Expanding its L-mount portfolio, Panasonic has just announced the Lumix S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Macro O.I.S. lens, a flexible telephoto zoom with unique close-focusing capabilities. Fitting into the full-frame L-mount lens lineup as a lighter-weight, longer-reaching telephoto zoom than the 70-200mm options, this lens adds on to these benefits with the inclusion of a 1:2 macro designation and apt image stabilization to promote sharper handheld shooting.
Considering its portrait-length to super-tele zoom range, this lens is perfect for portraiture, sports, and even wildlife shooting applications. Its quick-focusing Linear AF motor pairs with Panasonic’s DFD technology for responsive subject tracking, and the lens’s physical design, with a built-in focus mode switch and focus range limiter, offers intuitive handling in quick-paced scenarios. Also, benefiting video creators, this lens has well-controlled focus breathing for consistent rendering throughout the zoom and focusing ranges. In addition, one of the spotlight features of this tele zoom is the impressive 1:2 maximum magnification ratio, at the 300mm focal length and 2.4' focusing distance, for half life-size shooting.
Optically, this lens features two ED elements, one ultra ED element, and one ultra-high-refractive index element, which all help to suppress various aberrations and distortion throughout the zoom range to achieve high sharpness and clarity, along with accurate color fidelity. An 11-blade diaphragm is featured, too, and yields soft bokeh, along with distinct 22-point starbursts when stopped down.
Contributing to intuitive handling, this Panasonic 70-300mm also includes a 5.5-stop effective image stabilization system, which works in conjunction with Dual I.S. 2 on select Panasonic cameras, for robust shake correction to enable sharper handheld shooting. Additionally, this lens is dust, splash, and freeze resistant to suit working in harsh weather conditions.
What are your thoughts on Panasonic’s new L-mount telephoto zoom? What lenses do you think are still needed for the L-Mount Alliance? Let us know your thoughts in the Comments section, below.
