Panasonic Lumix S 100 mm f/2.8 Macro review

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Panasonic Lumix S 100 mm f/2.8 Macro

20 October 2026

Maciej Latałło

4. Image resolution

We test the optics of L-mount/SL-mount system lenses using RAW files from the Panasonic Lumix S1R II camera. We process them with neutral software such as dcraw, ensuring that they are not subjected to any additional processing (e.g. sharpening, compression or correction of certain optical aberrations). The resulting files have a resolution of 8152 × 5428 pixels (44.24 Mpix). The linear pixel density is just under 2.3% higher than that of the Sony A7R IIIa and slightly less than 1.5% lower than that of the Nikon Z7. All these differences are comparable to our measurement errors, which means that results obtained on all three main full-frame test platforms can be directly compared with one another.

We should also mention that we consider results in the region of 40–42 lpmm to represent an acceptable level of performance. The best system lenses should achieve results of around 80 lpmm, while record holders can reach approximately 85 lpmm or even slightly exceed this value. Of course, as we test more lenses for this system, we will continue to refine these estimates. So far, the highest results have been achieved by the Leica APO-Summicron-SL 75 mm f/2 (83.4 lpmm) and the Panasonic S Pro 50 mm f/1.4 (85.4 lpmm).

Let us see, then, how the Panasonic Lumix S 100 mm f/2.8 Macro performs in this context. Its results at the centre of the frame, at the edge of the APS-C sensor area and at the edge of the full-frame sensor are presented in the graph below.

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Panasonic Lumix S 100 mm f/2.8 Macro - Image resolution

On the one hand, the lens shows no obvious weak points here. Image quality is good even at the maximum aperture, regardless of the position in the frame. Furthermore, stopping down pushes the results at the centre of the frame above 70 lpmm, which is a very good performance. On the other hand, high-end macro lenses have accustomed us to something rather different, as the following graph clearly demonstrates.

It is clear that neither the Sigma nor the Nikkor has any difficulty reaching the outstanding level of over 80 lpmm. In the case of the Sigma, this is all the more impressive because it was tested on the slightly less densely packed sensor of a Sony camera. The compromises associated with the Panasonic's weight and dimensions become fully apparent here.

As usual, at the end of this section we present crops from images of our resolution test chart, taken from JPEG files recorded alongside the RAW files used for the analysis above.

Panasonic S1R II, JPEG, 100 mm, f/2.8