With the news that Panasonic has introduced phase detection autofocus to its Lumix series of cameras through a new full-frame S5II and S5IIX, it seems that Lumix’s main user error—unreliable autofocus performance—may have finally been resolved. The development puts Panasonic on par with all of the biggest players—Nikon, Canon and Sony—and bodes well for the future of underwater photography and video with Panasonic cameras.
As part of the L-Mount Alliance with Leica and Sigma, Panasonic uses L-mount for its full-frame cameras, and among the three companies, there are No shortage of lenses to choose from. For underwater shooters, Sigma offers the most complete product line, including Sigma 14–24mm f/2.8 DG DN Art for wide angle and Macro art 105mm f/2.8 DG DN. Whereas Leica offers the Super-Vario-Elmar-SL 16–35 f/3.5–4.5 ASPH. and Panasonic has Lumix S PRO 16–35mm f/4 as well as its new Lumix S 14–28mm f/4–5.6No company offers macro prime lenses for full-frame cameras.
That is likely to change in the near future with the announcement of Panasonic’s S-series L-mount lens update roadmap—see below. It looks like one of the lenses will be a 100mm macro lens (the other is a 28–200mm zoom lens). One would hope for an addition to Panasonic’s collection of “PRO” lenses, which must pass the stringent optical standards set by Leica and are the only S-series lenses with “Leica certification” on the lens body. Speaking of Leica, we won’t mind the full-frame macro from the German lens legend someday.
