[This series will feature chapters that showcase key lenses in the LUMIX S Series lineup—built for photographers and filmmakers who demand high quality, consistency, and creative flexibility. The standard S Series lenses are designed to deliver excellent performance and reliability, with a balanced blend of image quality, portability, and affordability.]
When LUMIX introduced its first full frame mirrorless cameras in 2019, the S1R and S1, the LUMIX S 24–105mm F4 MACRO O.I.S. was one of the three lenses at launch. It served as the standard zoom that many photographers would buy as the kit lens, so expectations were clear. The lens needed to produce strong image quality across a wide focal range, offer close focusing for everyday work, and provide reliable stabilization and autofocus for both stills and video. LUMIX built the 24–105mm around those needs, focusing on image performance, half-macro capability, and portability.
Image Performance
The 24–105mm uses a five group zoom configuration: positive, negative, positive, negative and positive. This layout helps control aberration shifts as the lens moves through the zoom range. The optical design contains 16 elements in 13 groups, including two aspherical elements, two aspherical/ED elements, one UED element and two ED elements. Each contributes to controlling spherical aberration, chromatic aberration and other distortions that tend to appear in wide to mid-telephoto zooms.
The goal was to keep image quality consistent across the range. At 24mm, the lens holds detail in wide scenes and interiors. At mid focal lengths, it works well for general photography. At 105mm, it maintains enough sharpness and contrast for portraits, product work and compressed landscapes. The design avoids large drops in clarity at the edges, which is a common issue in lenses that cover this much range. The 24–105mm is built to be a dependable standard lens that does not require constant switching to handle different subjects.
The five-group positive–negative–positive–negative–positive zoom design maintains high image quality across the range by compensating for aberration changes while zooming.
Close Focus and Half-Macro
One of the defining features of the lens is its minimum focusing distance of 0.3 meters across the entire zoom range. This allows a maximum magnification ratio of 0.5x at the telephoto end. For everyday shooting, this means the lens can act as a half-macro tool without needing a dedicated macro lens. It works well for food, small details, textures, tabletop scenes and nature close-ups.
Achieving both close focusing and fast autofocus required careful control of the focusing group. To keep AF performance fast, the focusing lens has to be lightweight. The design uses a single focus lens combined with an aspherical/ED lens to manage aberrations as focus shifts. If the focusing lens had too much optical power, correcting aberrations would have become more difficult, especially at short distances. To maintain balance, the lens behind the focusing group uses a negative-power ED element to stabilize chromatic aberration and keep focus transitions clean.
The front surface of the lens is coated with fluorine to resist smudges and make cleaning easier, which is important when working close to subjects that may brush against the lens.
Shot on the S5 II with the S 24-105mm F4 at 105mm, 1/1300 sec, F4, ISO 1600.
Mobility, AF Performance, and IS
Portability in this context does not mean the smallest possible size, but a lens that remains practical for long shoots and general use. The 24–105mm balances weight and handling with a design that supports fast autofocus and stable handheld shooting.
The autofocus drive uses a linear motor to provide quick, precise focusing for stills and smooth adjustments during video. Inside the lens barrel is a dedicated Optical Image Stabilization group. When combined with in-body stabilization, the system provides up to 7.5 stops of shake correction under CIPA standards. The stabilization lens group is intentionally kept lightweight to allow fast movement and accurate control. If this group were heavier, the stabilization mechanism would need to be larger and slower, leading to reduced effectiveness.
The OIS group includes an aspherical/ED lens to reduce astigmatism and chromatic aberration even when stabilization is active. The layout is complex and difficult to manufacture, but it allows the lens to maintain resolution while compensating for camera movement. Dual I.S. offers a noticeable benefit when shooting at 105mm or when working in low light.
Wrap-Up
The LUMIX S 24–105mm F4 MACRO O.I.S. was designed as a practical all-purpose lens for full frame users. It covers wide scenes, portraits, travel photography, close-ups and general documentation without having to switch lenses. The consistent F4 aperture keeps exposure simple. The close focusing ability adds utility that many standard zooms lack. The stabilization and autofocus design support both stills and video workflows. As one of the original lenses in the S series, it helped set the tone for the system by combining range, image performance and usability in a straightforward way. For many photographers, it remains the type of lens that can stay on the camera for long stretches of time because it handles so many situations with minimal hassle.
Shot on the S1 with the S 24-105mm F4 at 24mm, 1/800 sec, F4, ISO 200.
For more information on the S 24-105mm F4 MACRO O.I.S., click through here.
