Olympus Digital SLR Cameras and Lenses-04

Olympus Digital SLR Cameras and Lenses-04

Wide-to-Telephoto Zoom Lenses

A wide-to-tele zoom is what Olympus includes as a standard "kit" lens with their SLR bodies. The range on most of the Olympus wide-to-tele zooms starts at a moderately wide 14mm (28mm equivalent) and goes up to moderately telephoto. An all-purpose lens is good for when you are too busy to change lenses, for traveling when less weight and less baggage is better, or when working in a dusty or wet environment. When buying, watch out for slow maximum aperture, e.g., f/5.6 at the long end, which results in a dim viewfinder and the requirement to use a tripod or flash.

• Olympus 14-35mm f/2.0 ED, $2179 (28-70 equivalent). At 900g (ouch!), the weight is about the same as the full-frame Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM, $1173 (review), the price is double, and you lose the range between 24mm and 28mm (note that 24mm is dramatically wider than 28mm). What do you gain? One f-stop of light gathering capability, which is huge. Add to that the sensor-based image stabilizer and you have some capabilities that would make a Canon EOS user drool.
• Olympus 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 ED SWD, $849 (effective 24-120mm), 575g, a great travel lens. One or two f-stops slower than the 14-35, and lower optical quality, but lighter and much wider range.
• Olympus 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5, $410, (effective 28-110mm), one of the original E-system lenses, introduced with the E-1 back in 2003. Half of the images on this page were taken with this lens.
• Olympus 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 ED, $250, (effective 28-84mm), 190g, one ED glass and two aspherical elements; the modulation transfer function shows a precipitous decline in resolution from the center to the edges.
• Olympus 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6, $225, (effective 28-90mm), 285g, an older design than the 14-42.
• Olympus 17.5-45mm/3.5-5.6, a kit lens for the E-500, mercifully not sold separately.
• Olympus 18-180mm f/3.5-6.3 ED, $400, (effective 36-360mm), an attempt at an "all in one" zoom with an unfortunate lack of wide angle perspective. A 14-120mm or 14-140mm would be a much more useful lens for most photographers. Note that the full-frame superzooms tend to start at 28mm and the crop sensor superzooms at 17mm.

Wide-angle Zoom Lenses

• Olympus 7-14 mm f/4.0 ED, $1531, (effective 14-28mm), 780g. The only thing similar in the full frame world is the Nikon 14-24/2.8. The Nikon lens covers a 24x36mm frame for about the same price and only slightly more weight.

Olympus 11-22mm f/2.8-3.5, $655, (effective 22-44mm), 485g. High quality but not very dramatically wide if you're accustomed to the standard full-frame 16-35 wide zooms.