That said, this particular 24mm-equivalent lens provides a very natural (undistorted) image and as such is likely to be used for a wide range of subjects. The lens is just as useful indoors and in low light where some assume it may be too wide, it's just right, when using its perspective you can gain some dramatic effects indoors simply and straight forward out of the camera with minimal processing. Both operate with precision especially when combined with the manual assists (magnification, focus peaking) of Micro Four Thirds cameras. 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. While the Panasonic is compact and light, the Olympus 12mm f/2 is extremely well built and solid. It looks like is should be on the front of a Leica, not a M43 body. The lens is finished with a champagne colored metal and a blue ring adorns the top of the lens, similar to Canon’s red L ring. Nicely done Olympus. Olympus 12mm f/2. Shown with focus ring set to AF focus mode.

Olympus M. Zuiko Digital 12mm f/2 ED CSC Lens Review

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. 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.As we touched upon in the design section, you can switch between AF and MF by using physical controls on the barrel – the Snapshot focus ring on the Olympus and the AF/MF switch on the Panasonic.

Olympus M.Zuiko 12mm f/2 ED - Review / Test Report Olympus M.Zuiko 12mm f/2 ED - Review / Test Report

As seen in the photo above, the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12mm f2 is a truly small lens that easily fits in the palm of your hand. Being a metal lens means it's somewhat heavier than you'd expect based on its size alone, but it's still extremely lightweight in comparison to most SLR lenses. 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: Vignetting isn’t entirely corrected but it doesn’t pose a problem on either lens. In fact, it is only really noticeable at f/2 on the 12mm. Flare There isnt much more I can say. If you want a fast wide angle prime lens and if you like it to be small, lightweight and beautifully made, this is it! According to the Matthew of the Olympus OM blog, you can shoot wide open with M.Zuiko 12mm without having to worry about coma or astigmatism. This, coupled with the fact that Olympus trailblazers such as Peter Baumgarten and Alex McClure frequently rely on this lens for astrophotography, would suggest that it is also an excellent companion for this particular genre. If we get the chance to use it for astrophotography ourselves in the future, we will be sure to update this section of the article with our own findings and some sample images.Some raw converters – such as RawTherapee – can show you the uncorrected image which, in the case of this particular lens, tends to have a lot more barrel distortion to it. Both lenses have a minimum focus distance of 20cm. For the 12mm, this corresponds to 0.08x magnification (0.16x full frame equivalent). The official specifications for the 12-40mm state a maximum magnification of 0.3x (0.6x equivalent) but this is because the zoom is able to maintain the same minimum focus distance up to 40mm. Although we don’t know the magnification at 12mm, you can see from the examples below that it is higher than the prime lens.In fact, the PRO zoom is a great semi-macro solution that I often use in the place of my M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 when I don’t need 1:1 magnification. Chromatic Aberration, Distortion and Vignetting It helps that there is a depth-of-field scale engraved alongside the focusing collar but the absence of an externally-visible aperture setting means the camera cannot be used to its full potential in this respect. The manual focusing mechanism is silky smooth and feels just like a classic metal-bodied rangefinder lens. Laowa 4mm f2.8 Fisheye: recently announced, it offers a circular perspective with a 210˚ angle of view. Not yet tested, and I admit I’m not keen on circular fisheyes (but that’s just me). It’s cheap though.

Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital ED 12mm f/2 Review - Photography Blog

Standard zoom lenses, whether premium or kit, start from 12mm or 14mm. This gives you an equivalent angle of view of 24/28mm which gives you lots of flexibility if you’re interested in landscapes or architecture. Of course you don’t get the extreme view shorter focal lengths can deliver, but you have a longer reach when zooming in. But you need to ask yourself why you want a fast lens at 12mm. Personally I use WA a lot - but it's mostly landscapes and cityscapes; I don't need f1.4 or f2 so a zoom is just fine for me. I used to have the Oly 12/2 but I found I seldom used it. I think the use cases for a fast 12mm are astro, interiors, concerts etc. If I were doing any of those things, then I'd be going for the PL 12/1.4.When fitted to an optical-viewfinder camera, a fast maximum aperture such as the f/2 found on this lens would aid composition under low light levels but the Olympus E-PM1 used for this review has only a rear screen on which to display the view so the f/2 advantage was not readily apparent in this case. Image quality is good, flare resistance is very good for this focal length, distortion is low as is vignetting but I actually expected more from this lens. The standout is the clutch manual focus which despite being fly-by wire provides a great feel and the Olympus system is fantastic implementation of manual focus this type of lens. The first and most obvious difference between the M.Zuiko 12mm and Leica 12mm is the size and weight. Not only is the latter more than twice as heavy as the former but it is also significantly larger, making it a better choice for mid-sized to large Micro Four Thirds bodies. By contrast, the small and lightweight nature of the Olympus lens means it can comfortably be used on any body, even the tiny Lumix GX850 or Pen E-PL8. You can see how they compare in size to the mid-range Lumix GX85 below.

The Olympus 12mm F/2 - Digital Photography Review The Olympus 12mm F/2 - Digital Photography Review

So don’t let anyone tell you your camera is not good enough to shoot the milky way, even if you don’t get the perfect shot or the cleanest it is worth it just to stand underneath the stars and watch it arc over your head. The stars truly are a magical sight and something to behold on those crisp clear nights. 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. The Zuiko is absolutely beautifully crafted based on a metal lens body and a metal mount but no (explicit) weather protection. The physical length of the lens remains constant regardless of the focus operation. Thanks to an IF (internal focus) the front element does not rotate. A square-shaped metal lens hood is only optional ... which we think is either bizarre or insulting regarding the already high price of the lens. That's a bit disappointing for a premium fixed-focal lens, although as seen above the automatic correction works well. (By the way if you happen to be a RawTherapee user, entering an amount of about -0.160 in the Distortion field on the Transformations tab has approximately the same effect as the in-camera processing.) Similarly, it is not easy to preview the narrow depth-of-field that f/2 should provide (but which is considerably diminished by the very short focal length). In short, the f/2 aperture provides a good headline but it is hard to exploit its full potential using an all-electronic camera.

Buy. Sell. Trade. Create.

So, when I started to switch to the Micro Four Thirds system with the Olympus OM-D E-M5, the first lens I looked for was, of course, a wide angle. I had already tried the excellent Panasonic Lumix 7-14 f/4, but it is a little too extreme for my tastes, not to mention I was looking for a lens with a faster aperture. The Olympus M.Zuiko 12mm was, as such, my only option, and I was really curious to see if I would miss my big fat (Greek?) DSLR wide angle lens. Well surprisingly, the anwser was a big fat ‘no’! The 12mm F2 was one of Olympus' first few mini sized prime lenses, released together with the Olympus PEN E-P3, before the era of OM-D cameras. The idea of compact sized prime lenses was genius, pairing them with smaller sized cameras like the PEN series. However, over the years Olympus has also made incredibly high performing standard zoom lenses, such as the 12-40mm F2.8 PRO. The 12-40mm lens is sharp, even at wide open, and if you were to show me images taken from 12-40mm vs 12mm side by side, I may have difficulty to tell each of them apart. The F2 vs F2.8 advantage is true and present but it is not that significant for wide angle framing, for wider angle lenses do not render shallow depth of field as easily as longer focal lengths, say 25mm or 45mm lenses. The F2 brighter aperture allows capture of more light for dim environment, but it does not make that huge of a difference because wide angle lenses are also less susceptible to camera shake compared to longer lenses. Furthermore the 5-Axis Image Stabilization from current Olympus cameras can sufficiently compensate for the loss of brightness in the PRO zoom lenses. What we really want to know is: does the 12mm prime lens bring a tangible advantage in terms of overall optical quality in comparison to the 12-40mm set to the same focal length? Sell the kit you’re not using to MPB. Trade in for the kit you need to create. Buy used, spend less and get more. Buy. Sell. Trade. Create. There is some corner shading when the lens is set to ƒ/2 - the corners are 3/4 EV darker than the center at this setting - but at any other aperture, there is no corner shading to speak of.