Hasta La Gadget!

One of many things the Micro Four Thirds manufacturers are getting right is the lenses. Panasonic’s optics clearly show the benefits of its long association with Leica, and Olympus’ Zuiko lenses have been great since pretty much forever.

These lenses aren’t cheap — this latest wide-angle zoom from Olympus will cost around $700 when it ships next month, but according to the testers at DP Review, you get your money’s worth.

The M Zuiko Digital 9-18mm (18-36mm equivalent) F4-5.6 is small. That’s it above, in the middle squeezed between a pair of already tiny wide zooms from Panasonic, one a Four Thirds lens on an adapter (left) and one a native M4/3 optic. Olympus manages this by making the lens collapsible like the 14-42mm kit zoom which comes with the Pen EP-1. When in use, it extends to around double the length.

The takeaways from the DP Review test: the bokeh, or out-of-focus highlights are ugly, but the lens is sharp and not prone to flare (essential in such a wide lens). Autofocus is good and fast (the lens “reveals a significant advance in Olympus’s autofocus system”) and also silent for movie-shooting. As we’ve said, it is also tiny, which is kind of the point with M4/3 cameras.

I’ll still skip it, though. The problem with all but the most expensive zooms is that they have variable and relatively slow maximum apertures. One of the great things about using a fast prime is both that shallow depth of field and the ability to shoot at night without worrying too much about getting the shakes.

Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm 1:4-5.6 review [DP Review]

See Also:

• Panasonic Micro Four Thirds 'Rangefinder' with Leica Lenses …
• Sony Fights Micro Four-Thirds With Lens-Changing Compact
• Adapter Puts Leica Lenses on Micro Four Thirds Cameras
• Olympus Pen E-P2
• Olympus Pen E-P1
• New Olympus Pen Adds Flash, Loses Good Looks