Spread the love

It only recently dawned on me that Panasonic LUMIX doesn’t make a 24-70mm f4. Instead, they’re making a 24-60mm f2.8. They’re keeping the aperture range and instead sacrificing 10mm from the longer side of the lens. That means that if you like the wider side, then you’ll love what this can do. And we’ve updated our full review with much more thoughts on this beautiful piece.

Below are the changes that we’ve made to our full review. You can read the entire thing right here.

Table of Contents

The Big Picture: Panasonic 24-60mm f2.8 Review Conclusions

The Panasonic LUMIX 24-60mm f2.8 is quite a curious lens. During my entire time testing it, I didn’t at all feel like I wanted 10 extra millimeters of range. At the same time, this lens also never seemed to fail me at all. But most importantly, it never felt like it got in the way. Often with 24-70mm lenses, I feel like the lenses are too heavy, even though I work out specifically to have the muscles to carry stuff like this around all day. Never was this lens an annoyance. More importantly, I approached using this lens with the idea of shooting with it like a prime lens. So often I’d think in 35mm framing but with the details of something often more zoomed in. On top of that, it’s weather resistant and lasted through some serious rain showers.

When paired with the new S1II E, never once did I feel like the lens couldn’t nail its focusing even in very low light and with people with even darker complexions than mine. It’s also less than $1,000 and a lens that you’d truly want to bring everywhere with you.

Truly, I can’t find a single fault with the 24-60mm. Where most brands would give you a 24-70mm f4 lens, Panasonic has just taken away 10mm and kept the same faster f2.8 aperture. It’s well worth the money considering that.

Mind you, I also own the very good Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 DG DN Art — the first version. And while the new Panasonic lens is faster to focus and much lighter weight, I’m not sure that I’d sell the Sigma for it simply because I’m just so lazy and have so many other lenses. But honestly, if I were just trying to keep my kit compact, then this would be the one to get.

We’re awarding the Panasonic LUMIX 24-60mm f2.8 five out of five stars. It’s a lens that we’re kind of sad to see go.

Who Should Buy the Panasonic 24-60mm f2.8?

For anyone that wants a 24-70mm f2.8 but doesn’t want the weight, reach for this. If you care more about the wide end than the telephoto end, you’ll love this lens. I’m recommending it for:

Portrait photographers: 60mm is a wider focal length than 85mm, but it’s still very flattering for most
Event shooters: Come on, this is perfect
Journalists: Same reason as above

Hardware Update June 2025

During our testing, we took this camera and lens into the rain without any coverings. It worked very well and we had no issues with the precipitation.

Ease of Use Update June 2025

Truly, I’m not sure why people would use a custom function button here. I’m one of those photographers who puts all of those around my camera and I’ve never used them on the lenses I own at all. I partially do this because it’s too annoying to set these up.

Focusing Update June 2025

With the Panasonic S1II E, the autofocus performed really impressively and equivalent to what I’d expect from much more pricey cameras. This lens, using the new S1II E, was able to find a person many shade darker than I am in one of the darkest bars I’ve been to in a while during the daytime. While it still prioritized a lighter man over the darker fellow, it worked. I’m really impressed — especially because my buddy’s Fujifilm XH2 and prime lenses just couldn’t keep up at all.

Image Quality

In every test that I did, I can’t say that I’d complain about the image quality of the 24-60mm f2.8. I made several photos with this camera and lens that aren’t worth pixel peeping — simply because of the fact that I shoot in a way that my images are more about storytelling. I don’t pixel peep stories. And honestly, I can’t complain about this lens. Is there better bokeh and better sharpness from other lenses? Yes; but I understand how convenient this lens is. In fact, Panasonic’s own prime lenses rival the price of this.

We’ve also got a full selection of more sample images that we’ve shot with this lens in our full review.

Panasonic S 24-60mm f2.8 Review Update: It’s Really Worth it

The Panasonic LUMIX 24-60mm f2.8 is quite a curious lens. During my entire time testing it, I didn't at all feel like I wanted 10 extra millimeters of range. At the same time, this lens also never seemed to fail me at all. But most importantly, it never felt like it got in the way. Often with 24-70mm lenses, I feel like the lenses are too heavy, even though I work out specifically to have the muscles to carry stuff like this around all day. Never was this lens an annoyance. More importantly, I approached using this lens with the idea of shooting with it like a prime lens. So often I'd think in 35mm framing but with the details of something often more zoomed in. On top of that, it's weather resistant and lasted through some serious rain showers. When paired with the new S1II E, never once did I feel like the lens couldn't nail its focusing even in very low light and with people with even darker complexions than mine. It's also less than $1,000 and a lens that you'd truly want to bring everywhere with you. Truly, I can't find a single fault with the 24-60mm. Where most brands would give you a 24-70mm f4 lens, Panasonic has just taken away 10mm and kept the same faster f2.8 aperture. It's well worth the money considering that. Mind you, I also own the very good Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 DG DN Art -- the first version. And while the new Panasonic lens is faster to focus and much lighter weight, I'm not sure that I'd sell the Sigma for it simply because I'm just so lazy and have so many other lenses. But honestly, if I were just trying to keep my kit compact, then this would be the one to get.