List Price: $1,099.99
Sale Price: $1,088.95
Today's Bonus: 1% Off
Bought this from a NYC camera store and was delivered to me 11/11/13. I put myself on the wait list the minute it was announced so I am likely one of the first to get this lens. I have had only a few days worth of shooting but will put my initial impressions here.
Pros:
1. Superb optics. I am not a pixel peeper but no issues at any focal length even wide open. The lens is very sharp with fair contrast. No significant distortion. Slight CA. No noticeable vignetting in real life situations. I am not sure if my EM-5 is correcting for this lens with software. I have not tried on Panasonic bodies. All of this at a constant f2.8 throughout the zoom.
2. Size. No comparison to larger format lenses with a constant 2.8 aperture in this focal range. Others manufacturers might make FF and APS-C cameras smaller and smaller but they cannot match the size of the m4/3 lenses.
3. Very useful zoom range for the average shooter. This can be the one lens you can have for the entire system. It covers semi-wide to semi-long, good for landscapes to portraits. You might want to get prime lenses for bigger aperture, smaller size or shallower DOF/subject isolation but with the newer m4/3 cameras that do well at higher ISO, this lens is fine even for night-time photography.
4. Fantastic build quality. Olympus 75mm might be a tad better made but it is close. I should know; I own most primes from Olympus and Panasonic and a few zooms. I have tried almost every lens made for the m4/3 system from any manufacturer from friends. The lens is solid with good heft but not too heavy. It has good dampened rings which are as good as any m43 lens although inferior to lenses from Leica or older (pre-digital) lenses from Nikon, Canon, Olympus, etc.
5. Looks fantastic. I know it has nothing to do with picture quality but if I was not into visually pleasing things, I would not be into photography in the first place.
6. Lens button. I love the fact I can assign DOF to this.
7. Auto focus/Snap focus. It's as fast and as quiet as any m4/3 lens used on my EM-5. The snap focus feature by pulling the focus ring back is something that gives Olympus a significant advantage over other manufacturers. Brilliant.
8. Included hood and lens pouch. I thought h*ll would freeze over before this would happen. It is getting colder recently.
9. On that topic; weather sealed.
Cons: (Minor)
1. The lens is not fully retracted at 12mm. It is actually fully retracted at 16mm. Thus, if you store with lens at 12mm, the front element is not completely against the body. I am not sure if this will impact durability over time as it is carried/stored.
2. The lens cap is huge (for Olympus). They needed to redesign the lens cap due to the hood but I feel it is too thick now.
3. The lens crashed my EM-5. The camera crashed when I first attached this lens. I am not sure if Olympus will issue a firmware update. It was interesting to find out the power lever on the EM-5 is software based; i.e., flipping it did not turn off the camera when it crashed.
4. Made in China, like iphones, ipads and most other electronics. I was hoping for Made in Japan.
Overall, a great lens and highly recommended for anyone looking for an all-around lens for the m43 system.
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