Panasonic is rounding out its L-mount family of f/1.8 prime lenses with the announcement of the Lumix S 18mm f/1.8 lens. This new lens gives full-frame mirrorless camera photographers and videographers an expansive, ultra-wide-angle view of the world, providing the capability to capture expansive landscapes and give a sense of vast scale in images and videos.
The new ultra-wide-angle prime lens joins its Lumix S 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm f/1.8 partners, completing an expansive focal length range from wide-angle to portrait-length telephoto. With a maximum aperture of f/1.8, photographers get serious light-gathering power without the weight and expense of larger f/1.4 or f/1.2 lenses. With these economics in mind, Panasonic has created this f/1.8 family of prime lenses that are designed to be compatible and virtually interchangeable; they each feature identical front filter sizes, optical performance, and matching designs, as well as sporting similar controls and an overall tactile feel. Due to the similar form factors, you can swap out these f/1.8 primes on a gimbal with minimal center of gravity shift adjustments needed.
The ultra-wide-angle 18mm lens is designed to produce beautifully sharp images from corner to corner with its 13 lens elements in 12 groups. Three of the lenses are aspherical, three are UED (Ultra Extra-Low Dispersion) optics, and one UHR (Ultra High Refractive Index) lens suppress chromatic aberrations and help create beautiful bokeh. Minimum focus distance is 7.1".
Identical to the other Lumix f/1.8 lenses in the L-mount quiver, the autofocus system features internal focusing along with a linear motor to promote responsive and accurate focusing for photography and video. Focus breathing is minimized, making the lens a good choice for video work that involves racking focus. Additionally, the manual focus control can be personalized to function in either nonlinear or linear operation, or when used with Lumix cameras, a set rotation angle can be used for improved tactile control and focus indexing. This, combined with a 9-bladed aperture featuring micro-step control for smooth exposure change, makes the lens perfectly suitable for professional quality video capture.
Ready for the field, the lens is dust- and splash resistant and can operate in temperatures down to 14°F.
Are you ready to add this ultra-wide-angle 18mm lens to your Lumix L-mount collection? Are you a fan of the f/1.8 family of primes? Share your thoughts in the Comments section, below!
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