![]() ![]() #Sweet16 promicro measurements proCoupled with a lens construction where only two cemented lenses are moved to adjust focus, the Olympus 12-40mm ƒ/2.8 Zuiko PRO focuses quickly, smoothly and quietly. Instead, it uses a linear motor drive system for fast actuation. The MSC system does away with a geared system for moving the lens elements when focusing, which can cause unwanted noise. The new 12-40mm lens features Olympus' MSC ("Movie & Still Compatible") focusing mechanism, for full-time AF in both stills and video that's also very quiet so as not to introduce focusing noises in video recordings. The electrical AF system takes less than a second to rack from minimum to infinity focus. The Olympus 12-40mm ƒ/2.8 Zuiko PRO is very fast to autofocus. At 25mm and beyond, average distortion and in the corners is almost zero. There's a bit of a dip to a little pincushion distortion at 18mm in the corners, but it's extremely minor, bordering on unnoticeable. The corners at 12mm show only around 0.25% barrel distortion and even less so at 14mm. In fact, distortion is practically non-existent with this lens. The Olympus 12-40mm lens is great at controlling distortion. In fact, most focal lengths show closer to a quarter of a stop of light falloff between ƒ/2.8 and ƒ/5.6 (12mm shows a little more between ƒ/2.8-ƒ/4). There is some vignetting at apertures wider than ƒ/5.6, but light falloff never even reaches half a stop. Vignetting on the Olympus 12-40mm lens is very well controlled throughout the entire aperture range and at all focal lengths. Interestingly, as you stop down, CA appears to increase at 35mm, but we see an opposite behavior at 40mm. At the longer focal lengths, however, we saw very low CA between 30-40mm, which was lower on average than the wider focal lengths. At 12mm, the average CA stays practically constant throughout the range of apertures at less than 300ths of a percent of frame height. We found that the amount of chromatic aberration varied a bit depending on the focal length, although it's generally very well-controlled. ![]() We did see some diffraction softness come into play at the smaller apertures such as ƒ/16-ƒ/22, but overall it wasn't very severe. Corner to corner, the lens displays fantastically sharp images in this range of apertures. Stopping down to ƒ/4 to ƒ/5.6, you have the "sweet spot" of apertures for critical sharpness at all focal lengths. We saw just a bit more corner softness at 40mm at ƒ/2.8, but it was extremely minor. There's also very little corner softness at ƒ/2.8 at each focal length we tested. Overall, the new Olympus 12-40mm ƒ/2.8 Zuiko PRO is a very sharp lens, even wide open and throughout the entire zoom range. It has not been released yet, but it is available for pre-order for $999. The Olympus 12-40mm ƒ/2.8 Zuiko PRO lens ships with front and rear lens caps, a lens hood and a case. The compact size of the new Olympus 12-40mm lens should be a big draw for these users, as well as others who are constantly on the go, shoot in harsh environments or simply need a rugged, fast zoom lens in a small package. Typical 24-70mm ƒ/2.8 lenses are a favorite amongst photojournalists, for example, but are usually quite large and heavy. #Sweet16 promicro measurements professionalOlympus is trying to capture some of the professional market with its new E-M1 and a professional series of lenses. It's also a rugged lens with splash-, dust- and freeze-proof construction, which makes it a great match with the equally-rugged E-M1. The 12-40mm focal range translates to a 24-80mm field of view in 35mm terms, and with the constant ƒ/2.8 aperture, this new Olympus lens is a very versatile lens that should work great in low-light. The new Olympus 12-40mm ƒ/2.8 Zuiko PRO was introduced alongside the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and is part of the company's new "Zuiko PRO" line of professional-grade Micro Four Thirds lenses. ![]()
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