Lumix S 100mm f2.8 MACRO review: IN-DEPTH!

My Panasonic Lumix S 100mm Macro lens review!

Equipment used for producing my videos

00:00 - Lumix S 100mm introduction and rivals
01:37 - Lumix S 100mm design and controls
02:40 - Lumix S 100mm autofocus
03:08 - Lumix S 100mm bokeh balls and rendering vs 85mm f1.8
04:10 - Lumix S 100mm macro quality 1:1
06:08 - Lumix S 100mm focus breathing
06:42 - Lumix S 100mm focus stacking
08:44 - Lumix S 100mm portrait quality vs 85mm f1.8
10:05 - Lumix S 100mm landscape quality
10:53 - Lumix S 100mm sample images and verdict

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[cameralabs]

My Panasonic Lumix S 100mm Macro lens review!

Equipment used for producing my videos

00:00 - Lumix S 100mm introduction and rivals
01:37 - Lumix S 100mm design and controls
02:40 - Lumix S 100mm autofocus
03:08 - Lumix S 100mm bokeh balls and rendering vs 85mm f1.8
04:10 - Lumix S 100mm macro quality 1:1
06:08 - Lumix S 100mm focus breathing
06:42 - Lumix S 100mm focus stacking
08:44 - Lumix S 100mm portrait quality vs 85mm f1.8
10:05 - Lumix S 100mm landscape quality
10:53 - Lumix S 100mm sample images and verdict


As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

[DanielCurious]

I would welcome more reviews of L mount lens and products.

[reinhardbecker]

Please do more tests on l-mount. The system is ignored by many and offers a lot!

[BobWilliams-kkzz]

Just when I thought Gordon couldn't get any better with his lens reviews he goes ahead and actually demonstrates how the focus positions from stacking reduces subject magnification on a macro lens, something many potential owners of this lens would be left to wonder about since no other reviewer would never even think to demonstrate this.

[PepPayo]

Thank you very much for your in-depth and honest review. It is appreciated that you are one of the less privileged who have been able to access it before, that it does not say: 'it is the lens you need and have been waiting for'. I find the comparison with the rest of the alternatives on the market very exhaustive and accurate. And the tip of the comparison with the 85 f1.8 is the icing on the cake. Thank you very much again and keep up the good work!

[fellowcitizen]

Capt. Gordon Tiberius Laing: photographer, educator, and soul-peerer extraordinaire. HNY!💎

[clintjohnson]

Great comprehensive review Gordon.. Nobody else does it like you do as far as detail and real world use examples.. Thanks...

[imagesbirds]

Wow. Kudos Panasonic for making it so small. It's quite an acheivement to make it so much smaller than the usual suspects from Sigma, Canon and Nikon.

[dima]

Great review !
At first I was confused by this lens and did not understand how they did it. But i get it now. This is a different kind of 100mm macro. Naturally, primes breathe forward and usually 100mm macro rely heavily on this to get 1:1 at ≈ 0.3m. At macro distances, lenses like 100mm macro are not 100mm at all. I find it difficult to measure precisely, but my 100mm canon extends quite a lot. And I guess this is common for most 90-105 lenses. But this Panasonic is breathing corrected lens, and this is probably what made it possible to maintain such a modest length, but the macro experience will be noticeably different with 0.2m focus distance. And this is not necessarily a bad thing, at least for what I do. I use 100mm macro mainly up to 1:2 magnification for food and product photography and I think that in fact I work more with 110-120mm range and it is not as convenient and gives a slightly flatter picture than it would be if working with " real" 100mm. It would be interesting to compare the real angle with other 100 macro lenses. And this is a really new design, maybe this lens has more surprises. A drop in brightness, the influence of diffraction - who knows, the behavior in these parts may be different too.

[janromo]

Thanks. Looks like a cool lens.
Yes would love more L mount love

[BrittleMoon]

as someone considering switching from L Mount to Z for the ZF, this is certainly giving me pause! I just wish the alliance had a retro style body to go with the fantastic collection of compact lenses - though I understand that panasigma don’t really have the heritage to call on in that regard.

Fantastic review in any case - always my first port of call for new (and old!) gear :)

[ToolCraze]

Great review Gordon! And I've always been a big fan of the Panasonic cameras and lenses. I currently own several of their Panasonic m43 bodies and lenses. I think they knocked it out of the park with this macro. The size is very compact compared to other FF macros. Too bad the price is not tiny. 1k USD is quite a bit. But I'm happy with my Olympus 60mm macro. That's one thing where m43 is better at full frame - at shallow depth of field which is better for macro work.

[ampspedalspickups]

Awesome photo stacking section, exactly what I was looking for!

[oneeyedphotographer]

I switched from Canon to M43 for most of my photography but i have an S1R with Sigma's adaptor so I can continue using my TS-E lenses. I have also bought the 20-60 and 50 F1.8, and recently the 14-28.
I can do focus bracketting very well with my Olympus OM-D E-M1x, and I can do 50 megapixels, but I can't do both together.

L mount is viable now, for most photographers willing to pack a FF kit, Christian Fletcher is shooting Leica SL2, Joe Cornish has Sigma bodies, Ken Duncan has been using Lumx S for years.

U am interested in gear that extends wat I can do, less with gear that "improves" what I can do but only marginally.

[joeaddison]

You might have heard of a Dutch tilt or a dutch angle, allow me to introduce you to the Brighton angle

[TheRealRichardWong]

Great thorough review as always Gordon!
You may not know but I quite often use your review as a sanity check. And I am glad to find out we pretty much have the same results and conclusions
Happy New Year!

[JoshCameron]

Fantastic video Gordon, always the most thorough explanations and examples out there. Love it!

[wmpx]

Thanks, as a beginner I hadn’t quite realized that stopping down increases the depth of field like that, but your examples made it clear. I’ve been practicing manual focus on the 50-mm prime with focus peaking, and I was wondering what defines the depth of the focus plane. Makes a lot more sense now.

Looking forward to this lens arriving tomorrow. Your photos here were impressive

[_benjimouse_]

For me FF macro has been less fun than it was on m43 was with the Oly 60mm. A lot of that I put down to the 600g+ lenses. As an FE userr I jealous of this one.

[zahifar]

Concise and fully informative review. Great! And a great lens too. No chromatic aberrations in sight.