Best Panasonic Lenses for Portraits in 2022

If you want to take your portrait photography to the next level, you need a lens with a big aperture and great image quality.

Simply speaking, any lens can be used for portraits. However, once you shoot with a big aperture like f/2..8 or even f/1.7, the difference is enormous. Images look more professional, your subject stands out, bokeh (background blur) and colors are both rich.

Panasonic has plenty of fantastic prime and zoom lenses that can be used for portraits thanks to their image quality and big aperture. This is all you need.

In this guide, we went through all Panasonic’s lenses to pick out the 8 best portrait options, whether you’re a professional or a beginner. We made sure to focus on image quality, versatility and how much you get for the price.

Best Panasonic Portrait Lenses:

Panasonic Lumix G 20mm f/1.7
Panasonic Lumix G 25mm f/1.7
Panasonic Leica DG 25mm f/1.4
Panasonic Lumix G 42.5mm f/1.7 Power OIS
Panasonic Leica DG 42.5mm f/1.2 Power OIS

Panasonic Lumix G 12-35mm f/2.8 II OIS
Panasonic Lumix G 12-60mm f/2.8-4
Panasonic Lumix G 35-100mm f/2.8 Power OIS

We discuss all of these lenses below, but first let’s go through what matters when buying a lens for landscape.

If you decide to buy anything after clicking on our Amazon links, you automatically support us. It’s what allows us to write guides such as this one.

What’s Important for Portrait Photography?

Focal Length – For portraits, you want to be in the standard to telephoto range, which is anything between 17mm and 120mm (we’ve already accounted for Panasonic’s 2x crop factor). Buying a Panasonic lens between these two focal lengths will make your subject’s faces nice and flat, whereas if you shot with something wider, they would appear distorted. Getting a 25mm or 42.5mm lens is your best option if you’re looking for something affordable and good that will instantly get you on a new level.

Aperture – We mostly want lenses with big apertures, which is f/2.8 and bigger (f/2, f/1.7 etc.). This is because bigger apertures will make your background appear much more out of focus, thus making your subject pop out the shot. Having an aperture this big also helps if you’re shooting in low light and don’t want to raise the ISO.

Auto Focus – All lenses on our list have good and reliable auto focus, especially the 3 zooms. However, portrait photography is usually slower paced than let’s say sports, and many photographers focus manually. In a nutshell, try learning how to use both focusing types so your camera can never be an excuse. When shooting with big apertures, focusing on the wrong part will be more noticeable.

Image Quality – It’s all about image quality, sharpness and colors. You want good center and corner sharpness, especially if you print large. Panasonic’s glass quality is great and we made sure to select lenses that offer a lot for the money.

Bokeh – Good looking bokeh will make your subject stand out more and make the whole shot look more appealing. The more diaphragm blades the aperture has, the rounder it should look (9 is better, but more expensive than a lens with 7). The distance between your subject, your camera, and the background also plays a role; the greater each of these is, the more out of focus the background will be.

Since every Panasonic camera has an MFT (Micro Four Thirds) sensor with 2x crop factor, this means that a 25mm (or any other) lens will actually give the same field of view as 50mm on a full frame camera. It’s simple; 25mmx 2 = 50mm. You can do this for any lens, and we made sure to have this in mind when selecting the ones below so you don’t have to worry about anything.

Panasonic cameras can also mount Olympus lenses, check out our guide for Olympus portrait lenses here. Don’t forget that Olympus doesn’t put stabilization in most of their lenses, so make sure your Panasonic body has it. If you don’t care about IS, then there’s nothing to worry about.

Panasonic Lumix G 20mm f/1.7

The super-slim Panasonic Lumix G II 20mm f/1.7 is a fast pancake lens for the Micro Four Thirds format. An all-metal barrel and lens mount update the cheaper build-quality of the Mark 1, making it a sturdy and compact choice for all-round shooting. Mounted on a suitably small body, it can easily be thrown in a coat pocket for quick and candid photography without compromise on image quality: ideal for portrait, travel, street, documentary and other discrete low-light uses.

In addition to being extremely sharp and displaying no color fringing, the lens is fast, compact, lightweight and well-built. It’s also quite cheaply priced. What’s more, 20mm is identical to a 40mm lens (35mm format equivalent): making it an excellent compromise between a standard and a wide angle lens. All in all then, this is a handy little all purpose piece of glass you can rely on to pull something out of pretty much any imaginable shooting situation.

If there’s anything bad about the lens, it’s that auto focus is too loud for video recording. Other than that, this is a must have for almost every photographer that just wants a compact, quality lens.

You can buy it at Amazon or see more reviews here.

Panasonic Lumix G 25mm f/1.7

The Panasonic Lumix G 25mm f/1.7 lens is a cheap and versatile workhorse suitable for a wide variety of photographic uses. Unlike many Panasonic Micro Four Thirds lenses – which often can only manage a minimum aperture of f/16 – the 25mm f/1.7 shuts right down to f/22. This makes it an excellent choice for when maximum depth-of-field is a priority, such as with landscape, architectural or interiors photography.

At the opposite end of the scale, f/1.7 makes it equally appropriate for portraits and handheld low light shooting. Panasonic’s nano coating helps to keep flare and ghosting under control, and there’s no noticeable color fringing. Similarly, the lens displays good across-frame sharpness, even wide open, performing best beyond f/2. As with other lenses in this series, the barrel features a super-smooth grip-ring for focus-by-wire “manual” focusing. Similarly, auto focus is excellent.

While the plastic build doesn’t inspire the same confidence as Panasonic’s higher range MFT offerings, the 25mm f/1.7 is nonetheless well made. And on the upside, the inferior materials make this a very lightweight and compact lens. However, unsurprisingly at this price point, there is no weather sealing.

There are very few photographers who won’t need a lens of this focal length, so ultimately the choice comes down to minor differences between this and its more upmarket competitors. For those with a bigger budget and hungry for an extra half stop of light, the Leica-branded Panasonic 25mm f/1.4 is a faster, sharper alternative.

You can buy it at Amazon or see more reviews here.

Panasonic Leica DG 25mm f/1.4

Equivalent to a 50mm lens in the 35mm format, the Panasonic Leica DG 25mm f/1.4 lens is an excellent quality prime lens for the Micro Four Thirds format. The fast f/1.4 maximum aperture makes this a great choice for low-light photography without flash, and its sharp image quality and the “standard” 25mm angle of view mean that it’s an equally good choice for events, travel, street photography, portraits, and even landscapes.

Seven rounded aperture blades help to keep rendering of out-of-focus areas silky smooth, especially when the lens is used at f/1.4. And while there is some fall-off in sharpness towards the corners at this wide open aperture, this is relatively minimal. Meanwhile Panasonic’s nano surface coating keeps distortion and color aberrations at bay, with only the subtlest of purple fringing noticeable in high contrast areas.

Well-built from sturdy plastic and featuring a strong metal mount, this prime lens is worthy of a place in pretty much any photographer’s bag. Although the Leica name is displayed prominently on the front, as with all these Panasonic/Leica collaborations, it’s debatable just how similar the optics are to a top of the range Leica-built lens. Having said this, the 25mm f/1.4 is a genuinely great piece of glass – and one that comes at the fraction of the price of full-blown Leica lenses.

The only real drawbacks are the lack of either optical stabilization or weather proofing. For a cheaper alternative, check out the Lumix G 25mm f/1.7. Aperture sizes are similar, so unless most of your work will be done in low light, you might want to skip on the f/1.4 for now (unless you’re okay with the budget).

You can buy it at Amazon or see more reviews here.

Panasonic Lumix G 42.5mm f/1.7 Power OIS

The Panasonic Lumix G 42.5mm f/1.7 Power OIS is a fast, well-built, portrait lens that makes for a much more affordable alternative to the Leica-designed Panasonic 42.5mm f/1.2. Offering apertures from f/22 through f/1.7, and an equivalent full-frame focal-length of 85mm, it’s largely suited to portraiture, wildlife, events, and creative landscape photography.

Lens design is restricted to a simple all-black barrel featuring a manual focus ring and nothing else. For those who prefer automatic focusing, AF performance is almost unchallenged within this lens category. And, like it’s shorter 30mm f/2.8 sibling, the 42.5mm f/1.7 is designed to take full advantage of the 240 fps capacities of Lumix series bodies.

Unlike many of Panasonic’s MFT lenses, the 42.5mm f/1.7 comes with built-in image stabilization. Since portraits is mostly static photography, stabilization will actually help you here. Meanwhile, seven circular diaphragm blades make for exceptionally soft and feathery out-of-focus rendering: further upping the lens’s portraiture credentials. Center sharpness is excellent at all apertures, but there’s some slight softness at the corners when used wide open.

For those interested in Olympus’s offerings, their 45mm f/1.8 is similar to the Panasonic 42.15mm f/1.7, yet is also lighter, smaller, cheaper and doesn’t suffer from such pronounced color aberrations. Indeed, most people will skip this lens and go straight for the Olympus version. Ultimately Panasonic’s lens will largely appeal to owners of Panasonic bodies without onboard image stabilization who would benefit from the in-lens stabilization that this lens offers.

You can buy it at Amazon or see more reviews here.

Panasonic Leica DG 42.5mm f/1.2 Power OIS

For those looking for a precision portrait lens for the Micro Four Thirds format, the Panasonic Leica DG 42.5mm f/1.2 Power OIS is undoubtedly one of the better options available. Offering coverage comparable to an 85mm lens in the 35mm format, this is a classic focal length for portraiture – prized by many photographers for it’s tendency to flatter the subject. Beyond portraiture, it may also appeal to those shooting nature, weddings, events, sports and performing arts.

At f/1.2. this is a really high speed lens, making it great for flash-free low light photography. It features a super-smooth manual focus ring that’s a joy to use, and auto focus is similarly excellent: becoming better still when used with eye-recognition, where it is astonishingly fast and accurate.

Reassuringly heavy and robust, for good balance the 42.5mm f/1.2 ideally needs to be used with a larger-bodied MFT cameras. Images are pin sharp across the frame, even wide open, becoming even sharper once stopped down slightly. It also displays only very minimal color fringing and vignetting.

Be aware that despite the Leica branding, the 42.5mm is made in Japan (i.e not by Leica). Not that this indicates anything but a top quality product. In fact, beyond its size and weight, the only real downside to this lens is the price. For an optically comparable but somewhat shorter (and much cheaper) alternative, check out the Lumix G 30mm f/2.8.

You can buy it at Amazon or see more reviews here.

Panasoninc Lumix G X 12-35mm f/2.8 II Power

Equivalent to a 24-70mm lens in the 35mm format, the Panasonic Lumix G X 12-35mm f/2.8 II Power is a great all-round zoom covering all the main focal lengths the average photographer will need for general shooting. With a constant aperture of f/2.8 across all zoom settings, this is a lens that is fast enough to satisfy the most demanding shooters, while also being versatile enough to deal with nearly any photographic style or situation. Whether you shoot portraits, landscapes, travel, documentary, sports, or events, if you only have space to pack a single lens in your bag, this will likely be the one you’ll reach for.

The lens is pin sharp at the center, with only slight softness detectable towards the corners. Meanwhile, Panasonic’s nano surface coating keeps flare, ghosting and color aberrations to an absolute minimum. Bokeh appears very pretty, with nice rounded light-circles. With f/2.8, your portraits will definitely stand out.

When it comes to shooting video, image stabilization has been much improved compared with the Mark 1 version of this lens. There’s also a handy switch on the side of the barrel to toggle OIS on or off, allowing you to change modes mid-take.

The 12-35mm f/2.8 is highly portable and reasonably compact, at least when contracted. Aside from the metal mount, the lens is largely made of plastic, so it’s not as rugged as some of Panasonic’s other lenses for the MFT format. However, it is dust and splash proof (weather-proof lenses are great for rainy days and traveling).

You can buy it at Amazon or see more reviews here.

Panasonic Leica DG 12-60mm f/2.8-4 

If you’re looking for the all-around super zoom, the Panasonic Leica DG 12-60mm f/2.8-4 is a solid workhorse for serious photography at a huge range of focal lengths. It’s got a relatively good aperture range, although this is not something you will use in really low light situations. For this reason it will be of most interest to photographers producing landscapes, architecture, interiors, and even portraits.

Panasonic’s Nano Surface Coating means that there’s almost no flare whatsoever, at least when shooting stills, and only the subtlest of chromatic aberrations are visible. Sharpness is generally excellent, although there is some detectable fall off at corners – particularly when used wide open at around the 50mm zoom setting. A nine-blade aperture makes for some very nice bokeh, and color rendering is highly attractive.

The exterior, mount, and lens hood are of metal construction, and the overall build inspires confidence. As does the fact that the lens is dust-, splash- and freeze-proof right down to -10c.

On the negative side, the 12-60mm’s widest aperture of f/2.8 is only available when zoomed out to the 12mm setting. Nonetheless, the Leica 12-60mm is faster than Panasonic’s otherwise comparable Lumix 12-60mm f/3.5-5.6. The Leica is also optically superior to the Lumix, however for those concerned about either price, weight, or size, the Lumix offers some advantage in all three areas.

You can buy it at Amazon or see more reviews here.

Panasonic Lumix G 35-100mm f/2.8 Power OIS

The Panasonic Lumix G 35-100mm f/2.8 Power OIS lens is pro-level telephoto zoom for the MFT format. With a maximum aperture of f/2.8 constant throughout its zoom range, this is a lens that successfully combines, speed, versatility and image quality in one. It is a rugged high-performance lens that is ideal for portraits, sports, wildlife, nature, and even creative landscapes. The field of view is equivalent to 70-200mm in 35mm format.
Sharpness at image center is excellent throughout the zoom range, with an acceptable degree of fall-off towards the corners. Panasonic’s Nano Surface Coating also means that the lens exhibits minimal distortion, and chromatic aberrations are pretty much nonexistent.

Auto focus is about as fast as you could ever want – i.e. it’s pretty much instantaneous – and is also totally silent. What’s more, the internally-housed focus mechanism means that the front element doesn’t move as you focus. More unusually though, the lens doesn’t extend as you zoom either, with all movement taking place out of view inside the barrel.

Boasting a splash-, dust-, and freeze-proof metal body, the 35-100mm was designed to withstand the worst of the elements and is very well weather-sealed. Yet despite these rugged credentials, it is surprisingly small and lightweight.

Finally, although zooms are unlikely ever to compete with primes when it comes to maximum apertures, an f/2.8 telephoto is plenty fast enough to blow the background out to a smooth and pleasing blur at any zoom setting. Combined with the onboard optical image stabilization, it will also allow handheld shooting even in relatively low light.

You can buy it at Amazon or see more reviews here.

Best Panasonic Portrait Lenses:

Panasonic Lumix G 20mm f/1.7
Panasonic Lumix G 25mm f/1.7
Panasonic Leica DG 25mm f/1.4
Panasonic Lumix G 42.5mm f/1.7 Power OIS
Panasonic Leica DG 42.5mm f/1.2 Power OIS

Panasonic Lumix G 12-35mm f/2.8 II OIS
Panasonic Lumix G 12-60mm f/2.8-4
Panasonic Lumix G 35-100mm f/2.8 Power OIS