Panasonic has announced its longest S series zoom lens, the S-R100500E, offering 100-500mm f5-7.1, extendable to 1000mm focal length with the brand’s S series teleconverter STC 20, or 700mm with the STC 14.
Pitched at sports, wildlife, and action photographers, the lens promises “industry-leading performance” and the “best O.I.S. control ever in the Lumix S series” as the brand highlighted its newly designed optical image stabilisation unit, which delivers up to seven stops of stabilisation and incorporates a Dual Side Ball Support mechanism for improved precision. A new O.I.S. switch has also been added, offering distinct modes for standard shooting and for tracking fast-moving subjects.
Elsewhere the lens, which features a dust, splash and freeze resistant exterior down to -10°C, debuts Panasonic’s first fully adjustable, tight-smooth zoom ring, allowing photographers to customise how the ring feels in use. Manual focus is supported while zooming, and when set to MF users can switch between linear and non-linear control, as well as change the direction of ring rotation, while the focus ring itself is said to be fully customisable. For video shooters, the lens promises a silent focusing motor and suppresses focus breathing.
Sporting 19 elements in 12 groups with a seven group zoom construction, the S-R100500E builds on technology featured in Panasonic’s previous lenses, including sharing the same motor as the S-E100, which was the world’s smallest and lightest 100mm macro lens, and the same optical encoder of the recently launched LUMIX S 24-60mm. Boasting a 92mm diameter and featuring a fluorine coating, for easier cleaning, the lens weighs 1285g and is 196.1mm in length, and offers a minimum focusing distance of 0.8 metres at the wide end and 1.5 metres at the telephoto end (up to 500mm). Available from late October with a £1799/€2099 RRP, the S-R100500E also comes with a bundle tripod mount for convenient rotation between horizontal and vertical positions.
At the launch, Panasonic also announced a future firmware update that will see a lower speed continuous shooting mode added to the Panasonic Lumix S1 II and the S1 R II, in response to concerns that shooting at 40fps overwhelms the buffer.
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