Panasonic S 18mm F1.8 review

With the release of the Panasonic 18mm F1.8, the L-Mount has a full line of video-optimized prime lenses, with similar weight, design and image quality. With Chris out of town, Jordan took the new lens out to see if it's worth your attention.
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0:00 - Intro
0:55 - F1.8 Series
1:22 - Design and handling
1:48 - Autofocus
2:24 - Chromatic aberration
2:45 - Breathing
3:32 - Astrophotography
4:00 - Flare and sunstars
4:31 - Bokeh
5:10 - Closeup performance
5:32 - Sharpness
6:12 - Compared to Sigma 20mm F1.4
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[@DeepteshLovesTECH]

Panasonic, make something similar to the A7C and with PDAF. The S5 is already quite small, convert it into a rangefinder body. Would be a killer setup with this lens. Probably will remain merely as a dream...

[@Democratiser]

100% agree!

[@marinrealestatephotography]

Considering your comment has already got 16 thumbs ups (including mine), I guess it is safe to say that an S5 with PDAF in a rangefinder body would be very popular. Hopefully Panasonic is listening.

[@alexsystems2001]

Is be happy if my S5 had pdaf! 😊

[@AXYZE]

I'm Lumix G9 user considering upgrading to A7 IV / Fuji X2. If Panasonic would create such A7C-equivalent camera I would instantly go for it, even if their first PDAF would be behind Sony/Canon - just improve pulsing/hunting compared to S5 and its fine! Panasonic IBIS is just best, even on FF. Smooth pans, zero jitter, very reliable... and for me they have top-notch UI with really great feeling bodies and I love their HLG 10bit profile. Just make S5 smaller & add PDAF, its all you need to do in order to get sales! If they would get rid of 4K60 crop (it can be lineskipped full-width like Canon R7) then it would be just perfect camera.

[@hanqingsui755]

PDAF no chance！

[@mdrewpix1]

Thanks Jordan, that was a fun evening! Nice bonus with the aurora, too

[@deanisplemoni]

Hell yeah! I love seeing more of Jordan!

[@intheblues]

Another great video, Jordan! Excellent work.

[@michaelsteingraber9866]

Very well done Jordan! Thanks!

[@TheDIYFilmmaker]

I love this new lens, definitely what we all where waiting for, even though we can see that in the minute 6:42 in the park lost the face detection AF and focused to the trees. In any case, this is the most amazing lens in the L-Mount system. Cheers!

[@roberto-maddaloni]

Big fan. Love you guys and keep up the great work! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@JdeVos]

Was also fortunate to test the lens and was blown away by its astrophotography capability and had very different results (tack sharp stars wide open).

[@dima1353]

This line of primes is just fantastic ! Very balanced, good focus, protection, while the presence of sigma in the system does not make them obsolete. I would like to see something like that in Canon line, instead of that stm circus of madness with retractable focus, six-lens 50mm and huge distortion wide-angle lenses .

[@kifley19]

The canon stm lenses are a joke. Even the ef versions have better auto focus. Their L primes are legit but they are all expensive.

[@PrimalShutter]

The video quality looks amazing in this one

[@yesthisisdonut]

this is a pretty thorough review, nice job! some christopher frost accuracy here :)

[@polaris8126]

Omg! This is what I have been waiting for!!!!! 🤘🤘🤘🤘

[@petouser]

Can you review some 3rd party lenses for Canon RF mount? 😂😂

[@NicolasAlexanderOtto]

Thanks for the terrific review! :-)

[@ScrattleGG]

That lineup of same size primes is very satisfying. That tickled an itch to see haha - Wish panasonic had styled the lenses and cameras a bit more. There is very little design going on in the camera world except for few who go all out

[@beaubolieu]

Nice still photos Jordan!

[@stanmorinaka4551]

Great job Jordan!

[@craigcarlson4022]

Nice job with this review. Am contemplating getting the rumored S9, know nothing about Panasonic lens options, so am doing some ‘What if’ research.

[@harryvlogs7833]

Loved this video

[@wallystellmacher6794]

Good job, Jordan. 👍

[@detectivejonesw]

Nailed it Jordan

[@geoffreybassett6741]

Should have taken the SL2 with you Jordan! High resolution and the 4K log footage you desire. Looks like a stunning optic, curious to see what it would look like in terms of image without the software distortion correction to see how wide it actually is.

[@I4get42]

Hi Jordan! Great as aways. It is interesting how this came out at about the same time as the mft 9mm. I wonder how much development overlap there was.

[@dannyly]

Thanks for being honest about the astro. All the other reviews Im seeing are just mentioning 'great for astro' with no examples.

[@sardanapalos]

in a group somebody posted some really good images from astro.... cant remember who since idc about astro but research it more....

[@briandipierro8865]

Now that they have these primes out, I'm really hoping they make some slightly more affordable and compact primes. Like a 28mm f2.8 or something

[@winniduesseldorf]

At first, thank you for this great review and best wishes for the New year. I am considering to buy a S5 body with exact that lens you tested here. What I would like to know is, if this 18mm meets the 90 degree horizontal challenge. Is ist possible to put the full frame camera at 45 degrees alignment in a hall, a lobby or a church and get then an image of the left and the right wall with one shot? Greetings from Dusseldorf (DUS) in Germany and stay healthy and happy

[@Filmmaker809]

We love you Jordan, don't need to say Chris is coming back all the time, it should be a team effort. Jordan/Chris. :)

[@mediamannaman]

Thanks for a very good review of this 18mm lens! I have the 50mm prime from this series and am considering the 18mm so I can use both of them for real estate videos (using the 50mm for detail shots). I was concerned when you said that the lens was not as sharp at f1.8 as it was at f4, but in the comparison photo you showed at 5:46, I cannot tell the difference between the f1.8 and the f4 images when looking at the centers, and I'm looking on my 32" 4k monitor at full screen. Given that the 50mm and the 18mm are the same size and weight, both have the same filter size, and can be swapped without rebalancing my gimbal, it looks like this lens is a good choice for doing real estate videos.

[@kerromac]

this is the same exact combo of lenses im looking at getting for the S5 IIX

[@whatwelearned]

The 35 and 50 don't really grab me but I'm seriously going to have to think about getting this and the 85. Lovely stuff Panasonic

[@obscurelines]

I really am happy to be a lumix shooter, great lenses, solid bodies. But id love to see them knock it up a notch - better focusing, and ideally faster shooting. Im jealous of shooters getting 15 or so shots a second. Give me a premium S5 style camera.

[@stalman]

Good one Jordan

[@dpreview]

Thanks Tyler!

[@FabledFew]

Man if only Canon would have made the size of their f/1.8-2 lenses consistent, it would’ve been a great set. I mean, the 35 and the 24 are identical, the 16 and 50 are, too, but then you have the 85 that just stands out. I wish they all had the form factor of the 35.

[@juliussternfeld428]

What’s your problem with the sigma fp L? I love it.

[@davidp158]

I have the 24-70 S Pro lens, and really appreciate the linar focusing feature when using a follow focus rig. Do the S primes also have linear focusing?

[@aleksivahapassiweddings]

yes they do

[@HuahangLiu]

How does the autofocus and tracking focus perform on X2D?

[@schmoldovia]

too late, waited for this -anounced for 2021- so long, thought about alternatives. finally I bought the sigma 16-28/2.8. I would be interested in a comparision of these incomparable lenses... TIA

[@jacobh5817]

A Lumix S summer This summer holidays we travelled through the Alps by car and hiking. Both in the mountains as well as some cities. I didn’t want to skimp on IQ, so instead of a smaller Fujifilm camera, I decided on taking my SL2 and SL2-S with me. I normally use these, next to my X2D, for professional fashion and beauty work in the studio. For that I have the 50 Lux-SL as well as the 24-90 and 75 Cron-SL lenses. Great glass, but quite heavy to carry around for an entire day at 37ºC. We also have two Lumix S lenses: the 50 and 85/f1.8. Both are lightweight and astonishingly good value for money. I decided to answer two questions for myself: 1) how good are the Lumix lenses really for stills, and 2) are they worthy of mounting to a Leica SL2 body? So, I borrowed two more S lenses: the 35 and the 18/f1.8 and here’s my conclusion. First, I didn’t take the 24/f1.8. I tried that lens before and although it was solid, I wasn’t impressed by the sharpness. I think it is nowhere near as good as the 50 and the 85 for stills. Nevertheless, for video it is great. Talking about video, if you’re a video shooter and use L-mount, don’t look further than these 5 Lumix S lenses. They’re almost a no-brainer. Same size, almost same weight, same filter size, great IQ, fast AF and great MF on both Panasonic S and Leica SL cameras. Having said that, I’m mostly a stills shooter, but I also value the filter size and AF performance. Secondly, although these lenses have ‘ plastic’ barrels (actually it is Thermal Stable Composite), they’re well-made and can take a beating. They don’t have the premium feel of an APO-Summicron-SL, but each weight less than half and costs about an eight of the price. Thirdly, these lenses behave great on a Leica body. AF is superfast and accurate. MF is fully configurable (I have mine set at linear with a 120º rotation). They’re beautifully balanced and with IBIS 0,5sec is no problem at all. Next, image quality is excellent. No, they’re not as good as the APO-SLs, but all 4 can easily handle 47MP and color rendering was identical. As for the 35 and 50, I’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference with the new Summicron-SL lenses. You have to really favor the premium feel of Leica to spend 4x as much for basically the almost same IQ. Are they as good as the Sigma i-Series or the Art-series? Yes, definitely as good as the i-Series 35/45/50/65/90mm and marginally less than the 20/24mm i-Series. However, the i-Series has max. apertures and filter sizes all over the place, are not weather sealed and AF is definitely not as good on SL2 and SL2-S bodies. As for the Art-series, yes, the 20/24 has visibly better IQ and the 35/50/85 are marginally better. However, all Art lenses are way heavier, bigger, more expensive and AF is also less consistent on SL2 and SL2-S bodies. My conclusion, these 4 Lumix S lenses (18/35/50/85) are exceptional in terms of value for money. The 50 and 85 are no-brainers also for stills photographers. For the 18 and 35 you might also look at the Sigma i-Series, but I valued the similarity in handling and AF/MF. As a fashion/beauty photographer I also prefer the Lumix over the Sigma rendering, although you can adjust that in post. In my view they’re worthy of mounting to an SL, SL2 or SL2-S. Yes, the APO-SLs are definitely better in all aspects, but these four lenses together cost less than half of one APO-SL lens. Having to carry my own bag and viewing the results afterwards, I never regretted not having an APO-SL with me. The only option would have been the 24-90 Vario-Elmar, but that lens mounted on an SL2 is a hefty set. Using the SL2-S and only the 35/f1.8 was such a great night outdoors combo, that I really enjoyed taking my camera with me.

[@LucaBono.Studio]

The problem of these Lumix S f1.8 lenses, and Leica 35/50mm Asph, is the corner warping. These lenses are going from barrel to pincushion distortion, depending from where the plane of focus, and this will give you a different feeling in all your pictures. With Leica lenses, normally, the distortion is always properly corrected and if you're used to that look it's pretty difficult to digest these Lumix S primes (IMHO). What do you think about it?

[@DustinBKerensky97]

Having a set of primes like that is brilliant, every manufacturer should be copying that idea of a set of good compact identical primes, rather than chasing the super wide apeture dragon. I'd rather have a full set of affordable f/1.8 or f/2 primes than having to choose one or two ultra bulky and expensive 1.2 or 1.4 lesnes.

[@kifley19]

Nikon has done that already.

[@OfficialSushiSystemAmbassador]

Then they really should make both as there are photographers interested in fast apertures, no matter the weight, and I think two such similar sets on the same mount is hard to justify economically for every camera manufacturer. I think it is better as it is right now, where Panasonic is a specialist for this kind of setup.

[@50procentnibanan]

Which would be better for astrophotography? Sigma or the new panasonic? They are both very sharp. But what about the coma on the sigma?

[@mandobaron]

Would love a little 18 1.8 for Sony!

[@tt-ew7rx]

Max high resolution sharpness is probably something that you can trade for other qualities for a video lens.

[@steadicamwalker]

Top performance

[@djjohnnybravo]

Is that lens focus by wire or it can work as classic manual ?

[@kingsamvisuals]

Panasonic is killing it with the 1.8 primes. I just got into the system with an s5 and it's safe to say that once they put in pdaf which I'm certain they are working on. It's game over.

[@Filming-and-Stuff]

Totally agree with you. Once they implement phase detect autofocus, it’s GAME OVER!

[@sardanapalos]

i m also a lumix shooter ....dont bet anything on that.....years are passig by and still panny hasnt found the solution....maybe there are more things behind it than we think....

[@kingsamvisuals]

@@sardanapalos it's literally to get one thing killing them. Stupid business decision not to improve it. They simply have to be working hard behind the scenes. The recent Leica partnership maybe on to something idk.

[@sardanapalos]

@@kingsamvisuals welll they may work on it ad may not...i mean this is old news....they should have done it already.....if they do the sales will be crazy of the S series

[@aleksivahapassiweddings]

its highly likely their next bodies have pdaf.. check the rumors :D Pana will be king I promise.

[@SP-ly3vd]

As a Canon RF mount shooter, I'm jealous! We want some fast wides!

[@Democratiser]

The RF 16mm f2.8 looks like a reasonably priced lens which is sharp in the middle, but obviously it isn’t F1.8. It also isn’t weather sealed, which is the major cripple inflicted on the non-L RF glass. I’m sure that, in time, some wide, fast, weather-sealed, L series primes will emerge. Better start saving though! And then there might be third party lens options in the future … wait, nope, no chance of that happening any more! 🤣🤣🤣😳.

[@SP-ly3vd]

@@Democratiser I never liked the lower quality glass, I've always stuck with the L line. I tried third party glass but it was always subpar, even some of the Art lenses from Sigma. From my experience with owning L glass and especially the RF 28-70 f2, you get what you pay for. and personally, I think it would be awfully dumb for Canon to open up their RF mount to third parties. Canon is a lens manufacturer, that move would be equivalent to Coca Cola revealing their Coke recipe.

[@Democratiser]

@@SP-ly3vd It looks like your wishes might be about to be partially met with the following rumoured lenses: Canon RF 12mm f/1.8L USM Canon RF 24mm f/1.4L USM Canon RF 28mm f/1.4L USM Canon RF 35mm f/1.2L USM.

[@SP-ly3vd]

@@Democratiser if Canon can can bundle all that up into a zoom i'de be happy. I'm hoping for maybe a 15-28 F2

[@Democratiser]

@@SP-ly3vd I wholly appreciate the simplicity and efficiency of an all in one fast L lens. For me, however, having a smaller and lighter system for a lower financial outlay are higher on the priority list. I haven’t found the perfect system yet though!

[@oneeyedphotographer]

Could this be my only L mount lens?

[@arpitkumargahlot]

Jordan is a fantastic photographer. I like some of his compositions better than Chris'. He should take more sample shots during videos.

[@A1Bokeh]

I have these lenses the 35 and 50 are really good the 85 so far is kinda meh imo I think I would choose the 18 over the 24 mostly because of the focal length

[@JonackFilm]

This Lens is very good for Astro Fotographie I think.

[@jessecumberledge4530]

If Panasonic would hurry up and release a camera with consistent AF, they would explode in market share after Canon crapped on the end user with the lens decision.

[@Democratiser]

Yep. Agreed. Lumix also needs to share L mount technology thoroughly with third parties, starting with the other L mount alliance partners, esp Sigma! The mutual cross-crippling (eg with IBIS/OIS) that is perpetuated between Lumix and Olympus (OMDS) for MFT mount lenses is pure insanity. Is the rivalry so fierce because the stakes are so small?!? I don’t understand why they don’t take a lesson from the sole company that has grown significantly its share of the ‘real’ camera market in the last decade: Sony! What did Sony do differently? I’d say six things: (1) pursued autofocus perfectionism, (2) opened its lens mount to third parties, (3) made camera bodies which are small and light while remaining high spec, (4) established a hierarchy of models which delivers cumulatively better features as one progresses up through the ranks, (5) added log profiles to almost all of their cameras (without demanding any extra charge to unlock it), and (6) used contemporary digital and social media marketing effectively. I would love to see Panasonic follow suit and also embrace in-camera computation photography / editing. I can’t see what Panasonic has to lose!

[@jessecumberledge4530]

@@Democratiser panasonic is definitely starting to work with sigma on the l mount lenses. As a gh6 owner honestly they just need to focus on full frame going forward imo. You can do firmware updates for sigma lens on Panasonic bodies. Sigma lenses have added the ability to turn MF to linear or non linear. So I honestly believe they are giving an hard go with the L mount Aliance. Sigma glass works great on the S series bodies for photo Af...they do need to work on the video AF all-around. Ohh and what do they have to lose? Money... and lots of it. Almost guaranteed the camera division hasn't been profitable for the last few years.... if they don't get a homerun very soon they will drop out of the game.

[@thewalkingvloggingman7152]

They Dont have to do a damn thang to please youtubers. Their cameras are more suited for cinema., so that means Manuel focus is where you will get the best out of the GH series. The S1H which is approved by Netflix is a Manuel camera that happens to shoot in auto. Panasonic is not going out of business because some lazy ass youtubers cant use the Manuel mode.

[@jessecumberledge4530]

@@thewalkingvloggingman7152 Sir IMO you are wrong... they have horrific sales numbers and if they can't get them up, they will have to stop producing. I am one of the biggest Lumix fanboys on here. My wife and I have built her channel with them and they have served us well. But in 2022 where all your direct competitors have a feature that makes certain work faster and easier its just something they have to offer. It is now almost a requirement if you are a small business or filmmaker tring to get his footing that you do quick turn around social media stuff for advertising. I just want lumix to stay in the game as I love their camera.

[@roquemacias4616]

​@@jessecumberledge4530any updates on how you feel about lumix now with the s5ii and pdaf? 😁

[@Seapatico]

Dang, I think shooting rangefinder lenses on mirrorless bodies has given me a VERY different sense of what is "sharp enough" wide open, lol. If any Leica lens performed this well in the midframe and corners wide open, it would be a MIRACLE.

[@khmergreen]

Jorden images are very impressive!! Beating Christ now.

[@noenken]

Nice video! Well, Lumix made a video lens ..... I'm shocked. xD But in all honesty, that is one of the big problems the L-mount has. If you want sharp primes for photography you have to go with Sigma or Leica and the Leica primes are big, heavy, have basically no features and cost a ton of money. Not to mention that Leica hasn't released a new L lens in what feels like forever. (Especially one they made themselves...)

[@geoffreybassett6741]

There is nothing wrong with any of the Panasonic L-lenses, they are all great performers.

[@noenken]

@@geoffreybassett6741 If you're talking video, yes absolutely. For photography the Lumix lenses are usable but not great compared to the Sigma f/2 lenses.

[@CanditoTrainingHQ]

@@noenken The Panasonic 50 Pro 1.4 is one of the best 50mm lenses on the market. It's extremely sharp + justifies being over 2,000 dollars + recent as well.

[@noenken]

@@CanditoTrainingHQ I have no experience with that one but even if that is correct, that is one lens. The 1.8 series is not sharp wide open. They are fine for 8 megapixel 16:9 but for photos they need to be stopped down quite a bit. And the zooms are the same.

[@franzjosefstakes]

Me, a Super35 shooter: Mhhh, nice. Me, after realizing it's a FF lens: :O

[@paristo]

Shooting blind? But you can always get the framing right by taking the test shot first.... For exposure, for accurate framing and focus... Something that you can't do anyways by any means from side articulating display. And how about doing the smart thing, and connect the camera to smartphone and use it to do exposure, focusing and check the framing, as you can even control recording or take shots from it, never going touching the camera itself....

[@AllCarsUnited]

Whoa, brilliant idea. You should replace him.

[@borderlands6606]

Panasonic should do a price for 1.8 bundle. Buy 4 get the 5th lens free.

[@DamianBrown]

Finally

[@Martin-PL]

I

[@chrisprofit]

Little bit of wobble in the corners

[@LoightaFluwid]

Damn the S1R has video quality on par with 2014-15 mirrorless cameras.

[@KobusGevelspar]

Can’t believe it, an S1r? At least use an S1H

[@derJackistweg]

This is a 900€ lens. On a 1500€ body, like an S5, a hard to value proposition when the kit lens is a 20mm one.

Great decision: use the lens...

[@bertagriese8282]

Will the ever be a zoom ring that does NOT catch the dust like a dust mop? Get innovative, camera producers!

[@KevinLin145]

God damn that’s some bad ibis on the S1R

[@rleeshutter]

Chris who? jk