Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-45 mm f/4.0 PRO review - Summary

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Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-45 mm f/4.0 PRO

3 June 2020

Maciej Latałło

11. Summary

Pros:

solid, sealed casing,
excellent image quality in the frame centre,
good image quality on the edge of the frame up from the maximum relative aperture,
moderate longitudinal chromatic aberration,
low lateral chromatic aberration,
sensible coma correction,
slight astigmatism,
quiet, fast, and accurate autofocus.

Cons:

very high distortion on RAW files,
noticeable vignetting on RAW files,
performance against bright light should have been better.

Even though the cons list of the tested lens features as many as three positions, I still assess its performance very positively indeed. First of all it impressed me with excellent sharpness already from the maximum relative aperture. The task of Olympus optics specialists was very difficult and they managed to execute it exceedingly well. What about the flaws, then? Two of them are of a smaller calibre. A high distortion for RAW files is caused by a specific approach toward lenses in this system. It leaves distortion correction to software of a camera; in return you get more leeway when it comes to correction of other optical aberrations. Vignetting is noticeable but, compared to other standard zoom lenses of the Micro Four Thirds system, and also some instruments designed for bigger sensors, it still looks good. The only flaw that should be considered a serious slip-up of this lens and criticized more harshly is performance against bright light. I think the lens should have performed a lot better in this area.

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The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12–45 mm f/4.0 PRO is a very well-put-together lens and an excellent addition to the system. If you buy a Micro 4/3 camera nowadays you are really spoilt for choice when it comes to standard zoom lenses. We don't like the starting price of the tested instrument, set at 2799 PLN; still we hope it will be soon featured in different camera-plus-lens sets – then the extra charge for it might drop significantly.