Leica D Vario-Elmarit 14-50 mm f/2.8-3.5 Asph. Mega O.I.S. review - Summary

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Leica D Vario-Elmarit 14-50 mm f/2.8-3.5 Asph. Mega O.I.S.

24 September 2010

Arkadiusz Olech

11. Summary

Pros:

solid and stylish casing,
splendid image quality in the frame centre, independent of the
aperture and the focal length values used,
good image quality at the frame edge,
low chromatic aberration at longer focal lengths,
low distortion,
negligible astigmatism,
good work against bright light,
efficient autofocus.

Cons:

too high chromatic aberration at 14 mm and at 50 mm and maximum relative aperture.

Leica is renowned for the high quality of its optical products and we can confidently say that the Vario-Elmarit 14-50 mm f/2.8-3.5 Asph Mega O.I.S. doesn’t disgrace its producer. Quite the opposite in fact – for a zoom lens with a 3.6x multiplier it fares really well. There are no serious reservations about its resolution in the frame centre and the frame edge; most of optical aberrations are corrected very well or at least properly; what’s more, the lens features an effective autofocus and the stabilization which is more efficient than that of the camera’s sensor.

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Taking all our test’s results into account you can confidently state that the set of the DMC L1 and the Leica lens constitute a tandem which every fan of the 4/3 system should include into the range of their interest.

Sample shots:


Camera: Olympus E-510 Parameters: 36 mm, f/3.4, exp. 1/60 s, ISO 400 File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 6.0 MB	Camera: Olympus E-510 Parameters: 36 mm, f/4.5, exp. 1/40 s, ISO 400 File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 6.0 MB	Camera: Olympus E-510 Parameters: 14 mm, f/2.8, exp. 1/2500 s, ISO 400 File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 6.1 MB

Camera: Olympus E-510 Parameters: 50 mm, f/7.1, exp. 1/400 s, ISO 400 File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 6.8 MB	Camera: Olympus E-510 Parameters: 50 mm, f/2.8, exp. 1/250 s, ISO 100 File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 7.0 MB	Camera: Olympus E-510 Parameters: 34 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/3200 s, ISO 400 File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 6.7 MB

Camera: Olympus E-510 Parameters: 34 mm, f/6.3, exp. 1/125 s, ISO 100 File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 7.6 MB	Camera: Olympus E-510 Parameters: 50 mm, f/5.6, exp. 1/500 s, ISO 100 File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 6.3 MB	Camera: Olympus E-510 Parameters: 16 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/100 s, ISO 100 File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 6.4 MB

Camera: Olympus E-510 Parameters: 14 mm, f/8.0, exp. 1/320 s, ISO 100 File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 7.5 MB	Camera: Olympus E-510 Parameters: 40 mm, f/6.0, exp. 1/250 s, ISO 100 File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 7.4 MB	Camera: Olympus E-510 Parameters: 50 mm, f/11.0, exp. 1/250 s, ISO 100 File: JPG, 3648x2736 pix, 6.8 MB