LUMIX S 28-200MM F/4-7.1 MACRO OIS

Panasonic's compact and lightweight superzoom makes a strong case for being the only lens you need to pack for your travels

- Gareth Bevan

www.panasonic.com £899/$898

Almost every camera system has its own compact wide-to-telephoto superzoom lens, however, despite a couple of third-party L-Mount options filling this gap, the Lumix S range had missed out. Until now, that is – Panasonic has decided it’s time to offer its own first-party solution with the Lumix S 28-200mm f/4-7.1 Macro OIS. Never a company to do things by halves, it’s also made what is the world’s smallest and lightest 7x zoom lens for full-frame cameras. With wide-to-telephoto focal lengths covered in one package, these lenses allow photographers to travel light, so are useful if you don’t have much space in your bag, or don’t like frequently changing lenses.

Having recently designed some impressively compact optics, Panasonic has leveraged that know-how to fashion a do-it-all lens for Lumix shooters. However, the reduction in size and weight comes at the cost of some focal length range, with rival systems offering the 24-240mm range, albeit in physically larger lenses. But has Panasonic done enough to make the case that small size trumps greater range?

Build and handling

Panasonic is on a hot streak for shrinking its lenses, with the Lumix S 100mm macro lens being a genuine marvel of engineering, achieving a new record for its compact size and weight for a full-frame 1:1 macro lens. So I was surprised to learn that when it comes to the Lumix S 28-200mm, Panasonic is not using the same dual-phase linear motor that enabled that size and weight reduction in the 100mm, but instead calling on the experience that it’s gained over many years of making smaller Micro Four Thirds lenses.