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

Product Information

With an adapter, the four-thirds mount version of the Sigma 10-20mm ƒ/4-5.6 (or the newer ƒ/3.5 version) should be compatible with the PEN series of camera, and while we've tested it, you'll have to use your imagination on our test graph to compare its performance with the Olympus 9-18mm. The lens is less expensive, and would provide an equivalent field of view of 20-40mm, though it would be heavier than the camera itself, making for a potentially unwieldy combination of lens and camera. At 9mm and maximum aperture, sharpness in the centre of the frame is already excellent and clarity towards the edges of the frame is very good. No real gains in clarity are to be had in the centre of the frame by stopping down at this focal length, but sharpness towards the edges of the frame improves to just below excellent levels with the aperture stopped down to between f/5.6 and f/8. The collapsing/extending design vs solid barrel. I use the 7-14 for winter sports where the lens gets banged around a lot. When the 8-25 is collapsed I'm not concerned but I can't shoot like that. Have to extend it which makes it feel more vulnerable. Mostly wide open, and in situations with bright light and strong contrast edges, the M.Zuiko 9-18 tends to exhibit some color fringing. But the lens correction tools in Lightroom 5 are more than capable of dealing with it. Color fringing uncorrected Color fringing corrected

Olympus 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED M.Zuiko Digital (M43) Review Olympus 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED M.Zuiko Digital (M43)

Distortion is also extremely well controlled throughout the zoom range with Imatest detecting only barrel distortion of 1.8% at 9mm and 0.1% at 18mm. This low level shouldn't pose many issues for normal day-to-day photography. If absolutely straight lines are paramount what little distortion there is should be relatively straightforward to correct as it is uniform across the frame. Falloff of illumination towards the corners of the frame is incredibly well controlled for a lens that covers such a wide field of view. At 9mm the corners are only 0.8 stops darker than the image centre and this decreases further to 0.45 stops with the lens zoomed to 18mm. Visually uniform illumination is achieved with the lens stopped down by one stop from the maximum aperture throughout the zoom range. 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. This mirrors how I usually set my wide angle scenes. I typically use hyperfocal distance, or focus on something midway through the scene, set to F/7.1 and use a self timer. Note close corner focus would be different if I focused closer, or if I used a deeper F-stop. Again, I shot these how I typically work, so that’s what we see.Please notethat this is Four Thirds and not Micro Four Thirds. An adapter is required to fit onto Olympus OM-D and PEN or Panasonic Lumix G-series cameras. Something tells me that if you insert the new Oly 7-14mm into this picture you will come up with the same basic result… minus the purple fringing. Slightly different tit for tats but very close optically at 9mm and f/5.6. Since I want a two day hiking lens, I guess I will stop swooning after the 7-14mm and stay with the zoom and a 12mm. There is a lot of detail in the photos and they seem pretty sharp from edge to edge. Flare is minimal at 18mm and low at 9mm. 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 F4-5.6 Review Samples Olympus 9-18mm F4-5.6 Review Samples

When set to 9mm and their respective maximum apertures (f/3.1 on the Leica and f/4 on the Olympus), it appears that the Olympus is ever so slightly sharper than the Leica but the differences are almost non-existent. The similarities between the Leica 8-18mm and the Olympus 9-18mm start and finish with their near-identical zoom range and centre sharpness. Everything else, from their build quality to their aperture range, is quite different.The Olympus 9-18mm M.Zuiko doesn't offer much for macro work: just 0.1x magnification, and a minimum close-focusing range of 25cm (around 9 inches). I have been using mine for couple ofonths and have really enjoyed using it. For me I am pleased that I brought it. I also own the 7-14/2.8 and really didn't love it. The Olympus 7-14 is big, heavy, and does not take filters naturally (I do have an adapter that lets me mount 105mm filters). At the time the only available wide-angle-zoom with autofocus-compatibility on panasonic G1 (mFT-FT-adapter needed).

Panasonic 7-14mm vs Olympus 9-18mm - Admiring Light Panasonic 7-14mm vs Olympus 9-18mm - Admiring Light

For an ultra-wide lens, the Olympus 9-18mm displays good peripheral illumination. At 9mm the far corners are only 1.4stops darker than the image centre and stopping down the f/5.6 results in pretty much even illumination. At 18mm, any sign of vignetting has decreased further, with the corners only 0.4 stops darker than the image centre at f/5.6. 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.A strange quirk on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3 used for testing is that the lens cannot be focused all the way to infinity in manual focus mode. As this lens provides extensive depth of field, even at maximum aperture, then this shouldn't be an issue in practice. The lens has a silent focusing motor and is labelled as one of Olympus' MSC lenses, suitable for movies and stills. The minimum focus distance of 25cm allows reasonably close up images to be taken and is great for shooting in claustrophobic conditions. after a few days, my olympus 9-18 gave me this error message trying to focus on the longer focal range. It started by giving me this error on 15-18 range, then after a week also for 14mm and now it gives it to me right away... If we turn our attention to the corner performance, we can see that the Leica produces consistently sharper results than the Olympus at all apertures. This isn’t to say we were disappointed by the Olympus however. On the contrary, it actually produced sharper results than we had anticipated before performing this comparison. Reference image Compared to users of other mirrorless systems, Micro Four Thirds shooters are spoiled for choice when it comes to lenses. The official Micro Four Thirds lens chart currently lists 38 different models, which is a beefy number even by some DSLR system standards.

Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm 1:4-5.6 review

The Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm 1:4-5.6 is Olympus's latest all-new lens design, announced in May 2008. It sits in the company's 'Standard' series of lenses, and offers ultra-wide angle capability to the more budget-conscious user. In this regard it costs around 15% less than the venerable 'Pro' series Zuiko Digital ED 11-22mm 1:2.8-3.5, while offering significantly wider angle coverage, but giving up a stop with regards to maximum aperture and featuring lower build quality (most notably no water/dust sealing). Does the 8-25 not do this? The 7-14 is a huge moneymaker for me, I almost never use it at 7mm but I do shoot a ton of architecture, and resolving power using multi shot is the most important part of that to me. Before we begin this comparison, it is important to keep in mind that we are dealing with two very different lenses with equally different target audiences. Whereas the Leica is a premium product with a price tag and build quality to match, the Olympus is not only the least expensive wide-angle zoom for the system but also the most compact. The M. Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm F4-5.6 is Olympus's third lens for the Micro Four Thirds system to reach the market, covering the wideangle end of the spectrum. It was first announced at the same time as the E-P2 in November 2009 (alongside a forthcoming 14-150mm superzoom), with more details appearing coincident with the E-PL1's launch in February 2010. Its headline feature is undoubtedly its miniscule size - it adopts the same collapsing design as Olympus's Micro Four Thirds 14-42mm kit zoom to realize dimensions of just 2.2" x 1.9" (57 x 50 mm) when retracted, and an extremely light weight of 5.5 ounces (155g). This makes it the smallest wideangle zoom lens on the market by some considerable margin.

It’s definitely not a lens that you use on a daily basis, unless you’re a landscape or architectural photographer. During my summer holidays in the Alps, this was my most used lens, as I frequently found myself in situations where I wanted to capture the full extent of a landscape. So I made frequent use of the 9mm setting. When promenading through towns and villages, the 18mm setting came in handy, as it is the ideal focal length for street photography. In that regard, the focal length range of the lens proved to be ideal. Image Quality While we haven't yet tested this lens, the most obvious alternative would be the non-M Zuiko equivalent of this lens design, which can be used on the PEN series of camera with an adapter. However, it's twice as heavy and slightly longer and wider. For the price premium, you're getting the storage functionality of the M.Zuiko. Chromatic aberrations, typically seen as purple or green fringes along contrasty edges, are a problem with this lens, although you may be able to reduce them in post-processing.