Advice and input for building a L-Mount lens kit

[AManandHisCamera]

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Hey everyone of this wonderful forum which I’ve stalked for countless hours trying to piece together the information I need in order to make decisions and am now writing this incredibly horrible run-on sentence that would make my grade school english teacher cry :D. I’m currently in the process of a big gear adjustment where I’ve shifted into the Panasonic L mount with a S5 IIX. I’m coming into this after a fair break from doing this kind of work and I previously use to be in the Fuji X system and previous to that Canon. I’m currently a hybrid shooter of stills and video where the split is around 65/35 in favour of stills. I have for decades been a stills only shooter and video is relatively new to me (albeit I’ll claim that I’m getting close to being able to call myself decent on the video side of things now), hence, drumroll for the super obvious reason I’m here and looking for advice is relating to the video aspect of all this and putting together my lens kit.

My work for the most part involves boring corporate type stuff, the occasional events shoots (you guessed it weddings) (although doing more and more events lately with a gimbal) and my more meat and potatoes at the moment being real estate photography along with some architecture work sprinkled in. I was so sure I had my lens kit mapped out for my new Panasonic L mount system here until this whole issue from left field came into focus (which was out of focus) about focus breathing (ha ha, bad joke alert, I’m trying to entertain you the reader as these posts are dime a dozen from people asking for help). My plan was to pretty heavily invest into the L mount Sigma glass for my work and personal shooting. But I’ve seen so much chatter about just how much better the Panasonic glass is when it comes to focus breathing I’ve been all over the map trying to rack my brain re-trying to put together a lens kit now. Noteworthy is that the Panasonic prime glass does not have aperture rings (to be fair they would have to be non-clicky for video if they did have them) on them which the Sigma’s do.

From those of you that have made is this far in reading my post and have the experience to provide advice I would very much appreciate some right about now because I’ve certainly entered over-think territory here. If I’m hybrid shooting stills and video should the Sigma glass still be on the table here or am I strictly looking at getting only Panasonic glass? Or should I circle back and maybe consider some inexpensive manual focus glass instead. Any recommendations for specific lenses would also be appreciated (especially on the ultra wide side for real estate photography hybrid work) (I keep thinking the Sigma 16-28mm is an amazing value proposition when it comes to that but again on the video side of things I’m not sure).

Thanks to all that take the time to read this and reply it’s very much appreciated.

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[jaapv]

Both Sigma and Panasonic lenses are excellent choices and there is no reason to prefer one brand over the other but lens specifications for purpose. Only you can know what focal length and lens speed, and possibly rendering, will fit your style of working. Read the forum and trusted reviews to make your choice. I am not aware of the chatter you mention, probably some internet trolling, nothing else. 

Leica provides lenses of a higher level when they are their own designs like the APO series, however the lenses that they share with Sigma and Panasonic  are basically rebrands, different in build and outward design, not optical quality.

The Sigma 70-200 can be set to non-clicking for video use and is arguably the best auto-focusing lens in L mount,. 
 

To give you an idea of the L mount system: The Leica’s are built to be extremely robust go-anywhere cameras, all-purpose but not particularly meant for specialized use like sports and very fast action. Very pleasing and clean design, sleek but slightly idiosyncratic UI. iP54.Optimal image quality. SL3 is the high resolution variant, SL2S the most versatile one 
For the best AF in L mount we have the newest Panasonic offerings like the S5ii. More extensive digital options. Robust and well built More mainstream but well-thought-out UI. Excellent image quality but a fraction behind Leica. 
For professional Video the S5iiX, followed by the S5Ii and S9 for Vloggers; not lagging too much behind  the SL2S. 
Note that we are expecting an SL3S. So enough to choose from

I am by no means a wedding photographer professional but I can imagine that an Sl2(3?)S. S5IiX, Sigma 28-70 2.8 and 70-200 2.8 and a few primes of your choice would cover just about everything. Note thrat Leica requires Leica branded and a few Godox flashes, Panasonic has another protocol.

As a side note the SL series is designed to take Leica M lenses as well. 

[AManandHisCamera]

@jaapv thank you so much for taking the time to reply. It’s much appreciated and I think I’m now finding my way towards a better mapped out lens kit for myself. I’m sure some of it won’t be perfect and I’ll have to make adjustments on the fly as my use dictates what works for me exactly (but I’m hoping this effort will at-least mitigate some of the purchase-sell and repeat routine with camera gear). 

For anyone intrigued what it’s looking like: Panasonic 14-28mm F4-5.6, Panasonic 18mm F1.8, Sigma 28-45mm F1.8, Sigma 65mm F2, Panasonic 100mm F2.8 (possibly Panasonic 85mm F1.8 instead of the 100mm as the price difference is near double but lets see, I do like the compression that extra 15mm offers even if it is minimal compared to an 85mm) 

[lykaman]

On 1/10/2025 at 5:47 PM, jaapv said:

Robust

I use Leica, Panasonic & TTArtisans… No complaints.

🍻

Edited January 12 by lykaman

[Olaf_ZG]

1 hour ago, AManandHisCamera said:

@jaapv thank you so much for taking the time to reply. It’s much appreciated and I think I’m now finding my way towards a better mapped out lens kit for myself. I’m sure some of it won’t be perfect and I’ll have to make adjustments on the fly as my use dictates what works for me exactly (but I’m hoping this effort will at-least mitigate some of the purchase-sell and repeat routine with camera gear). 

For anyone intrigued what it’s looking like: Panasonic 14-28mm F4-5.6, Panasonic 18mm F1.8, Sigma 28-45mm F1.8, Sigma 65mm F2, Panasonic 100mm F2.8 (possibly Panasonic 85mm F1.8 instead of the 100mm as the price difference is near double but lets see, I do like the compression that extra 15mm offers even if it is minimal compared to an 85mm) 

You do sometimes weddings… the panasonic 100 is great for details. If you buy some lenses secondhand, you could save some money. I also suggest the sigma 85/1.4 for portraits. 
If I was too do weddings again, those would be in my bag (among some others ofcourse).

[AManandHisCamera]

On 1/11/2025 at 11:08 PM, Olaf_ZG said:

You do sometimes weddings… the panasonic 100 is great for details. If you buy some lenses secondhand, you could save some money. I also suggest the sigma 85/1.4 for portraits. 
If I was too do weddings again, those would be in my bag (among some others ofcourse).

After doing a fair bit of back and forth (between the 85mm 1.8 and 100mm 2.8) I settled on the Panasonic 100 for minimum focusing distance, macro capabilities in video especially but also for stills and gave up that bit of extra light gathering ability from the 85. I think it balances a little bit better FL wise in my kit as well. I tend to shoot a bit longer than most I would say (aside from real estate stuff which basically demands UWA even though in my humble opinion you should not shoot under 20mm to keep things looking natural but that’s not what realtors want) so I like that extra 15mm of compression and distance it provides me and unlike a 135mm FL which starts to become unusable indoors I find 100mm still works indoors similar to a 85mm. I will say the Panasonic 85mm is a bargain in comparison to the 100mm price wise and it was bit of a tough pill to swallow there