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Lens review

Olympus Zuiko Digital 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED

14 May 2009
Arkadiusz Olech

11. Summary


Pros:
  • compact, light, solid instrument,
  • very good quality of frame center picture,
  • very good quality of frame corner picture,
  • chromatic aberration well corrected,
  • slight astigmatism,
  • slight vignetting/ falloff,
  • fabulous against bright light,
  • autofocus efficient and quick.

Cons:
  • chromatic aberration a bit too big for 9mm / wide open combination,
  • noticeable coma for longer focal lengths.


The fact, that I really had a lot of troubles to find any disadvantages for the final list is the best recommendation for this lens. I wrote these two points almost by force, these are no serious flaws, quite understandable with such a wideangle instrument.

Every amateur photographer, who works with the Four Thirds system and is interested in a landscape or journalistic wideangle lens which does the job asked of it extremely competently with the minimum of fuss, has its choice before him.


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All we have to do now is to wait for a premiere of a ultra-wideangle zoom f/2.8. I am very curious how Olympus will meet this challenge.


Sample shots:

Olympus Zuiko Digital 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED - Summary Olympus Zuiko Digital 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED - Summary Olympus Zuiko Digital 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED - Summary
Camera: Olympus E-3
Parameters: 18 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/100 sek., ISO 100
File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 4.4 MB
Camera: Olympus E-3
Parameters: 18 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/400 sek., ISO 100
File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 4.7 MB
Camera: Olympus E-3
Parameters: 14 mm, f/4.8, exp. 1/1000 sek., ISO 100
File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 4.9 MB
Olympus Zuiko Digital 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED - Summary Olympus Zuiko Digital 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED - Summary Olympus Zuiko Digital 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED - Summary
Camera: Olympus E-3
Parameters: 11 mm, f/4.2, exp. 1/1000 sek., ISO 100
File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 4.9 MB
Camera: Olympus E-3
Parameters: 9 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/800 sek., ISO 100
File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 4.3 MB
Camera: Olympus E-3
Parameters: 9 mm, f/4.0, exp. 1/320 sek., ISO 100
File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 4.7 MB
Olympus Zuiko Digital 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED - Summary Olympus Zuiko Digital 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED - Summary Olympus Zuiko Digital 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED - Summary
Camera: Olympus E-3
Parameters: 18 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/250 sek., ISO 100
File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 4.5 MB
Camera: Olympus E-3
Parameters: 12 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/250 sek., ISO 100
File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 4.4 MB
Camera: Olympus E-3
Parameters: 13 mm, f/4.6, exp. 1/250 sek., ISO 100
File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 4.4 MB
Olympus Zuiko Digital 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED - Summary Olympus Zuiko Digital 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED - Summary Olympus Zuiko Digital 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED - Summary
Camera: Olympus E-3
Parameters: 9 mm, f/7.1, exp. 1/100 sek., ISO 100
File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 4.1 MB
Camera: Olympus E-3
Parameters: 15 mm, f/4.9, exp. 1/150 sek., ISO 100
File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 4.4 MB
Camera: Olympus E-3
Parameters: 11 mm, f/6.3, exp. 1/80 sek., ISO 100
File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 4.0 MB
Olympus Zuiko Digital 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED - Summary Olympus Zuiko Digital 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED - Summary Olympus Zuiko Digital 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED - Summary
Camera: Olympus E-3
Parameters: 14 mm, f/4.8, exp. 1/160 sek., ISO 100
File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 5.1 MB
Camera: Olympus E-3
Parameters: 10 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/160 sek., ISO 100
File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 4.3 MB
Camera: Olympus E-3
Parameters: 16 mm, f/5.3, exp. 1/160 sek., ISO 100
File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 4.8 MB



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