Today we celebrate the release of the brand new Panasonic LUMIX S Series 85mm f/1.8 Mirrorless L Mount prime lens for all full-frame Panasonic/Leica L-Mount system cameras. This new addition beefs up the full-frame L-mount alliance lineup by offering a more affordable, compact, and lighter-weight Panasonic prime lens.
Panasonic LUMIX S Series 85mm f/1.8 Mirrorless L Mount Lens ()
This new 85mm is very light, weighing just over 12.5 ounces. It has a plastic casing all the way through but the lens itself and all of its elements are glass. It measures under 4 inches in length so yes, this is a very compact lens for a full-frame 85mm.
The rubber focus ring operates smoothly and has ribbing for follow focus attachments to hold and the thread size is 67mm for filters and attachments. Using this for the day’s shooting, I found that this lens doesn’t feel flimsy and it focused very easily on my Panasonic S1 manually. The focus ring caught focus with ease and I didn’t feel like I had to search for the right range of focus. While not completely weather-sealed, the LUMIX S Series 85mm f/1.8 is dust-, splash-, and freeze-resistant down to about 14 degrees Fahrenheit to withstand harsh conditions. Overall, the LUMIX S Series 85mm f/1.8 feels nice in the hand, with nice construction and precision.
I love a good portrait lens and an 85mm just works well in so many situations, especially since I can choose on my S1 to shoot in either full-frame or APS-C crop mode giving me a tad more reach. I was very impressed with the images I was able to capture with this lens (more on that below) and found that it offers a very nice compression and sharpness — something that is expected from a high-quality 85mm lens.
The Lumix full frame cameras have such a great sensor quality and color and this 85mm lens just fits right in, helping to create beautiful portrait stills and video. In my video (see it at the bottom of this article), you will see I’m manually focusing and taking advantage of the S1’s in-body stabilization to smooth out my handheld video shooting. While there’s no image stabilization in this lens, the IBIS of the S1 handled the motion beautifully.
That brings us to the ever-present must-ask question: auto-focus. I’m always interested when Panasonic releases a new lens because I want to see how it performs on the Lumix contrast-based auto-focus system. In my opinion, every lens acts a bit differently on this camera system so I’m always trying to find a lens that works really well with Panasonic AF from body to body.
In still photo mode the Lumix S 85mm f/1.8 worked very well. I mostly utilized the S1’s face, eye, and body detection to lock onto my subjects. I was actually very impressed. The auto-focus felt snappy and I wasn’t frustrated by the lens searching for focus. For a longer lens, the 85mm f/1.8 focuses quite quickly and is a nice surprise to see on this system.
In video mode, it was par for the course with the 85mm doing its best to lock on the same face-eye-and body detection mode. Flipping over into eye-tracking only mode, I found the results were similar. I don’t attribute any issues with auto focus to this lens. Note: you may need to play around with your camera’s internal auto-focus responsiveness and sensitivity levels to see what settings work best for you in your situation. Panasonic also notes this 85mm lens suppresses focus breathing for true form focus without slight aberrations when pulling focus.
The Panasonic LUMIX S Series 85mm f/1.8 debuts for at Adorama. It’s a great price for a brand new prime lens that has a great pedigree with all of the Lumix S and S Pro goodness Panasonic has thrown our way lately. Whether you are a user of the S1, S1R, the S1H, or the recently released full-frame baby brother — the Panasonic Lumix S5 — this little 85mm will be a great addition to the family.
Feature image via Adorama
