Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 14-42 mm F3.5-5.6 EZ Lens, Standard Zoom, Suitable for All MFT Cameras (Olympus OM-D & PEN Models, Panasonic G-Series), Black

Product Information

Chromatic aberration is noticeable in any photograph taken with this lens, appearing in the corners and areas of high contrast as magenta-green fringing. It's most easily noticed in the wide angle (14mm).

Olympus Digital 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 ED Lens - Photo Review Olympus Digital 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 ED Lens - Photo Review

There is some light fall-off evident in the corners at both ends of the focal range, plus some obvious barrel distortion at 14mm, but nothing too unexpected for this kind of lens. The colour rendition is spot on, and Olympus cameras do produce particularly pleasing JPEGs – though if you look at them up close you'll see that the sharpening is pretty crude and leaves some obvious edge halos. Keen photographers would be better off shooting raw files.It replaced the older, original 14-42mm kit lens –the Olympus M.Zuiko ED 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II R –which is significantly taller and bulkier, albeit cheaper. (Optically the two lenses perform pretty similarly, though the R has two more aperture blades while the EZ has slightly greater maximum magnification.)

Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III EZ Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 III EZ

Those are again good samples that reason to own camera is not to meter its sharpness, dynamic range or other gear things. Reasons to own a camera is to capture moments and store those moments in history for the future as our memories will fail us. The image quality looks very good. It’s a shame the E-M10 Mark III doesn’t get Olympus's 20MP sensor, but its 16MP shots are sharp and full of detail. The kit lens for the new Olympus E-P1 micro four-thirds camera, the 14-42mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 M.Zuiko produces an effective field of view of 28-84mm when mounted on a compatible camera body. The micro four-thirds format will restrict compatible bodies to micro four-thirds mounts only; anything else would cause vignetting.Olympus PEN E-PL7 + Olympus M.Zuiko 14‑42mm f/3.5‑5.6 EZ (1/320 sec, ISO200, f/7.1) (Image credit: James Artaius) Olympus M.Zuiko 14‑42mm f/3.5‑5.6 EZ: Performance

There are 2 different Olympus 14-42mm lenses - Mu-43 There are 2 different Olympus 14-42mm lenses - Mu-43

The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple. A final caveat: this can definitely be landscape photography lens as shooting slow shutter speeds on a tripod and narrow apertures is easily done with this lens. Extended Barrel at Any Focal Length The Micro Four Thirds sensor is smaller than APS-C but that brings a big size reduction in both the body and lenses You must try before discarding this almost free kitlens. Way, way better then almost all kitlenses around.

Olympus 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 ED M.Zuiko Digital User Reviews

The Micro Four Thirds sensor is about half the size of an APS-C type, which means larger-format mirrorless cameras tend to produce better image quality at high ISO settings. Yet, Olympus holds its own lower down the ISO range and does incorporate a highly effective 5-axis, in-body stabilisation system to help get sharp shots in low light. This becomes very useful when shooting remotely, via the OI.Share app, as you can control the zoom without having to touch the camera directly –great for framing yourself for selfies from afar, or photographing subjects that are easily startled. This lens has some great plusses. Very good image quality in most situations, very compact when not in use and excellent close focus distance - you get 0.25m at the 42mm end of the zoom. Bokeh is a word used for the out-of-focus areas of a photograph, and is usually described in qualitative terms, such as smooth / creamy / harsh etc. In the Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ, Olympus employed a five-bladed circular diaphragm, which isn't usually conductive to a pleasant bokeh, but in actuality the results aren't too bad at all for a kit lens. There are 2 different Olympus 14-42mm lenses - the EZ model and the IIR model - both are f.3.5-5.6 - one seems to be a pancake design and the other traditional in design.