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If you ask me which is the one lens you should choose for MFT, the Olympus M. Zuiko 12mm is for sure at the top of the list. It is a wide angle prime that can easily live up to its full-frame counterparts. It isn’t too expensive, it has fast aperture, and a very nice bokeh despite its focal length. The autofocus works to a T with the GH3, E-M5 and the E-P3. It is the perfect lens for landscapes, city-scapes and street photography. It can focus really close (0.2 cm) but be aware that the closer your subject is to the lens, the more it will be distorted. For me, it rarely unmounted from my E-M5! The perfect match! The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column. Both lenses feature a solid metal construction but only the Leica lens is dust and splash proof. We have also noticed that, with extensive use, the paint on the Olympus lens tends to scratch more than that of the Leica. Vignetting is most noticeable the maximum aperture of each lens (f/1.4 on the Leica and f/2 on the Olympus) but stopping down a value or two is enough to fix the issue. Alternatively you can lighten the corners by using a post production software. Flare All these factors considered, my advice would be: go for the 12-40mm instead of the 12mm unless youa) want to avoid large lenses at all costs or b) own a small Micro Four Thirds body. Not only is the optical performance marginally better overall but the fact that it is a constant aperture zoom means you can leave it on your camera body and use it for multiple genres, just as we have during the past four years of owning the lens.
Olympus 12mm f2 vs Micro Four Thirds Lens Comparison: Olympus 12mm f2 vs
Being an all-metal lens, the M.Zuiko Digital 12mm f/2 naturally features a metal bayonet mount that allows it to be mounted to any Micro Four Thirds camera (but no “regular” Four Thirds DSLR, of course).
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When fitted to an optical-viewfinder camera, a fast maximum aperture such as the f/2 found on this lens would aid composition under low light levels but the Olympus E-PM1 used for this review has only a rear screen on which to display the view so the f/2 advantage was not readily apparent in this case. The Olympus 12 mm f/2 is solidly built, despite the light weight of 130 grams. “A distinct, classic appearance” is what I read somewhere as a description of the look of this lens. I’ll second that. The lens makes use of internal focusing, which means the length of the lens remains unchanged and the filter mount does not turn during focusing. Like many lenses today, the Olympus 12 mm f/2 makes use of electronic focusing, whereby you normally don’t have a hard stop at infinity or at the shortest distance setting. Due to where I live (Ireland) this enables me to capture a Milky Way shot without getting star trails. I believe if you are in the southern hemisphere you may need to use a shorter shutter speed so that your stars are sharp (remember the stars are moving; well the earth is as it rotates which means too long a shutter speed will cause motion blur in the sky). Now take this advice for what its worth, this is my technique and one that has enabled me to get (in my opinion) quite nice images with a sensor that is half the size of the full frame cameras that are generally associated with astrophotography. It is perfectly acceptable to capture the image all in one frame, its just that on a M43 sensor there may be a lot more noise than you would normally see. Olympus E-M1 MK II . Olympus M.12-100mmF4.0 @12mm . f/11 . 15″ . ISO 64 – Milky Way over Dunmore Head in Dingle, Co Kerry
Lens Talk: Olympus M.Zuiko 12mm F2 - Blogger ROBIN WONG : Lens Talk: Olympus M.Zuiko 12mm F2 - Blogger
CA is slightly noticeable in this lens, in the corners; according to the test charts, it's more obvious when then lens is stopped down compared to wide open, but I think that's a symptom of corner shading slightly obscuring the color shift. If you take a look at the sample photos, you'll see slight magenta-green color shifts in areas of high contrast, but nothing to get overly worried about. Kowa Prominar 8.5mm f2.8: I saw this lens at the Photography Show in Birmingham 5 years ago but never got the chance to test a full production sample. The 17mm equivalent field of view is interesting but now that the smaller Laowa 9mm is out, I see little reason to get this one, especially considering the high price.
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Meike 12mm f2.8: another 12mm manual focus lens designed for APS-C but it doesn’t make sense to list them all. Plus the 7artisans performs better. For a more detailed look on the lens' pairing with the Olympus E-P3 body, you may wish to read the Imaging Resource review. I liked the 12mm f/2 Olympus a lot when I got it along with my Olympus Pen E-P3 but no longer use it now that I have the Olympus 12-40mm lens. MPB puts photo and video kit into more hands, more sustainably. Every month, visual storytellers sell more than 20,000 cameras and lenses to MPB. Choose used and get affordable access to kit that doesn’t cost the earth. As seen in the photo above, the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12mm f2 is a truly small lens that easily fits in the palm of your hand. Being a metal lens means it's somewhat heavier than you'd expect based on its size alone, but it's still extremely lightweight in comparison to most SLR lenses.
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