Panasonic Lumix S 24-60mm F2.8 (S-E2460) lens review

This is a rolling review and will be continuously updated.

Key features

• Smaller and lighter weight than a 24-70mm F2.8
• One Ultra ED and two ED glass elements to minimise fringing
• Three aspherical elements to reduce spherical aberration, coma, distortion and enhance sharpness
• Programmable focus ring
• Programmable button
• Weatherproofing
• Fluorine coating to protect the front element from water drying marks, fingerprints
• Accessible pricing

What is it?

The Panasonic Lumix S 24-60mm F2.8 (S-E2460) is a new high-end, high-speed zoom, designed with enhanced portability in mind. Compared with the maker’s Lumix S Pro 24-70mm F2.8, this new lens is 42% lighter and much more compact, at about half the size. It’s also half the price at £899 inc VAT. So it’s not difficult to see why this lens is super-appealing.

Admittedly, it’s not quite at the same uncompromising level of optical design, but this new lens isn’t exactly a slouch in that area either. It has a much higher spec than lenses of a few years ago. For a start, it has 14 elements in total, with two of those being ED glass elements along with an ultra ED (UED) element to mitigate troublesome fringing and three aspherical elements to keep distortion and the size in check. My old 24-70mm F2.8, for example, has two aspherical elements and just one UD element, and it was considered top-tier when I bought it.

Externally, this lens has Panasonic’s latest design ques and elements: a programmable focus ring and a customisable function button. With a new Lumix S1 R II or equivalent, this means you can access a wide range of features and personalise the lens to your taste. For example, I set the function button to access and cycle through the AF modes and the focus ring to adjust exposure compensation when in AF mode (as the collar is mostly redundant then).

MTF

Technical Data

Check prices and preorder the Panasonic Lumix S 24-60mm F2.8 (S-E2460) at the following retailers: