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Panasonic Lumix S 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 on an SL2?


vikasmg

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A little after the fact but does anyone find a serious down-side to the Panasonic 20-60mm lens other than the obvious that its a little slow?  The reviews look good but I’m wondering if anyone has experience using this lens on an SL2.

I have a Leica 24-90 and it is a very good lens indeed.  While I still intend to use it I started looking for something lighter for casual use.  Ichecked out the new Leica 24-70 f2.8 and the Sigma 28-70 f2.8.  To really save some weight I thought of going with the Sigma 28-70.  However I think I’m more likely to use the wide angle end of the range, so the even smaller/lighter/wider characteristics of the Panasonic looked very attractive.  I expect it will also make a useful 30-90mm on the CL.

So to get back to my question - has anyone noticed any issues?

 

 

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52 minutes ago, vikasmg said:

Thank you JD and Bernard.  That’s reassuring 🙂

 

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I only have the SL and CL, but have been using the Pan 20-60 on both for over a year now and am 100% happy with it, in fact although I have several genuine Leica zooms i prefer the Pan as I find the wider 20mm ends so very useful and though not long 60mm seems long enough for almost everything else for me. So I rate the Pan 20-60 VERY highly. Don

Edited by Don Morley
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I received the lens last evening.  I like the size 🙂.  It’s very well made as well, though not as robust feeling as Leica SL lenses.

First few photos grabbed this morning.

The two pictures of the limes are at 60mm and 20mm (yes, it’s counterintuitive that at 20mm the lens focuses closer than at 60mm, as many zooms seem to).  Some Lightroom adjustments:  Both the close-up images are slightly cropped with some boost to exposure and shadows.  The house image was straightened and cropped a bit and the exposure was adjusted just by clicking on the ‘Auto’ button.  No changes to the camera’s colour rendering.  The SL colours usually seem to come out to my liking.

I think the 20mm close up would have focused better if I’d moved away an inch or so.

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Edited by vikasmg
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Two taken with the same lens on a CL.  These without increasing exposure much.  Seeing these I realise colour of is closer to the real thing.  I may have overdone the exposure boost in the other set.

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Edited by vikasmg
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  • 2 years later...

Hello!  It’s been a while.  I haven’t used the lens much recently but your post reminded me to use it more!

I don’t remember there being any issues with the autofocus so it must be fine!

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21 hours ago, OR120 said:

If I may ask - how is the autofocus on SL2-S using this Panasonic Lumix 20-60??

I don't have the SL2-S specifically, but the 20-60 is as good as anything in the L mount. That's probably because it is relatively slow and wide, which means that the focus groups should be very light, and they don't have to move much.

Firmware 1.1 (Jan 2023) promises faster AF, so you'll probably want to make sure that you have it loaded.

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I'm a bit mixed about this lens. On the positive side, it is very inexpensive when bundled with a S5, and can be found on the secondhand market for not much money. It is light, has a very useful zoom range, and is sharp where you want it. I've taken it interstate when weight was important and it performed well for video. On the minus side, it has gaping distortion at 20mm, and overall feels a bit 'flat', like it doesn't give a sense of 3D pop like you get with, say, a Zeiss lens at the same aperture. I shot a lot of street photography with it during Chinese New Year and I found it okay but not what I was hoping for. I'm obviously expecting too much from a kit lens, but I will continue to work with it and see what comes.

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This is not at all a bad lens. I bought it as a supplement to my Leica 24-90. Obviously, the Leica is superior, but much larger and heavier as well.

The 20-60 often shows up used. At least in Norway, the lens was bundlet with Panasonic S models for very little extra cost, and some buyers fint that they don`t need it and recover part of their money by offering it for sale at very low prices.

Stopped down a little, the performance is more than adequate for most users. Not the lens to buy if you need absolute performance like the Leica zooms or primes, but it is light and compact and amazing value for money. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Related to this thread, if one was looking for an alternative to the Leica 24-90 zoom that gets to similar performance stopped down to around f8 for landscapes - sharpness, resolution, color etc - albeit as light weight as possible, what zoom would that be?

Panasonic 20-60? 24-105? Or Sigma? Or Leica’s 24-70?

 

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  • 3 months later...

I have this lens along with Lumix 50mm f1.8 prime on my Lumix S5 mark 2.

 

It has got Very useful focus ranges but this is a dark lens. You can use it at f3.5 at the wide angle but if you want Archive best corner sharpness should be used at f8(or f5.6 pushing it) or even better f11. 

 

Therefore I use it during daytime most of the time to shoot everything and in the evening swap out to 50mm prime which has got much better sharpess and quality at f1.8. 

Obviously you not going to get much broken on the 20-60 either.

 

Quality wise it is the same as Lumix 24-105 f4 if both are closed down to f8.

I bought mine for £190 opened never used on eBay and there is simply nothing else cost effective on l mount. Both 20-60 and 50mm prime coated me £380. Used 24-105 is 700-800. Used sigma 24-70 f2.8 is 900ish. But the pair above beats them if you now when and how to use the combo

Edited by alex129
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