Best lenses for the Panasonic Lumix S9 in 2026: perfect pairings for Lumix's most compact full-frame body

Regular photographers are used to cameras with viewfinders, but vlogging and filmmaking are very different disciplines, and many creators stepping up from a smartphone to a full size camera are used to doing everything on a touchscreen, so for them the lack of a viewfinder isn’t an issue – what they want is a compact, powerful hybrid camera that’s easy to handle and pack away but is a big step up in quality and potential.

The Lumix S9 has pretty much everything that content creators could ask for, including in-body stabilization, built-in LUTs for creative looks, and compatibility with a larger and growing range of L-mount lenses. Making this one of the best hybrid cameras or best cameras for vlogging you can get today.

The Lumix S9 is a very small camera, but full-frame lenses typically are not. This does rule out some of the best L-mount lenses, so I’ve kept this list to more compact zooms and prime lenses where possible – I’ve included a couple of zooms, however, for users who don’t mind bigger lenses and want the flexibility they bring.

Best lenses for the Panasonic Lumix S9

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Compact kit lens

When Panasonic launched the Lumix S9, it was almost as if the company suddenly realized it didn’t have any lenses to go with it. So we did have Panasonic’s rather strange fixed-focus pancake lens at first, but then soon after this 18-40mm kit lens arrived and became an instant favorite for vlogging. That’s partly because it’s so light and compact (though you do have to unlock the retracting mechanism before you can start filming), and a focal range that’s ideal for filming yourself and your surroundings on a gimbal or grip. Photographers will find the 40mm maximum focal length a bit limiting, though, and the f/4.5-6.3 maximum aperture range means you might need higher ISOs indoors or in dim lighting.

Best standard zoom

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The Panasonic Lumix S 24-60mm f/2.8 brings a constant bright aperture to the S-series standard zoom class in a package that balances performance with portability. Unlike slower kit-style zooms, its f/2.8 maximum aperture remains consistent across the zoom range, giving you more flexibility in low light and cleaner background separation, whether you’re shooting stills or video.

At roughly 544 g and with a 24–60 mm focal range, it’s notably more compact and lighter than many traditional 24–70 mm f/2.8 zooms, making it a good match for the compact Lumix S9 body without sacrificing handling. Build quality is solid, and the inclusion of Panasonic’s Dual Phase Linear Motor means autofocus is responsive and unobtrusive.

While it does trade off some telephoto reach compared with longer zooms, the combination of a useful everyday focal range, constant f/2.8 brightness, and strong overall performance makes the 24-60 mm a versatile everyday zoom option for hybrid shooters who want more than a kit lens without lugging around larger pro-class glass.

Read our full Panasonic Lumix S 24-60mm f/2.8 review

Best superzoom

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For a superzoom ‘travel’ lens, the Lumix S 28-200mm f/4-7.1 Macro O.I.S. is remarkably compact. Lenses of this type are typically quite big and heavy, but this one definitely bucks the trend. It’s still fairly hefty mounted on the front of the Lumix S9, but it covers a very wide range of focal lengths and might be the only lens you need to take with you on your travels – provided you feel the 28mm minimum focal length is wide enough for narrow streets, interiors and landscapes. The 7x zoom range is not as long as the 10x range of most superzoom lenses, but the payback is a smaller, lighter lens, plus good, consistent image quality across the focal range.

Read our full Panasonic Lumix S 28-200mm f/4-7.1 review

Best wide prime

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The size of the Lumix S9 makes it a perfect match for Panasonic’s compact f/1.8 prime lenses, and primes are also increasingly popular amongst creators and gimbal users. The Lumix S 24mm f/1.8 has pretty ordinary specifications by today’s standards, but it’s one of a set of plain but effective f/1.8 primes from the Lumix S stable that have more in common than you might think – they are all more or less the same size and share the same 67mm filter size. In fact, many Panasonic lenses share this 67mm filter mount, which might prove a big advantage. This 24mm prime is a good performer, though we would have liked slightly better edge definition. The AF, though, is silent, fast and just want you need for filmmaking.

Read our full Panasonic Lumix S 24mm f/1.8 review

Best street lens

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We might complain that f/1.8 is a pretty average sort of maximum aperture, but let’s put this into context – the best professional 35mm f/1.4 lenses are less than one f-stop faster but come with a huge leap in price and weight, and that won’t be worth it for a lot of folk. The fact is, the Lumix S 35mm f/1.8 delivers very good optical performance in a light, practical lens with no frills but lots of finesse, including fast, silent autofocus. It also includes focus breathing suppression – an annoying anomaly where objects can appear to change in size as they go in and out of focus – making this a great lens for videography. At the same time, that 35mm focal length also makes this a classic choice for street photographers.

See our full Panasonic Lumix S 35mm f/1.8 review

Best standard prime

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Many people consider 50mm to be the focal length that most closely matches the angle of view of human vision. Opinions vary. Some photographers prefer the semi-wide angle of view of a 35mm lens or even the increasingly popular 40mm. But if 50mm is what seems most natural to you, then the Lumix S 50mm f/1.8 is the perfect ‘nifty fifty’ for the Lumix S9. The f/1.8 maximum aperture is pretty basic compared to some of the exotic f/1.4, f/1.2 or even f/1.0 lenses on the market, but it means this lens is light, practical and affordable. It also delivers excellent optical quality, and f/1.8 is still a wide enough aperture for strongly defocused foregrounds and backgrounds – though if you want the creamiest, softest bokeh you might need to pay a little more.

See our full Panasonic Lumix S 50mm f/1.8 review

Lab data and comparisons

The graphs below show the comparative performance of the lenses in this guide, based on our in-house lab tests. All of the lenses in the group are nice and sharp, which is impressive as they tend to be highly compact and lightweight. Color fringing is quite minimal but the distortion scores for the zoom lenses are flattered by being averaged out across the whole zoom range.

Scores for sharpness and color fringing are averaged from data taken across the entire image frame, from the center to the edges and corners, throughout the aperture range. For zoom lenses, the scores are also averaged from data measured at all marked focal lengths, and the same applies to distortion. Bear in mind that these average values don't fully reflect specific areas of performance. For example, a zoom lens might have noticeable barrel and pincushion distortion at its shortest and longest focal lengths respectively, which tends to average out when looking at the data overall. For more detailed graphs of each lens's performance, which give the full picture, check out the graphs in our full standalone lens reviews.

How we test lenses

The lens experts in our testing lab run a range of tests under controlled conditions, using the Imatest Master testing suite. Photos of test charts are taken across the range of apertures and zooms (where available), then analyzed for sharpness, distortion and chromatic aberrations.

We use Imatest SFR (spatial frequency response) charts and analysis software to plot lens resolution at the centre of the image frame, corners and mid-point distances, across the range of aperture settings and, with zoom lenses, at four different focal lengths.

There's more to it than just the technical side, though! Beyond the lab, our reviewers test lenses in real-world environments – and sometimes on professional shoots! We work with lenses both indoors and outdoors, in studio conditions and in natural light, with as many different subjects as is possible (or appropriate – there's no point testing a landscape lens' ability to shoot a portrait!).

We take into account everything from handling and ease of use to speed of autofocus and the overall quality of the images produced.

Find out more about how we test and review on Digital Camera World