Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 9-18 mm F4.0-5.6 Lens, Wide Angle Zoom, Suitable for All MFT Cameras (Olympus OM-D & PEN Models, Panasonic G-Series), Black

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When the lens is zoomed to 14mm, the quality across the frame improves at wider apertures. f/8 will still yield the best overall quality with excellent sharpness in the centre, and very good levels of resolution towards the edges. By 18mm the performance of this lens still holds up well with the best sharpness in the centre being achieved at f/8, but with the highest quality across the frame yielded at f/11. Its budget king and give you some impressive standard coverage as well. In day light I don't really need to switch on my 20mm f1.7 as often as before.

Olympus 9-18, Good or bad? - Digital Photography Review Olympus 9-18, Good or bad? - Digital Photography Review

Why you can trust Digital Camera World Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out how we test. Strictly speaking, the Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital ED 9-18mm lens suffers from an appalling degree of barrelling at its wider end, but as evidenced in the above pair of images, the algorithm used to correct it in-camera is surprisingly effective, meaning most users will likely remain unaware of the issue. To Olympus' credit, we did not find a measurable difference between the corrected and uncorrected images at the 18mm end, meaning the lens is effectively free of geometric distortions at that setting.The Olympus 9-18mm f/4-5.6, on the other hand, is downright tiny. It uses a collapsible design, similar to the 14-42mm kit lenses from Olympus, though with a little higher end build than those. It shares the same cheap plastic look that the original 14-42mm lens carries, but thankfully, it feels MUCH better put together than that lens. The zoom action is beautifully damped and smooth and the overall fit and finish is very nice, though not quite as solid as the Panasonic. However, the unique collapsing design means that when you aren’t using the lens, it is very small. It’s almost half the length of the Panasonic, and has a much smaller diameter as well, making it take up a lot less space in a bag. It also has front filter threads, allowing you to mount filters. The 7-14mm can’t take filters unless you create a home-made rig to hold square filters. The Leica was primarily conceived with advanced amateurs and professional users in mind, which is more than amply reflected in its premium weather-proof construction, faster aperture range of 2.8 to 4.0, and superior optical quality across the frame. Because it is a professional product, it also makes more sense to pair it with larger professional bodies such as the Olympus OM-D E-M1 II or the Panasonic Lumix GH5 – though we did use it without issue on the mid-sized Lumix GX85. In terms of build quality, the Leica is the more robust of the two. Not only is it constructed of a mix of metal and high-quality plastics but it is also dust, moisture and freeze proof down to -10°C. It comes with Nano surface coating to mitigate flare and ghosting. With the exception of the metal mount, the Olympus is mostly composed of high-quality plastics and does not claim any sort of weather resistance or lens coating. That said, it feels solid and well-made. It has weak micro contrast and my copy is decentered, and it also has distortion. Also has CA which DXO or in camera will take care of, but it is a tiny lens. I plan to buy the 9mm F1.7 for low light. The Olympus, on the other hand, remains the logical choice for beginners and enthusiasts who don’t necessarily require an extremely robust product or the very best optical quality for their photographic needs. It also makes more sense if you own a small Micro Four Thirds body such as the Lumix GX850 or Pen E-PL8, as it is the most compact of all the wide-angle zooms for Micro Four Thirds. It’s a shame that the lens hood is not provided but inexpensive third-party options are available.

Olympus 9-18mm f/4-5.6 ED M.Zuiko Digital Review

These prime lenses are small and have fast aperture that help with the relatively small sensor size. Well 35mm sensors just perform better due to having the laws of physics behind them. However those same laws make the camera's and lenses bulky and unwieldy. m43 compromises High ISO in favour of having a smaller more nimble system. Whether one thinks it's a good trade-off is personal opinion. The focusing ring of the lens is an ndented ribbed plastic just 3/16 inch wide. The ring uses a ''fly-by-wire'' system to achieve manual focus results, and the E-P1 provides some interesting manual focus functionality. When you turn the focus ring with the MF assist option on, the camera brings up a magnified center view to allow you to precisely focus. The ring will turn forever, as there are no hard or soft stops in the focus ring, and there's no way to know how many ''degrees'' of turning action are available. The fly-by-wire operation does allow for an interesting option: you can set the focus ring direction to either left or right, from the camera's menu.I used the M.Zuiko 9-18 with a polarizer filter attached most of the time, but in the few situations where I did not use it, my impression was that the lens renders colors slightly muted and a tad to the coolish side. Of course, this is all relative when you shoot raw files and tweak the colors during post-processing. In general, less saturated colors give more leeway for post-processing. Conclusions The Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital ED 9-18mm f/4-5.6 lens takes regular 52mm filters and features a bayonet mount for the separately sold LH-55B square-cut lens hood (which was not provided to us for this test).

Olympus M.Zuiko 9-18mm f4-5.6 (Micro Four Thirds) Review: Olympus M.Zuiko 9-18mm f4-5.6 (Micro Four Thirds)

It’s not an exaggeration to say that all three of these lenses are extremely sharp, particularly in the center. The resolution of the 9-18mm falls off a little more toward the extreme edges and corners, but even there it’s a very strong performer. Somewhat surprisingly, the Panasonic 7-14mm shows more CA toward the midway point and edge of the frame, but it's sharper at the edges and corners than either Olympus lens. Finally, we mustn’t forget that the Leica lens is approximately twice as expensive as the Olympus, and since the latter is one of the older lenses for the system, it can often be found for less than the official retail price. Though Panasonic hasn’t stated one way or the other, the Leica behaves much like a parfocal lens in that the focus point doesn’t change when you zoom in and out which is useful for video work.Thanks to a collapsible barrel similar to that of the 14-42mm kit lens, the Olympus M.ZUIKO 9-18mm is extremely small for an ultra-wideangle zoom.

Olympus 9-18 vs Panasonic 7-14 - Digital Photography Review Olympus 9-18 vs Panasonic 7-14 - Digital Photography Review

Other than that it would be hard to debate any of the merits between both lenses since all we know about the PL9 are the leaked specs. Side note, I still think of a PEN body every dang time I read PL9. I miss the extra 2mm on the wide end. For some landscape/seascape work I really like the extra field of view.

I personally find the Leica’s focus ring easier to use because it offers more resistance and extra precision when making very fine adjustments to focus. The Olympus’ focus ring moves a little too freely by comparison. It actually has pronounced chromatic aberrations, but these are effectively removed in the raw processing. For me, it appears that at the longer end of the focal range it gets a bit soft, but I from 12mm on I use the 12-40mm anyway. So for me it is just a super-wide alternative that sits in a small corner of my bag in case that 12mm is not wide enough. And in this sense, the 7-14 could not be a replacement, despite the more useful focal range. But as always: That lens that you have at hand when you need it, is the best lens!