Looks like Panasonic engineers dedicated their time to design and build the smallest full-frame lenses in every category. Earlier in january 2024, they introduced the S 100mm F2.8 macro which is the most compact lens in its class, and now we have the Panasonic Lumix S 28-200mm f4-7.1 MACRO O.I.S..
Panasonic advertises this as the smallest full-frame zoom lens but there is a catch, a foot note:
As of February 22, 2024. Among interchangeable lenses for AF compatible full-frame mirrorless cameras, and lenses with an optical zoom of 7x or more. Based on a Panasonic survey.
So this is actually the smallest full-frame lens with 7x or more zoom. Fair enough. Here is a comparison with another recent 28-200mm, the Tamron 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 Di III RXD which is only available for E mount (Compare). Correct, the Panasonic is significantly smaller, but it also much slower that the Tamron (F4-7.1 vs F2.8-5.6)
Panasonic S 28-200mm f4-7.1 vs Tamron 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 Di III
How about how it compares within the L-mount Panasonic lenses? Let's check:
Panasonic S 24-70mm F2.8 vs Panasonic S 24-105mm F4 vs Panasonic S 28-200mm f4-7.1 vs Panasonic S 20-60mm F3.5-5.6
The only lens that is smaller than the 28-200 is the S 20-60mm F3.5-5.6 which is very impressive considering the huge focal range the new lens covers compared to the 20-60mm. Here is a specs comparison of these four Panasonic lenses for further comparison.
