First look: Olympus 12-50mm

Dan Bolt · Issue 65, Mar/Apr 2012 · pp. 29–31

Products mentioned: Olympus PEN E-PL1, Olympus PT-EP01 housing, Olympus 9-18mm lens, Olympus 12-50mm lens, Zen dome port, Subsee +10 dioptre, YS-110a strobe

Anyone who knows me knows just how much I like shooting with my Olympus PEN E-PL1 and Olympus PT-EP01 housing. I love the camera, I love the housing, I love the ports and I love the lenses. However, amongst this love nest I do have a least-favoured bit of kit; and that it the Olympus 9-18mm wide-angle zoom lens. I don’t want to take too much away from this tiny little marvel of lens design, but even behind the superb Zen dome port it is very easy to end up with soft edges and personally I find the rectilinear distortion a bit too exaggerated for my tastes. If I had waited for a few months and gone for the E-PL3 I could be using an external wet-lens to give me the same 100degree coverage, but alas I was far too keen and as such can not apply the wet-lens solution to my housing. So having trawled for an alternative to the 9-18mm for some time I was quite keen to get my hands on the newly r…