27Mar Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 lens – First Impressions
I just got my hands on the Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 lens and shot this quick hands on video. The Design feels pretty solid and I think there might actually be more metal on the Olympus than the Tamron 24-70mm f2.8. Build quality is top notch.
I know there was a pretty strong divide between a number of you when it comes to the Olympus versus the Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8 lens. There was a big enough conflict that I talked a friend into lending me his Panasonic GH3 and 12-35mm f2.8 for a week to test and compare to the two lenses. I’ll be squeezing this in before I leave for NAB so I can’t promise the most in depth review but I definitely welcome any test ideas.
As a long time Canon owner, I’d never really set a full frame lens next to it’s micro 4/3 equivalent. A number of you mentioned that the Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 lens was a bit on the heavy side of things and a little chunky. While it does feel nice and solid, it looks like a starving supermodel next to the Tamron 24-70mm f2.8 lens I normally use. If the Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 represents a rather heavy micro 4/3 lens, that’s pretty impressive. I’ve very interested to see how the Olympus and Panasonic stack up.
March 27th, 2014 at 8:22 am
I’m looking forward to see your comparison between the Olympus 12-40 and Panasonic 12-35 on GH3: just like you I’m switching from FF to M43. About the low light environments, I found the speedbooster, paired with a fast FF lens, to offer a nice solution. To me, it looks like with a full frame you have insane high ISO capabilities and with a Speedboostered-M43 you may have insane aperture capabilities… both with pro and cons.
March 27th, 2014 at 8:52 am
If the GH4 can hold up at 3200 iso and below it shouldn’t be too big of an impact on me. I’ll probably still be holding on to my FF cameras as I get used to the M43 format.
March 28th, 2014 at 10:47 am
I picked up this lens recently as a factory refurb from Olympus (only $640!) and have arrived at most of the same conclusions as you have – awesome build quality. The images it produces on my GH3 seem very similar to a prime throughout the focal range. I prefer the extra reach it offers over the 12-35 (especially for portraits), and the bokeh just seems a bit smoother than the lumix. The fact that the focus ring slides into manual mode and has hard stops is another great feature for run n gun video or photography. So far I have not found the lack of OIS to be a major issue.
March 28th, 2014 at 12:20 pm
That’s a really good price! Congratulations on that find.