Lenstip reviews the Olympus 12-50mm

Interesting it's sharper wide open.

 

Yes, diffraction taking into effect near max aperture is not very encouraging.

 

That's basic physics, nothing Oly can do about that. With the small sensor size and high pixel density diffraction is going to be an issue at f-stops beyond f4.

 

Limits the usability of the lens a tad when at 50mm you really only get the best results wide open...that said, it's probably still a much better kit lens than anyone else really offers...

 

You're right. Although I was hoping it to be at @f5.6.

So do the other retractable kit lenses have this same limitation as well? I don't recall hearing anything like this @f4 before.

 

I think I'd rather have something like the Panasonic 14-45 over this (then again weather sealing isn't a priority as I don't have a weather sealed camera).

 

ALL :43: lenses have this problem, it's not limited to a particular lens type.

f5.6 is still very usable, and even f8 is ok for a lot of things. I probably shouldn't have said it would be an "issue" past f4, I meant more that it would be measurable. The falloff from f4 to f5.6 isn't enough to be a problem.

 

It's not a lens thing, it's a sensor thing. The older sensors have less of an issue because they have lower density.

 

Umm, yeah. That's why I said in my first post, "With the small sensor size and high pixel density diffraction is going to be an issue at f-stops beyond f4."  

 

It's not that loss of resolution through diffraction is an issue with higher MP sensors more than with lower MP sensors, it just becomes noticable at a pixel level because the pixels are smaller and become capable of out-resolving the lens sooner. When the lens is the limiting factor in resolution it limits the final image from either sensor. More megapixels doesn't make a lens worse, only appear worse in a 100% crop. What does happen is that the sensor with the lower megapixel count doesn't display as great an increase in resolution at larger apertures where the lens is performing optimally.

 

Thanks Nic.

 

This is true, but...

...I don't understand the rest of the argument. No one is saying that more pixels makes the lens worse, or that a high resolution sensor will give a worse image than a lower resolution sensor at f11. Just that the pixel density does have an impact on what point diffraction starts to limit the maximum resolution possible out of a lens/sensor system. Whether that matters depends on a lot of factors, but the basic physics is what it is.

 

I'll use 16 and 12 megapixel sensors as a practical example of the new and old m4/3 sensors. At a pixel level, diffraction starts to limit the resolution of the 16mp lens/sensor combo sooner (i.e. at a larger aperture) than for the 12mp sensor, but from a higher starting resolution at the optimum aperture. A lens tested on a lower res sensor should give a flatter graph across the range of apertures. A higher res sensor should give a graph with higher peaks, but not lower troughs at smaller apertures.

 

I'm happy I changed my OM-D order for body only.

 

Yeah, I understand that, never said anything that contradicted it...

 

ugh, I ordered body only em5, now thinking about this weather sealed 12-50
The IQ sucks imo.
I'm used to shooting quality primes and top of the line zooms. (canon)

So i went with the 12mm f2.0 and 45.. f1.8
one of my main reasons for getting em5 is for my upcoming 6 months in bangkok, But i will be there for a little bit of the rainy season.

I was about to buy a third lens, either the p20 or pl25.
but now i donno if i should stay with my primes, or try to accept lower IQ for getting the shot in the rain :s.
I have used the 12mm in very light drizzle before. but not rain.