So finally its here .. But as discussed earlier ..slow super zoom...its 3.5 -6.3 and not what we were hoping ..:roll eyes: Olympus launches M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 EZ power zoom: Digital Photography Review
I was really hoping for a 12-60mm. F6.3? You might as well just carry a point and shoot. This is only really useful as a 12mm f3.5 lens. The price is reasonable.
The other nice thing about it is the macro mode. Olympus calls it 0.72x, which is really 0.36x, but that's actually pretty good. It seems like a decent jack of all trades lens, honestly.
It's even worse than that. That lens, which I have, is actually f2.8-3.5, so the f6.3 is just horrible!
Honestly I was expecting 12-60mm 2.8-4.5 or something similar to 14-54mmMkII which i am gonna buy as I have adaptor already
These lens choices are just starting to baffle me from Olympus. I sort of got it with their 70-300mm - F6.3 on a telephoto ain't great, but it was understandable considering they were going for a compact size as well. F6.3 on a 50mm lens is just a joke. Coming from a company that previously made zoom lenses faster than anybody else, I just don't get it! Not to mention the powerzoom, macro coupling ring and zoom disable buttons making the lens unnecessarily complex as well. Did they give the guys who are financially destroying the company new jobs in the R&D department too? Edit: the only saving grace is the weather sealing being incorporated, as that would be pointless without a future sealed body...
Guys... I think you're missing something very important here. This lens is WEATHER SEALED! What do you think this means for the system....?
There is a point where it doesn't really matter, does it? hahaha. The other strange part of making such slow lenses is that the 4/3 sensor, though gaining ground, isn't exactly considered the low light king of larger sensor cameras. If it were something faster like F4.5 on the long end you'd at least be competing with the higher end kit lenses that are available for aps-c cameras.
Scotch tape? More like teflon tape. How many of us would love an E-P3 with weather sealing (granted, we need a weather sealed MMF-3 as well, as this one lens won't cover our needs)?
I think this is a logical evolution of the kit lens, but it's the one that should have been released about 2 iterations ago ... At least this one has some real value - close focusing, weather sealing, wider wide end ...
Bad weather -> not much light -> f/6.3 is gonna be a major limitation. Given that the Panny 12-35 looks to be about the same size (at least-lengthwise) and 2-3 stops faster, I think I'll keep saving my pennies... DH