Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 12-60 mm f/2.8-4.0 SWD review - Distortion

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Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 12-60 mm f/2.8-4.0 SWD

3 November 2009

Arkadiusz Olech

6. Distortion

Geometric deformations at the frame edge will bother us only at the shortest focal length, with the angle of view amounting to as much as 84 degrees. The same angle of view give 16 mm lenses on APS-C/DX sensors. We have tested four such lenses so far (a Tokina 16-50 mm, a Pentax 16-50, a Sony 16-105 and a Zeiss 16-80) and all of them had noticeable barrel distortion in the range from –4.0% to –4.7%. The Olympus ZD 12-60 mm presents itself very well against such a background with the result of –3.54%.

As we mentioned at the beginning, the problem of distortion disappears at longer focal lengths. At 23 mm this aberration amounts to only –0.15% and immediately afterwards it changes the sign; at 40 mm it reaches 0.30% and at 60 mm it is just 0.33% , a very unobtrusive value indeed.

Although it is difficult not to notice distortion at the widest angle, the Olympus fares very well in this category, definitely better than its competitors.

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