Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40 mm F2.8 PRO Lens, Universal Zoom, Suitable for All MFT Cameras (Olympus OM-D & PEN Models, Panasonic G-Series), Black

Product Information

By the way, on the E-M1, the feel is much more comfortable, and even though the whole setup is heavier and larger, the better balance changes a lot. So this is 'nice' but which is the bit you really want to show - and why? If you think "I must show a close up of pistils & stamens so that the pollen grans can be seen" then you will have a purpose and know much better if it works or not. Otherwise you'll keep taking 'nice' shots and be unhappy with them.

At 12mm sharpness is already outstanding across the frame, and there is only a slight improvement in clarity when stopped down one stop. This pattern is repeated at 18mm with excellent sharpness being achieved between maximum aperture and f/8. The OM System 12-40mm f2.8 Pro II doesn’t contain a whole lot of innovation over the previous lens. It has better optics, fast autofocus, and a whole lot of things the previous version had. But in the grand scheme of things, there’s not a lot that’s groundbreaking here. Comparatively speaking, it doesn’t shine as much compared to many of the other PRO-monikered lenses from OM System. ErgonomicsMeike 6.5mm f2 Fisheye: an interesting combination of fast aperture and very wide fisheye lens, but we haven’t tested it. There is also an 8mm f3.5 but it is designed for DSLRs, and is therefore larger.

The Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 was the first of its Pro lineup of lenses, eventually going to be a set of four (7-14mm f/2.8, 12-40mm f/2.8, 40-150mm f/2.8, 300mm f/4). As such, it’s a high performance lens that’s been built at a high level of quality, as well. Perhaps the closest alternative to the Olympus is Panasonic's 12-35mm ƒ/2.8 lens. With it you get a similar, albeit slightly shorter focal length range and a constant ƒ/2.8 aperture. It also features built-in optical image stabilization, which might be a moot point for Olympus users as most of the company's cameras feature sensor shift IS. It's also a very sharp lens at all focal lengths and does well at controlling CA, but it shows more distortion and more vignetting than the Olympus -- and it's more expensive. But no M43 users is worried about "How can I use an equivalent lens to make my M43 sensor ISO as good as or superior to FF?" We know the smaller sensor will have limitations and just try to get the best ISO that will get an exposure.In this Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 review I will go through the pros and cons of this professional grade zoom lens after having used it for well over a year in my personal and professional work. Meike 12mm f2.8: another 12mm manual focus lens designed for APS-C but it doesn’t make sense to list them all. Plus the 7artisans performs better.

Weather resistance aside, this lens is fantastic when it comes to build quality. It’s lightweight and feels awesome in your hand. And I can’t really complain too much about that at all. It’s a lens that you’ll want to bring with you everywhere you go. Ease of Use So, for me the 12-100 is easily much more used than the 12-40. As I said, I mostly use the 12-40/2.8 indoors, but often I even then prefer some faster primes, like the panasonic Leica 15/1.7 or Oly 45/1.8. If I want more subject isolation than any of the zooms can offer my preferred choice is the Oly 75/1.8. This red, yellow and green leaf is the best of your bunch. I rather like this photo. The depth of field is very shallow, but at least the area in focus is the area you want in focus. Great subject as well. Kowa Prominar 12mm f1.8: here as well, there is already a vast choice of fast 12mm lenses and the old, large and expensive manual focus Kowa lens offers too little to be attractive.

The Olympus M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro is a not so standard zoom for Micro Four Thirds cameras

When IQ is a wash then, for me, the constant F2.8 becomes the deal maker. (Dual IS is interesting but only when you can accept slower shutter speeds)

The Olympus M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 lens delivers outstanding sharpness through much of the zoom range at maximum aperture with a dust and splash proof design. I would like to produce something presentable for my meeting on Friday. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong? The first one is just to show you what I'm trying to capture with the second one.

Conclusion

I've had that debate internally for many months, hesitating to make to plunge either way. Panny zooms don't interest me so bother bringing them up. Of course the camera's built-in corrections take care of much of this, though with a bit of strangeness. At 12mm corrected JPEGs have about a half percent barrel distortion. The oddity is that the camera takes the modest amount of pin cushion distortion at marked 25mm focal length and changes it into a modest amount of barrel distortion! This tells me that the table the camera is using is more a smoothed curve than a very precise set of values for each and every focal length. Regardless of what someone's typed into Wikipedia, f-number has no direct connection to shutter speed: it's mediated through ISO, which assumes you care about how much light per sq cm your sensor is receiving, not how much light per portion of the final image your sensor is receiving.