There’s some really good news to know about Panasonic lenses with gorgeous bokeh. First off, the majority of them are insanely affordable. So if you’re just getting started, you can grab a lens and it will probably be the one you stick with for a very long time. Additionally, they’re built well. That’s not all though: the majority of them have 9 or more aperture blades. What’s not to like about that when it comes to smooth bokeh? We’re rounding up a few key gems that we really adore. So check them out below!
The Phoblographerâs variousproduct round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldnât get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldnât get photography advice from someone who doesnât touch the product. We only recommend gear that weâve fully reviewed. If youâre wondering why your favorite product didnât make the cut, thereâs a chance itâs on another list. If we havenât reviewed it, we wonât 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.
This piece is presented in partnership with Panasonic Lumix. Weâve independently and ethically reviewed all the products in this post already without sponsorship. And we worked with them to recommend a few key gems to you.
How to Use This Guide to Panasonic Lenses with Gorgeous Bokeh
Here’s what you should know about using this guide to Panasonic lenses with gorgeous bokeh:
This guide contains products we’ve reviewed. Lucky for you, we’ve reviewed the vast majority of Panasonic lenses and modern lenses in general. Our Ethical Practices don’t allow us to prominently feature products we haven’t fully reviewed. So when we say these are the best lenses for portrait photography with the Panasonic S5, we truly mean it.
This guide is sponsored by Panasonic, who trusts us and understands that we have a set of ethics when it comes to reviewing products. All the product images and sample images in this roundup were shot by Phoblographer staff. There are also links to our fuller reviews.
These Panasonic lenses with gorgeous bokeh are truly the ones that we know portrait photographers will like. Combine them with a few different methods to make your photos pop. With the new Panasonic S5 II, you can add Real Time LUTs to your JPEGs. So consider shooting at a lower ISO setting, shooting with the lens wide open, and maybe letting some motion blur happen. We interview tons of photographers, and they find that lots of clients really like this aesthetic. Combine it with Panasonic’s face detection for better results.
Panasonic lenses have an AF/MF switch on them. So too does Panasonic’s camera bodies. In practice, you’ve got two places where you can make the switch if you really need to.
All the lenses that we’re talking about in this round up have weather resistance built in. In fact, all of Panasonic’s Lumix S lenses have weather resistance as of writing this roundup.
When considering these the best Panasonic lenses with gorgeous bokeh because this is full-frame, otherwise known as Lumix S. So, unlike Micro Four Thirds, the focal length is exactly what it is. To explain that further, Micro Four Thirds has a 2x crop factor. So an f1.2 lens on Micro Four Thirds will render the full-frame equivalent of an f2.4 lens when shooting wide open.
You can use these Panasonic lenses with gorgeous bokeh on any L-Mount camera body from Panasonic and other brands.
As a TIPA member, we feel it’s important to talk about build quality. With that said, these Panasonic lenses with gorgeous bokeh all have weather resistance. Weather resistance has more benefits than just the ability to shoot in the rain. It helps prevent dust from getting into your lens and camera. That means you don’t need to retouch your images later.
Try using these lenses with something like the Cinelike V2 profile. But also know that it limits what your lowest ISO setting can be. If you use something like L Classic Neo, you won’t be limited.
Our Favorite: Panasonic 50mm f1.4 Lumix S Pro
Tech Specs
Highest possible quality you can make, according to Panasonic
This is the no-compromise performance lens
11 blade aperture
Dual Focus Motor system
2 aspheric lenses
Focus clutch mechanism
Dust, splash, and freeze resistant
The first aspheric optic in the path is larger than 40mm, one of the largest ever made
With Panasonicâs latest firmware updates, it focuses surprisingly quick
Well built
Super well weather sealed
Now with all heartfelt honesty, the strongest feature of the Panasonic 50mm f1.4 Lumix S Pro is the image quality. Photojournalists, wedding photographers, landscape photographers, portrait photographers and those who just like pixel peeping will admire what the Panasonic 50mm f1.4 Lumix S Pro can do. This lens is so sharp that it makes the Panasonic S1 seem like itâs a higher megapixel camera. Beyond that it has beautiful bokeh, can focus closely, and has no major problems at all.
Fortunately, there are lots of Panasonic lenses with gorgeous bokeh that can be had. More importantly, they can be had very affordably. With pretty frequent firmware updates to their cameras, they’ve also become incredibly useful. Cameras like the new Panasonic S5 II have phase detection autofocus in continuous autofocus, and so capturing moments is pretty easy. We believe good photos are a balance of four things: subject, moment, gear, and the photographer. And with these lenses, you can be very confident that your gear will be doing exactly what it needs to.
The Panasonic 50mm f1.8 S has 9 aperture blades. And of course, thatâs more than enough to give it creamy bokeh. Is it the creamiest 50mm? No. Iâve seen creamier for sure. But I think that for a 50mm f1.8, itâs more than usable.
The Panasonic 85mm f1.8 has nine aperture blades and a beautiful, creamy bokeh. For what itâs worth, I really like it. I think most photographers will really like it for the price point. Is there better bokeh? Yes, but not for this price point.
Because the Panasonic 24-70mm f2.8 LUMIX Pro has 11 aperture blades, the bokeh is going to be gorgeous. Thatâs one of my favorite things about this lens. Portrait photographers and photojournalists who use it will be happy with the bokeh it delivers. Theyâll be able to tell stories more effectively if they can get their subjects perfectly in focus.
Points of light create nice, rounded bokeh balls at the center that, as expected, elongate towards the edges. Telephoto lenses will make the background appear closer. At 200mm, you can make those nice bokeh balls appear larger and much more obvious.
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.
A few years ago, I was incredibly frustrated with the entire photo industry in different ways than I am today; though it’s only a few years ago, I today see absolutely no reason for anyone to truly own a DSLR. But a mirrorless camera? I remember years ago when I started this site that I was waiting for the day when I wouldn’t need to carry around the giant Canon DSLRs that I had been using. As time went on, I phased out lots of Canon gear until the Sony a7r III and a Metabones adapter made it almost totally obsolete for me. These days I instead reach for the Canon EOS R when testing anything Canon EF mount–but Sony and Fujifilm have stayed a constant in my mirrorless journey.
