Which lenses are you missing?

[PJD]

It is not showing as on sale at B&H. How did you get the sale price?

B&H's $280 sale price ended late in the day on 2/14/26. It was in effect for about week prior to that. They also sold it at that price in December 2025. The price has gone up & down the same amount at least twice in recent months, so maybe there's a chance they'll offer another discount on it soon. Good luck!

 

[Mmichaelhh1234]

For me it's... An ultrazoom lens. Yes, yes, yes, right after release of 28-200 I am telling that I am missing al ultrazoom. Why? Because I am completely unhappy with 28-200. Ultrazooms are meant to be "All in one" lenses. So you can take one lens with you and it will cover at least 90% of what you will want to take pictures of. However, 28 is not wide enough, 200 is not long enough. So with this lens I will be limited from BOTH sides! That's why I am not happy with this release. It should be either 24 on the ide end or 300+ on the tele end to interest me, or both, which would surely make me happy.

So yes, I am still waiting for a good ultrazoom lens. But now I don't think I'll get one

Can you imagine the image quality of a 24-400 at f/2.8. It would only be rivaled by the weight. Lol
It seems like Panasonic finds their sweet spots with a low weight/compact mantra. The fact that they have a 100mm macro that is the same length as their 1.8 primes makes them sort of niche.

 

[Mmichaelhh1234]

The APS-C 18-50/2.8 weights only 290g. I could image that a FF zoom 18-50 with a variable aperture would be possible to design with a limit of 500g. If it would not be over 500g, that would be a very interesting zoom also for me.

But this will be tough. Strong competition in the Sigma line-up. I have the Sigma 16-28/2.8 and really like it. It is FF, weights only 450g and has a filter size of 72mm. 2mm more on the wide end is a bigger difference than on the long end. I wonder how many peopel would choose the 16-28/2.8 because of these 2mm more on the WA and constant aperture over a FF 18-50 with variable aperture. Might also depends on price, size and weight.

It seems like the variable aperture lenses never start at 2.8.

 

[Jonathan-Mac]

It seems like the variable aperture lenses never start at 2.8.

Tamron make a few I think and in the film days Sigma and Tamron, maybe others, made some f/2.8-4 zooms as one step away from being constant aperture. But of course f/3.5 and f/4 are far more common.

 

[PJD]

Today I ordered a 7Artisans AF 24mm f1.8 lens from B&H, on sale for $280 with free shipping. Should arrive next week. Will be interesting to see if I like using it with my S5iiX. If not, I can return the lens for a full refund. My main use for it will be casual snapshots indoors in normal relatively dim lighting, but with more UI control than I care to bother to attempt with my iPhone 16 Pro (I hate & don't use the phone's Camera Button). If the lens also proves useful for landscapes, etc., that'll be a bonus. TBD. Cheers.

P.S.: Joke will be on me if 7Artisans announces a new improved version of the lens soon, but I suspect a new model will cost more, at least for a while.

I received the 7Artisans AF 24mm f1.8 lens a few days ago. So far I've only snapped the test images attached below. The Kolari OLPF was installed in my S5iiX when I snapped these pix. The view of my backyard is through a double-pane glass window. The photo of the lens itself is an iPhone snapshot.

My first impression: I like the lens, and I think it will well-suit my primary intended use case (indoor snapshots with direct, manual control). I hope to have time soon to do more shooting with it. Cheers.

• Panasonic DC-S5M2X
• 7Artisans L 24mm f/1.8
• ƒ/1.8
• 24mm
• 1/200s
• ISO 400

• Panasonic DC-S5M2X
• 7Artisans L 24mm f/1.8
• ƒ/1.8
• 24mm
• 1/200s
• ISO 400

• Panasonic DC-S5M2X
• 7Artisans L 24mm f/1.8
• ƒ/8
• 24mm
• 1/15s
• ISO 400