Panasonic’s New Lumix S 20mm f/2.5 Lens
Panasonic has added another small prime to its full-frame lineup with the new Lumix S 20mm f/2.5, an ultra-wide lens for L-Mount cameras. It sits between Panasonic’s existing 18mm f/1.8 and 24mm f/1.8 in focal length, but physically it is much closer to the company’s newer compact 40mm f/2 and 18-40mm f/4.5-6.3. The 20mm measures 40.9mm long and weighs 142g, comes in black or silver, has dust- and splash-resistant construction, and uses the same 62mm filter size as those other two compact Lumix S lenses.
Inside are 11 elements in nine groups, including three aspherical elements and three ED elements, with a seven-blade aperture diaphragm. Minimum focusing distance comes in at 0.18m, giving the lens a maximum magnification of 0.15x. Autofocus is designed for both photo and video use, while the lens also gets a customisable focus ring and Fn button. That Fn button becomes even more useful with the upcoming Lumix S9 firmware 2.1 update, where it can be assigned to functions such as Crop Zoom directly from the lens.
One obvious comparison is Sigma’s 20mm f/2 DG DN Contemporary, which has been available for L-Mount since 2022. The Sigma gives you a slightly brighter f/2 aperture, but it is also considerably larger at 72.4mm long and weighs 370g, compared with 142g for the Panasonic. There is a fairly substantial price difference too, with the Sigma currently sitting at $769 compared with $499 for Panasonic’s new 20mm. The Panasonic Lumix S 20mm f/2.5 is expected to begin shipping in October for $499, with the Lumix S9 firmware 2.1 update arriving next month as well.
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