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Your favourite lenses for 2024 - and why

R

RuleOfThirds

Well-Known Member
For me, I got my S5ii late 2023 and started my FF Panasonic journey with S20-60, S70-300, 35/1.8 and 85/1.8. Although I really loved my starting set, I had to settle in to the system, find out what I liked, and I didn't care for.
2024:
So just for fun I bought the Sigma 45/2.8. I did not got along with that one. I don't know why. Loved the 35 rendering more and much faster. After getting the 24-105 from @Nevyn72 Both the 45 and 85 were obsolete to me... and there was a huge overlap between the 20-60 and 24-105, and I didn't care for the slow aperture of the 20-60, and 60 felt short. That is why I traded the 20-60 and 85 in for the S Pro 16-35, and exchanged the Sigma 45/2.8 for the 50/1.8

So my set of lenses consist now of:
16-35, 24-105 OIS, 70-300OIS and 2 primes, 35 and 50.

But what are my favourite lenses... It's quite hard because there is not that much overlap in use case
Pure from rendering perspective I think I like the 50 the best, closely followed by the 70-300

My most used lenses for 2024 were the 24-105 and the 16-35

If you would put me under severe pressure and have me to only choose one lens, it would be the 24-105, because I really like it's rendering too and it's by far the most versatile. But for now, I think I'm very satisfied with my selection. If Panasonic (or Sigma) would be so kind to produce a very nice 28/1.8 I might exchange the 35. If they make a 135/2.8 I might add it to my selection.
 
The Lumix S 24-105 F4 is really a nice and versatile lens. Very good image quality, fast, OIS, weight is good and the possibility to use it as a small macro is nice.

Nevertheless, for me the lens I still like most on a S1R is the Lumix S Pro 50 f1.4 and on the Sigma FP it's the Lumix 28 f8.
 
My kit at the moment is:

- TTArtisan 11mm f2.8 fisheye
- LUMIX 14-28
- LUMIX 24-105
- LUMIX 70-200 f4
- LUMIX 20-60
- Sigma 35/2
- LUMIX 50/1.8
- Sigma 105 f2.8 macro

Of these, the 14-28, 24-105, and 35/2 combo is my “bread and butter” kit. Together they probably account for over 90% of what I shoot.

The TTArtisan fisheye is probably my next most-used lens after the trio above. It’s a great performer, and I like the uber wide perspective it gives.

The rest are more specialised and get less air-time compared the the above trifecta. The sharpest (by far) is the Sigma 105 macro. Jaw-dropping performance - but it doesn’t get used a lot. Closest after that is the 70-200 which is also superb optically. But like the 105 macro, it doesn’t get used a lot either.

I keep the 20-60 because it cost me next to nothing and it performs exceptionally well. If I want light, I stick onto the S5 and I’m done.

The 50/1.8 doesn’t get a lot of use, but like the 20-60, it was cheap and it performs very well.

So I guess in terms of usage, and results, the 24-105 is my favourite lens. At f8 it’s uber sharp at all focal lengths. But on my copy at least, when wide open near the long end, there’s a bit of a halo effect going on. It’s fine for what I use it for (landscapes and mostly at f8 or f11), but I wonder if another copy might be worth checking out.
 
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I can use mine at all focal lengths wide open 5.6 for a bit more sharpness, but that is on 24mp. @pdk42 Can you give an example of that effect ? Or is it something once you have seen it, it can’t be unseen…
 
RuleOfThirds said:
I can use mine at all focal lengths wide open 5.6 for a bit more sharpness, but that is on 24mp. @pdk42 Can you give an example of that effect ? Or is it something once you have seen it, it can’t be unseen…
Click to expand...
It’s pretty obvious. I’ll post an example later.
 
Here you go. f4 on left, f5.6 on right. 200% view on Macboook Pro retina display.

1736621396688.png
 
Sigma 35/2.

I've had quite a few 35mm lenses, including the much vaunted Zeiss 35/2 of the Sony RX1 (which I owned for 11 years) but for me this Sigma is the best of them all.

Honourable mentions:

Sigma 24/3.5. I'm happiest with wide angle lenses and this is another excellent member of the i-series which I particularly like for its ability to focus close, giving a maximum 0.5x magnification. Overall it's my most used lens.

Panasonic 70-300/4.5-5.6. Sometimes it's nice to have a completely different perspective to my usual wide angles, and this lens performs far better than I was expecting. It also has a maximum 0.5x magnification.
 
My lenses are listed in my signature below and my favourites are the 24-105mm and the 70-300mm lenses. I use these most by far on my S5II, especially the 24-105mm.

When using the S9 the Sigma 45mm f2.8 is my favourite lens.
 
As stated before, but I do mostly video, so here my list:

While on the move:
sigma 16-28mm F2.8 combined with the lumix 28-200mm

For interviews, greenscreen work, performances:
Lumix 35mm F1.8
Lumix 50mm F1.8

I still have the lumix 85mm F1.8, the lumix 20-60mm, the TT-artisan 11mm and some vintage lenses, but these we (almost) never used in 2024.
 
pdk42 said:
But on my copy at least, when wide open near the long end, there’s a bit of a halo effect going on. It’s fine for what I use it for (landscapes and mostly at f8 or f11), but I wonder if another copy might be worth checking out.
Click to expand...
My 24-105 is a little soft at the long end as well. Can't remember if it's more obvious when wide-open, but I suspect it is. You can see this in the Panasonic-supplied MTF charts as well.
 
My most commonly used lens in 2024 was the 28-200 - by a long shot. Probably partially because it's new, but mainly because it's such an incredibly useful focal length range. I often shoot sunsets & sunrises off my back porch and it's so convenient to just leave it on the S5 - it covers 90% of what I need there, so it gets lots of use.

Might have used my 24-105 more but it's developed a glitch where the reported focal length range fluctuate rapidly, so I don't trust it. Probably a contact issue although I've cleaned the contacts. It's worth repairing and if I didn't have the 28-200, it would have been my most commonly used lens, I'm sure.

My second most used lens was my Sigma 14-24 F2.8. Partially because it's a great landscape lens, and partially because I use it for astro where many exposures are captured and then stacked in post to get a single image, so the image count in Capture One is a bit misleading. But a workhorse to be sure.

Were it not for the huge number of astro images, my second most used lens would have been my Sigma 150-600, where I use it both for compressed/long landscapes and some casual birding.
 
My favorite lens for photo and video is the Lumix 14-28mm f/4-5.6 macro. It is a very versatile lens and has all the advantages of a video lens (parfocal, no focus breathing, silent internal zoom, instant focus). I use it in small rooms and it is very practical because of the width that appears when using it. In addition to being macro, if used in APSC mode, especially for video, the focal range reaches 42mm. There you go, 14-42mm :p

However, the lens that I use most for video and photo, that is, as a hybrid lens, is the Lumix 35mm f/1.8. And the one I use most for video is the Lumix 24mm f/1.8 prime.

For photography I have several favorites (Leica 24-70 f/2.8, Lumix 50mm f/1.4 PRO), but I am only going to mention one: Sigma 65mm f/2 DG DN. I am so impressed with the image quality in such a manageable format that I am considering the possibility of acquiring the Sigma 35mm F/2 DG DN Z04 Flucht
 
xaviergut said:
For photography I have several favorites (Leica 24-70 f/2.8, Lumix 50mm f/1.4 PRO), but I am only going to mention one: Sigma 65mm f/2 DG DN. I am so impressed with the image quality in such a manageable format that I am considering the possibility of acquiring the Sigma 35mm F/2 DG DN Z04 Flucht
Click to expand...
I love my Sigma 35/2!
 
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