Panasonic Lumix S Pro 70-200mm f/2.8 (vs f/4) Review 

i think that the 70-200 f4 is a great lens, too.

both are great! usually I only need f2.8 for standard and wide shots (like night landscape and astro), so f4 for daily zoom stuff is fine! Also, much lighter!

Just adding: crazy times and especially now this lens financially is out of reach for many people, including myself. Should that stop you making reviews? No! Should that stop peps watching such reviews? Heck, no, we need some distraction!

Thank you Sheik! I haven't really watch other reviews. Usually try not to do that so I don't get affected by other people's opinion. Quite often I would repeat the same test a few times to make sure the result I present is as accurate as possible. As for the dislikes, that doesn't bother me at all anymore. Most of them are from another RU-vid channel in my country. A lot of people know who he is but I won't mention his name here :)

And I was actually wondering if I should continue create and publish more reviews during this crazy time. Should I stop until everything is back to normal

Pls dont stop, Richard. The world needs good reviews. And good lenses to document what‘s going on.

Who cares about sharpness. All modern lenses are sharp enough for their intended applications, what matters is image characteristics, and of course ergonomics, build quality, af and so on.

Elisabeth Glad it was helpful!

Thanks Kenneth!

Good idea!

Enjoy your S Pro 70-200 f4 ! :D

Why both? Are you living in the dark?

Min Chu

The weight is a big concern to me. I used to have an Olympus 35-100 F2.0 zoom from my Olympus E-5, I used it with an adapter for E-M1 as well. It's a great lens, but it was so heavy (it actually weighs more than the Lumix 70-200 F2.8), I eventually sold it. I picked up the F4.0 over F2.8 of Lumix 70-200, mainly because of the weight. Another factor is that I barely used aperture bigger than F2.8 for portraits, most of time I found F4.0 is the ideal aperture to keep enough DoF for eyes, nose, ears.

@@majos1946 I do. I live in the far north and i shoot concerts in small clubs. Even if i shoot landscapes i wait until the light is falling. I can't really think of a situation where i'd want to take a photo in strong light. Headshots or product shots in a controlled studio maybe?

A lot of reviewers choose/priortise to do or reviews on system with large existing user base, which is something L-mount lacking at the moment. There are certainly things the L mount system need to improve but overall i think all the L-mount alliance members have created some very impressive camera/lens within a short period of time and still what I said is 1st generation products. I would expect the system would be more popular in the next 12-18 months.

The lack of focus breathing should make it a great lens for you!!

I did some test and it seems the f/2.8 is parfocal or at least very close to it.

@@TheRealRichardWong Thanks!!! Any thoughts on how parfocal the f/4 version is?

Thanks for watching and feedback!!

The 70-200 f/4 is a wonderful lens. If you don't need f/2.8, it is a lens I would recommend

My pleasure!

yes i still have the lens on my desk. New Zealand is locking down the whole country so I have an excuse to keep all the loan gear with me for a bit longer. I will do some test re parfocal and get back to you soon!

I did a few tests last night, Zoom in/out at f/2.8 from 200 70 doesn't seem to affect the focus, if there is any change in focus, it's not visible to my eyes.

Richard Wong Thanks! Here is a great example how to check it ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-B0i0fQvviBg.html I’m not sure if you have focus peaking (I have the S1H, which have) on your camera, but it shows easily if it stays in focus 😉

Thanks Jeric! I will see if I could get my hands on he Sigma!

Hi ant+onio if you want the latest autofocus, camera like gh7 and g9ii or om1ii would be a huge improvement compare to your g80, and similar to the s5ii. If you want shallow DOF, it is much easier with a full frame system with a fast lens. But full frame system esp the lens is usually much bigger and heavier as well so it's something you really need to consider. If it's a7iii vs s5ii, I definitely choose s5ii. I had a a7iii previously too, it's a great camera but at the same time it's really quite old and not quite the same performance as the latest camera like the s5ii

it depends. When shooting under bright/reasonably good light, it doesn't make that much difference. S1 has good high ISO performance. But when because it is a telephoto lens, quite often you need to maintain the shutter speed reasonably fast, so when the light is low, especially if you want to use it with a teleconverter, then that last 1 stop can make a huge difference. e.g. ISO 51200 vs ISO 102400. The other thing is the depth of field for people who want to isolate the subject from the background.

@@TheRealRichardWong Richard, the difference between ISO 51200 and 102400 is the same difference between the Pan S1 and the Pan S1R i think! In reasonably light and some what darker light it is hard to to reach 12800/25600. If my thoughts are true than the better ISO of the S1 equalize the differences? Richard am I right?

@@majos1946 I say one stop is a big difference when you are shooting events, sports or wild life under low light.

@@kennethlowe7330 and Richard and any body else. The S1 is the best on ISO please understand that. And that is why the F4 equels the F 2.8 on any other Pan or other camera. In the end the results counts.

Richard. No reaction untill now.

Yes it works! I have some test results in this review as well

Thank you so much! Re the Lumix vs sigma, at the moment I do not have a plan for that, but I will see if I have a chance to do that in the future

Hi Hien! I think both lens are good choice and there is no "better" choice. So I would ask you the following questions: Do you shoot under low light? do you want the more shallow DOF look? Are you ok carrying slightly heavier lens?

@@TheRealRichardWong Thank you for the reply. I'm retired, have 2 torn rotator cuffs and arthritis so the weight of the 2.8 may become a problem down the road.

Then get the f/4 it's a really nice lens anyway and fantastic image stabilization as well

@@TheRealRichardWong Thanks for the advice. I kept talking myself into the f2.8 mostly because I didn't to regret later but you're right, it won't do me much good to have the nicer lense if I don't end up using it :) A 24-70mm f2.8 and a 70-200 f4 should cover almost every situation for me.

Yes you can, you need to enable the touch tap setting... Then from the right side of the screen there is a finger icon that you can toggle to a state to enable touch shutter

@@TheRealRichardWong got it! Thank you!

For video, I mostly use Panasonic. For photos, mostly Nikon. Having said that a lot of time I just grab whatever that is on my desk haha.

Hi GAM, i don't think everyone do zoom in corner and check like that. To be honest I don't with my own photos. But then there are lots of people do like to compare the corner, part of the reason is that most lenses are so good with center sharpness so the main difference in terms of sharpness is really the corner.

@@TheRealRichardWong thanks for your reply.

Thank you! :)

Let me know did your bank robbing go well?

@@TheRealRichardWong got 30% off offer . now trying to sell S1R for some cash then go for the H thanks for asking .

Panasonic autofocus is getting better and better. There are still room to improve but it's better than a lot of people thought it is

So do you like the f/2.8 more?

@@TheRealRichardWong Yes, but I haven't used it in low light conditions as the f/4, just for studio work.

@@nexuses1 cool! and thanks for the sharing your experience

Rubber

I did some test of the 70-200 f/4 in my s5ii review. But for a special test of just these two lenses autofocus performance, maybe not at this stage. However if there is a chance to do that for some other reason as well I would love to do that

Hi George, sorry can't answer your question. I feel they are similar but I haven't done any controlled side by side test to confirm

Sorry it is really a hard question for someone else to answer. There is also the size and weight difference you should consider as well

Sorry I haven't test it with a SL2 but would assume it works very well

No this is for the full frame L mount cameras

Richard Wong would s1 and s1r be right?

sweet pet }

another argument is the s5 can handle low light so u claw back that 1 stop of light. an image at 6000 plus iso is still retrievable. This makes a very good case for f4.

@@markedwards4787 That i wholeheartedly agree with. Even with 1.8 primes i sometimes shoot a 2.8-5.6 or so at 6400 iso to get more in focus. Having half a face out of focus is such a "i just bought my first fast lens" thing.

From all the reviews I've read from buyers on various sites, the f/4 version is heavily preferred due to the 2 lenses being virtually identical in quality at f/4 and beyond. Then there's lighter build and most importantly, it's significantly lower price. At the time of writing this, the f/2.8 is $2,500 and the f/4 is $1500 new. Both lenses are expensive for what you get, but between the 2, the f/4 is the MUCH better value, given that the f/2.8 is $1,000 more for a barely 5% better lens. Keep an eye out and you may see it go on sale soon if you absolutely must have f/2.8. I have no doubt the f/2.8 is outstanding quality, I have the 24-70mm f/2.8 S Pro and it is an astoundingly good lens. Sigma has their HSM 70-200 f/2.8 on the way, and having used that lens on Nikon, I would definitely consider waiting. It will likely be priced similar to the f/4 and it's fantastic.

@@brandonbuckles826 I blew my money on the 50mm S pro, also astounding! Settled on a 70-300 as I'm not a hardcore tele shooter. The first copy I got was ok, but the second copy that I own is very very sharp, I was surprised how sharp and how few aberrations there are. It weighs less than my 50mm. Only real negetive I have is the IS drains the battery quite fast.

@@georged822 I watched a review on that 50mm and that is just about the largest and heaviest 50mm that money can buy, so I'm not surprised it was lighter 😆 Still, I would recommend considering the one of the 70-200s down the road. The 70-300 is a great starter lens, but the 70-200s bokeh and edge sharpness can't be matched by the 70-300 and is an excellent portrait lens.