Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12 mm F2.0 Lens, Fast Fixed Focal Length, Suitable for All MFT Cameras (Olympus OM-D & PEN Models, Panasonic G Series), Black

Product Information

Olympus has given us another one of their thin plastic, very losable, small plastic lens caps again, too. Funny thing: the Olympus logo fell off mine. That's right, the Olympus logo is on a thin piece glued to the actual plastic of the lens cap. And glued poorly in this case. Caps this small need a tethering option, in my opinion. Finally, be a little careful mounting and unmounting the lens: neither the front nor rear elements are very recessed. I almost didn’t include this lens on the list, but that would have been a bit unfair given the unique characteristics this Nokton has to offer. Like the 10.5mm, the 0.95 aperture coupled with Voigtländer’s distinctive colour rendering and bokeh gives your images a different look. It is not as sharp, contrasty or precise as modern digital lenses, but this might be exactly what you are looking for. As for sharpness at a close focus distance, we could barely see any differences between the two lenses at all regardless of the aperture value chosen. As with sharpness at a distance, the best performance is found at the fastest apertures (between f/2 and f/4). Note: the picture above shows the old design, but the optical quality is exactly the same as the mark II version.

Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12mm f/2.0 MSC Lens - Photo Review Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12mm f/2.0 MSC Lens - Photo Review

Over the past two to three years, the Micro Four Thirds (M43) system has morphed from an uncertain new category into a serious alternative to consumer DSLRs. As this segment grows, manufactures, mainly Olympus and Panasonic, have started to provide users with more lens options, but more importantly, they are producing higher quality lenses. Because of the relatively small sensors size, M43 systems have to deal with a 2x crop factor. Because of this, Olympus and Panasonic have to produce very wide lenses to provide users with a field of view that is similar to what their used to using with SLRs (e.g. 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, etc.). In this review, we are going to compare two M43 wide angle primes, the Olympus 12mm f/2 and the Panasonic 14mm f/2.5. Specs I liked the 12mm f/2 Olympus a lot when I got it along with my Olympus Pen E-P3 but no longer use it now that I have the Olympus 12-40mm lens. Santiago oriente al atardecer, a los pies de la Cordillera de Los Andes. Vista desde Quinchamalí (La Dehesa a la izquierda, Virgen de Cerro 18 al centro, Valle Escondido a la derecha). Build quality and AF speed are important, but what about image quality? Can Panasonic’s 14mm really keep up with Olympus’ new 12mm lens that costs more than three times as much. In short, yes. The images produced from these lenses are very compatible but there are a few slight difference between these lenses. You can upload: image, audio, video, document, spreadsheet, interactive, text, archive, code, other.

Looks & Build Quality

The field-of-view is equivalent to 24mm in full format terms so it's a moderate ultra-wide angle lens. The max. aperture of f/2 is certainly fast with respect to light gathering but don't expect wonders in terms of depth-of-field - in the MFT scope you are are effectively "loosing" about two f-stops so it "behaves" like a "24mm f/4" here. This is still sufficient for quite shallow depth-of-field images if you move close enough though. Optical Quality – Through the lens E-M5, 1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 200 – M.Zuiko 12mm GX85, 1/8, f/11, ISO 200 – Leica 12mm Sharpness Forgoing the plastics that make up the majority of the Panasonic, Olympus opted for and all metal construction for the 12mm. Because of the all metal construction, the Olympus 12mm feels wonderful in your hand but the weight may bother some users. The difference in weight is especially noticeable when switching between these lenses. The Olympus’ weight and length actually makes my GF-1 heavy and slightly off balance when in use. Replace the Olympus 12mm with the Panasonic 14mm f/2.5 and you would think the GF-1 just lost a few pounds. Olympus 12mm f/2. Shown with focus ring set to manual focus mode. I was told that this boat is due to be cut up shortly and be sold for scrap so if you want to shoot it for yourself, get yourself up to Roa Island as soon as possible. Go when there's an 8 metre plus tide to ensure there's enough water around the boat.

Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12mm f/2.0 Micro Four Thirds Lens

The bokeh is very pleasant when focusing close and the lens has good subject separation capabilities. There is a bit of moustache distortion, some chromatic aberration at the fastest apertures as well as flare in direct light. Very balanced, and I agree with what you have said. I finally decided against the f2 12mm, deciding in favor of smallness with the f2.5 14mm (for professional reasons I also have to have the 9-18 zoom, given that there’s no 9mm or 10mm prime, which is what I would really like), but zi looked very closely at it and agonized over it.

When we compare lenses, the general rule is that we pitch primes against primes and zooms against zooms.But the fun thing about rules is that every now and then you can break them! I'm a wide angle snob but I must say this lens does meet my expectations. Low distortion, and fantastic image quality out of this lens. One of my favourite shots out of this lens is this one: Mounting the lens on your camera you will notice that your camera becomes somewhat heavy, I would say this lens adds approximately 150grams of weight to the front of your camera which can feel like quite a lot as compared to some of the kit lenses and particularly on a larger camera like an OM-D or G/GH series camera from Panasonic. This becomes a significant issue where your main aim may be primarily to reduce weight, the lens does not achieve this, but for its build quality its something that I'm willing to put to one side. The real showstopper with the Olympus is the focus ring. It has a smooth and buttery action, but that’s not what makes this special. At first look, the focus ring seems like any other focus ring, but pull it towards the body of the camera and it will slide down into manual mode—which is pretty sweet. After you slide down the focus ring, you will see distance scales like in old manual focus lenses. Any photographer that is a fan of zone focusing should be very excited with this feature. AF Performance Panasonic GF-1 with Panasonic 14mm. Shot at ISO 500, f/2.5, 1/25 sec. So, if you are looking to get into M43 and the E-P3 is on your list, you should strongly consider buying it paired with the 12mm f/2, I think you will be more than happy with that combo.