PANASONIC’S NEW MACRO LENS IS A FEAT OF MICRO ENGINEERING

Lumix S 100mm f/2.8 Macro is the world’s smallest and lightest lens of its kind

Panasonic has plugged a gap in its Lumix lens lineup with the new Lumix S 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens, which, thanks to a newly developed Dual Phase Linear focusing motor, Panasonic says is the world’s smallest and lightest full-frame macro lens over 90mm with a 1:1 magnification.

Not only that, the lens also has the world’s closest focusing distance for a macro lens (the same 100mm and 1:1 caveats apply), with a minimum focus distance of just 20.4cm.

This incredible feat of engineering puts the Lumix S 100mm at less than half the weight of rival lenses from Canon, Nikon, and Sony. And at just 82mm in length, it’s between 4966mm shorter than rivals. The Lumix S 100mm also has an identical body size and filter thread size to other Lumix S f/1.8 prime lenses, making changing lenses during video shooting quick and easy, as gimbals shouldn’t need to be rebalanced or camera rigs realigned.

In order to achieve this reduced size there’s a notable absence of any optical stabilisation, which is unusual for a macro lens, and sets it apart from rivals; although thanks to Panasonic’s rock-steady IBIS in its latest cameras, this might not be an issue. The lens also contains fewer total lens elements than other comparative lenses, but still squeezes in 3 ASPH, 2 UED, and 1 ED element to match Panasonic’s latest sensor’s image quality and control over unwanted aberrations.

The lens features what should be a top-notch build quality, offering weather-resistant sealing, and freeze resistance down to -10C.

The Lumix S 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens will be available to purchase from January 24 and will cost $999 / £999.