Lumix S 24-60mm F2.8 Review: An Affordable f/2.8 Standard Zoom for L-Mount
Panasonic’s Lumix S Pro 24-70mm f/2.8 is excellent, heavy and expensive. The Lumix S 24-60mm F2.8, announced on May 13, 2025 alongside the S1II and S1IIE, offers f/2.8 at less than half the price: $899.99 at launch. It weighs 544 grams, against 935 grams for the Pro lens.
The catch is in the name. It stops at 60mm instead of 70mm. For many people that’s a fair trade for a lens they’ll actually carry all day.
A standard zoom is the everyday lens: town squares, street scenes, people at a table, a building across the road. Most of a trip or an event happens between 24mm and 60mm.
Photo: Pixel Effects
Gordon Laing’s review asks whether it’s the best general zoom for L-mount.
Video review: Gordon Laing
Design
The optical formula is 14 elements in 12 groups, with three aspherical, two ED and one UED element. The aperture has nine blades and the filter thread is 77mm. Focus uses Panasonic’s new Dual Phase Linear Motor with an optical encoder.
Close focus is a strength: 19cm at 24-30mm, with 0.3x magnification at 30mm. The lens extends about an inch when you zoom. It’s dust, splash and freeze resistant, with a mount gasket and a fluorine-coated front element.
There’s a programmable focus button, and on S1II-series bodies the focus ring can be reassigned to aperture or exposure compensation. There’s no aperture ring. For video, Panasonic suppressed focus breathing and uses micro-step aperture control for smooth exposure changes.
How it performs
PetaPixel and Photography Blog found autofocus fast and quiet, with minimal breathing. PetaPixel found the center sharp even at f/2.8, and Photography Blog liked the close focusing.
It isn’t as sharp as Panasonic’s S Pro zooms. PetaPixel saw soft corners at 60mm and wide open at 24mm, flare and ghosting against bright light, and onion-ring patterns in bokeh highlights. Photography Blog noted visible distortion and vignetting before correction. PetaPixel also found the manual focus ring loose, with no clutch.
Who should buy it
L-mount shooters who want f/2.8 without the weight or price of the Pro lens. On the Lumix S5II, S5IIX or S9 it keeps the kit small, and it’s a good match for the S1II it launched with.
The obvious rivals come from Sigma. The Sigma 28-70mm F2.8 Contemporary is similar in price and reaches 70mm but starts at 28mm. The Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 DG DN II Art is sharper and costs more. If you can live with f/3.5-5.6, the Lumix S 20-60mm is cheaper and wider. For the full f/2.8 picture, see our Lumix L-mount holy trinity.