LUMIX S 24-105mm F4 MACRO O.I.S. S-R24105

Standard zoom lens with F4 aperture

A review and photo examples of the Panasonic LUMIX S 24-105mm.

Gallery

The example photos were taken with a LEICA SL typ601.

Review

Usage
Lens overview
Comparison with competitors

1．Usage

The LUMIX S 24-105 was sold as a bundled lens for the LUMIX S1, and it seems that not many people bought it on its own. The maximum aperture is F4 throughout the entire zoom range, and it also has optical image stabilization, making it a luxurious build for a bundled lens.

I bought the Leica SL typ601 (hereinafter referred to as SL) around 2020 to save my Leica R mount lenses. Since it is a Leica R mount lens, it only has manual focus (hereinafter referred to as MF) lenses, so I felt that it would be nice to have at least one lens to test the autofocus (hereinafter referred to as AF) performance of the SL. When I looked for a candidate, I passed on the Leica genuine standard zoom lens, the Vario-Elmarit 24-90mm, as it was expensive and not cost-effective. Just after the release of the LUMIX S1, several of these bundled lenses were lined up at Fujiya Camera in Nakano, so I bought them.

My impression of using the LUMIX S 24-105 with the SL was that the focusing accuracy and focusing speed were on par; I didn’t think it was slow, but I didn’t feel it was particularly fast either, but it was sufficient performance for normal use. The speed and accuracy were comparable to the Leica genuine L-mount AF zoom lens I used later.

As per my original purpose, I mostly use the SL with Leica R-mount lenses, so I sold this lens without having much opportunity to use it. It is not widely available on the second-hand market, but perhaps because it is not popular, you can find it in stock if you look. However, there is almost no difference between the second-hand price and the new price, so it may be difficult to decide which one to buy.

2．Lens overview

The LUMIX S 24-105 was released as a bundled lens for the LUMIX S1, Panasonic’s first L-mount camera with a 35mm full-frame sensor. It is a zoom lens that covers a full-frame sensor with a constant F4 aperture, and has a 4.4x zoom from 24mm at the wide end to 105mm at the wide end.

The lens has a structure that is often used for low-cost zoom lenses, with 24mm being the shortest and 105mm being the longest. As mentioned above, the lens’s maximum aperture is F4 throughout the entire zoom range, and the lens is equipped with an optical image stabilization mechanism.

The minimum shooting distance is 0.3m throughout the entire zoom range.

3．About Panasonic’s camera business

This information applies to both the LUMIX S 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 S-R2060 and the LUMIX S 24-105mm F4 MACRO O.I.S. S-R24105.

I know I’m being a bit pedantic about the business strategies of other companies, but as a Panasonic fan, I’d like to share my thoughts on Panasonic’s camera business as of 2024.

Panasonic’s S lenses are not bad in terms of lens performance, but if you look at the lens design and ask yourself if you want it, I honestly wouldn’t say so.

If you want to sell lenses to photographers, a design that is inferior to even Asian camera manufacturers, including Chinese ones, is a fatal flaw, and while the lens barrel doesn’t need flashy decoration, I think it is necessary to have a design that makes it recognizable as an S lens at a glance in the city or in the field.

And, although the timing is already too late, when the L-mount 35mm full-frame mirrorless camera was released, I would have liked the LUMIX brand, which has had a negative image since the release of the S1, to start with a new brand name for the new camera system as a brand dedicated to Micro Four Thirds.

For a product as hobbyist as a camera, brand and design are a must, and competing with other companies in sales volume without establishing this would be a huge disadvantage. The current situation must have been one that Panasonic was well aware of, so I feel that this shows the company’s inability to take risks.

Panasonic is also involved in the L-mount alliance, which includes Leica, which has brand power, and Sigma, which is low-priced, so Panasonic has no choice but to target the mid-price range, which is also thought to be one of the reasons for its predicament in not being able to escape from its half-hearted position. In fact, the current LUMIX S brand is stuck in a very unstable position, neither high-end nor low-priced.

Also, the monthly production of 50 units in the press release for this lens is a sad figure, and even for a lens aimed at bundles, it is too low, and here too, the difficulties of Panasonic’s camera business are apparent. Honesty is a good thing, but I think it would be better not to dare to release such figures.

Compared to Sony, which has made a big leap with mirrorless cameras, Panasonic, which continues to fly low in the digital camera market, seems to be happier working behind the scenes with Sigma or Leica.

I will continue to keep an eye on Panasonic’s camera business, where the word “withdrawal” always seems to be floating around.

In June 2024, the company released the LUMIX S9, which is equipped with an entry-level 35mm full-frame sensor, but the future looks bleak as it did not rank in the top 50 of BCN’s “digital single-lens camera” sales rankings from September 23 to September 29, 2024. If the S9 is not classified as a digital single-lens camera, I would understand why it is not ranked, but I think the S9 is a “digital single-lens camera.”

仕様・比較

レンズ名	S-R2060	18-50mm F2.8 DC DN \| Contemporary	VARIO-ELMAR-TL
焦点距離(mm)	20-60	18-50	18-56
最大絞り	3.5-5.6	2.8	3.5-5.6
最小絞り	22	22	16
レンズ構成	9群11枚	10群13枚	7群10枚
絞り羽根枚数	9	7	–
最短撮影距離(m)	0.15〜0.4 （20〜40）	0.12〜0.31 （18〜50）	0.3〜0.45 （18〜56）
レンズ長(mm)	87.2	74.5(L-Mount)	60 マウント面からの距離
レンズ最大径(mm)	77.4	φ65.4(L-Mount)	63
フィルター径(mm)	67	55	E52(52mm)
重量(g)（レンズのみ）	360	290	256
リリース年	2020.7.20	2021.10	2014.4
定価（円・税別）	74,000	Open(65,000程度)	200,000-