sigma L-mount cameras too.
  • With these three lenses, you can pretty much do everything with the Leica L-mount. We should know; we own two of them.
  • Basically, treat these like you’re using a higher-end lens. They give that level of performance for a bargain.

Panasonic 50mm f1.8 Lumix S

Pros

  • Beautiful image quality
  • Fast focus to get the first target
  • Weather sealing
  • Small size
  • Lightweight
  • Incredibly affordable for what it is

Cons

  • I wish it were metal.
  • Not so fantastic and reliable autofocus tracking, but good for one shot. When it hits, it nails it.

How’s the Image Quality

In our review, we state:

“The Panasonic 50mm f1.8 S excels in pretty much every category of our testing. It can offer nice bokeh, beautiful color, and sharpness. It doesn’t have character per se, but it also doesn’t exhibit anything that folks these days would consider to be flaws. Again, we used the Panasonic 50mm f1.8 S with the Leica SL2s in vivid mode.”

Is It Worth the Price?

This is pretty much the only fully weather-resistant 50mm f1.8 lens on the market for under $500. Of course, it’s very worth the price.

Panasonic 85mm f1.8 Lumix S

Pros

Cons

  • Very clinical image quality

How’s the Image Quality

In our review, we state:

“In terms of image quality, the Panasonic 85mm f1.8 is fantastic. It’s a very affordable lens with good image quality. It’s very sharp and the bokeh is nice. But, while the colors will depend on the camera you’re using, the lens lacks character. Overall though, it’s the best of many worlds.”

Is It Worth the Price?

This is pretty much the most bang-for-your buck 85mm lens you’re going to get for the Leica L-mount camera system. It’s absolutely worth the price.

Panasonic 35mm f1.8 Lumix S

Pros

  • Nicely sharp, with good bokeh
  • Minimal distortion
  • Easy to use
  • Weather-sealed
  • Compact and lightweight
  • Decent autofocus

Cons

  • Little room for creative flaring
  • Some aberration in backlighting

How’s the Image Quality

In our review, we state:

“The colors coming from this lens felt true to life. I was happy this lens captured the slight blue undertones of some icy winter landscapes that can be tricky to handle. The colors didn’t seem to stray from tones I’ve come to expect from the S5. And because the lens flare is heavily suppressed, colors don’t wash out easily.”

Is It Worth the Price?

The lens sells for just under $700. Considering the L-Mount doesn’t have a ton of options, that’s an okay price.

The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear that we’ve fully reviewed. If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

full frame image quality panasonic panasonic 35mm Panasonic 35mm f1.8 panasonic 50mm panasonic 50mm f1.8 panasonic 85mm panasonic 85mm f1.8 panasonic lenses panasonic lenses under $700 review
Shares
Written by

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.
You might also like
Screen Shot 2017-08-28 at 12.07.13 PM
Features

Opinion: Please Stop Wearing a Photo Vest if You Don’t Need to Be Wearing a Photo Vest

4 Mins read
07/09/2018

When I got into this industry years ago, one thing really confused me almost as much as how much certain older photographers tend to treat the younger generation of us: photo vests. I’m completely positive that you’ve all seen them: a photographer of a certain distinguishment (or trying to show off without having said distinguishment) wearing their vests that look a lot like safari vests. You know, almost as if they’re going to go out on an African safari at all times without being anywhere near something like a safari. Walking down the streets doing street photography? You’ll see a photo vest. In the studio? Photo vest! Hiking? Yup, A Photo vest!

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Canon RF 24-105mm f4 L IS USM review product images Canon EOS R
Features

Did Canon Miss the Memo That Says Mirrorless Lenses Are Meant to Be Smaller?

3 Mins read
12/26/2018

When Canon introduced their new Mirrorless cameras earlier on this year (The EOS R) one of the stand out features was that the lens mount was so huge. While other manufacturers like Sony have made all things Mirrorless smaller, the late comer to the Mirrorless party seems to have decided that bigger is better. In a recently released interview, Canon engineers seem to be having a sly dig at Sony by saying that lenses with smaller mounts are far less capable than those with larger mounts. Read on after the break to find out more about what the Canon engineers are wafting on about.