Panasonic has just updated its Lumix S L-mount lens roadmap for its full-frame mirrorless system (January 2023). From the latest Panasonic Lumix S lens roadmap, we can see there are two new lenses in the pipeline. While the roadmap is not specific, it does provide some useful information. One lens apparently translates as “macro lens” while the other translates to “high-power zoom”. My best guess is that we will see the following lenses or something very similar.
- Panasonic Lumix S PRO 100mm f/2.8 Macro
- Panasonic Lumix S 28-200mm f/4-5.6 O.I.S
A 100mm f/2.8 macro lens was on the Lumix S roadmap a few years ago, but it disappeared around 2019. Thus, it seems certain that this “mysterious” macro lens, sitting right on the 100mm marker, is the previously rumored 100mm f/2.8 Macro, now returned. As for whether it receives the PRO designation or not, I’m taking a stab in the dark here. Canon and Nikon both place their 100/105mm macro lenses in their top-of-the-line lens brackets – L Series and S Series, respectively – so it makes sense that Panasonic would do the same.
As for the “high power zoom specifications,” this is harder to pin down. In the past, Panasonic’s Lumix S lens roadmaps have thrown some curve balls that make prediction a little tricky. For example, a lens previously referred to as a “large aperture wide zoom” turned out to be the 14-28mm f/4-5.6. Nobody would call f/4-5.6 “fast,” so you can see that we can’t take everything on the roadmap for granted.
I’m very curious to see what this lens turns out to be. The longer zoom lens section of the Lumix S Series lens lineup is by far Panasonic’s weakest. Where is the 100-400mm lens that sells so well for Canon, Nikon, and Sony? This is a glaring gap in the lineup. Sure, there is an L Mout Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG DN lens that can be used in this place, but why would Panasonic leave that money on the table?
Perhaps, in the past, they saw little point in offering a lens that would typically be used for sports and wildlife shooting while their cameras used aging, slow-as-molasses contrast detect autofocus systems. Now, with the recent introduction of the S5 II models with phase detect AF, perhaps we will see them target this part of the market.
Previous Panasonic Lumix S Lens Roadmaps
September 2021
- 35mm f/1.8 (This has now been launched)
- 24mm f/1.8 (This has now been launched)
- 50mm f/1.8 (This has now been launched)
- Large Aperture Wide Fixed turned out to be a 18mm f/1.8 (This has now been launched)
- 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 (This has now been launched)
- Large Aperture Wide Zoom turned out to be a 14-28mm f/4-5.6 Macro (This has now been launched)
November 2019
- 24mm f/1.8 (This has now been launched)
- 50mm f/1.8 (This has now been launched)
- 85mm f/1.8 (This has now been launched)
