Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm F2.8 PRO Lens, for Micro Four Thirds Cameras

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Ive owned Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera body since Christmas 2012. Using the kit 12-50mm and the 40-150mm (24-100mm and 80-300mm 35mm equivalent) lenses Ive had a fun year capturing photos. The camera has been everything I wanted it to be, with the exception of being just average tracking kids playing soccer. But the 12-40mm f/2.8 lens takes the camera to a different level. I thought I was getting decent performance from the 12-50mm lens -- and I thought wrong. Its okay, for what it is, but its slow (f/6.3 at 50mm) and just average in sharpness. With nothing to compare to, I didnt realize how it was holding back the E-M5s potential. The 12-40 is truly top caliber. Sharp from corner to corner. Chromatic aberration cannot be found. Fast for extending the E-M5s low light capabilities at modest ISOs (I can gain nearly three stops from the 12-50mm in many situations). On the PC Ill zoom in on shots and be astonished by the crispness that simply didnt exist before. Having never owned an expensive DSLR (I had a decent Nikon FE2 film body and some Vivitar Series I lenses in the 80s, however), Id been lulled into thinking the images I was capturing were simply all that such a camera was capable of. The E-M5 is a very good micro four thirds body, after only the new E-M1. What difference could one lens make? Well, as it turns out, a great deal. The 12-50mm has a smooth motor drive mode for video (which I rarely shoot) and a dedicated macro mode, which is nice. But the 12-40mm, while not being optimized for macro, turns out to be a fully capable macro lens as well, better than the 12-50, IMHO, because of its superior resolution and significantly faster performance and ability to isolate at f/2.8. The only step up for close up photography being to a dedicated macro lens. (And yes, I know that with regards to depth of field it is twice that of a full frame sensor. But f-stop is dimensionless, and with regards to light-gathering-per-sensor-size/exposure/ISO, f/2.8 is f/2.8 is f/2.8, whether it be APS, M43, full frame or a large format camera.) The only thing I dont like is the price. $1,000 was a big chunk. But the way it has changed the performance of the E-M5 is truly revelatory. There really is a significant optical difference between a decent mainstream consumer lens and a pro level lens. The 12-40 lives on my camera now, and the 12-50 is going to end up on eBay. If youve got the E-M5 or M1 and can afford it, this lens is a no brainer and will not dissappoint. Since the long end is only 80mm equivalent, I think even Lumix body owners can enjoy its benefits despite not having the in-camera stabilization that Olympus bodies have.

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I sold several Olympus primes and cheaper zooms to afford this lens, and I honestly dont miss any of them except the 60mm macro. Its sharp. Of course its sharp. But the contrast is honestly better than the Olympus 45mm f/1.8. I always felt the other lenses had a bit of a hazy look. I really thought it was just a quirk of the Olympus cameras, but its gone with this lens. I thought Id find f/2.8 limiting, but I always found that opening up to 1.8 was a great way to get pictures that werent quite in focus, or just too little was in focus. I was always stopping down anyways. Even at 2.8, I generally prefer to be able to shoot at f/4 unless Im intentionally trying to blur the background. That really depends on what kind of photographer you are. Still, the 45/1.8 did have creamier out of focus areas. That might have just been because of the wider aperture, but I feel like it just rendered out of focus areas a bit better. Still, this lens isnt terrible at it. Busy backgrounds tend to stay busy, though. Its sharp enough that you can get away without too much sharpening. That helps a lot when you have to boost the ISO. The close focusing distance really surprised me. I mostly keep a decent camera for product photography (and basically upgraded to an E-M5 II for its high res mode). I was afraid selling the macro lens would be a mistake, you can get pretty close. Closeups of things like flowers are no problem. Real macro stuff will still require a proper macro lens, though. Autofocus is as quick as Ive seen with Micro 4/3. I mean, it should be quick. It struggles more in low light than the primes did, likely just because of the smaller aperture. Its a rare issue, but its worth noting. Its heavy. Its not huge, really. No longer Olympus cheap 45-150, but a big bigger around. But its heavy. It does kinda change the balance of the E-M5II. I found myself holding it by the lens instead of the camera. Its not bad, but its different than the super light primes/zooms I used to have. It feels fantastic to hold, though. Everything you actually touch is metal. The zoom and focus rings have a lot more resistance than I was used to. At first I didnt like it. Now everything else feels loose and sloppy. Its just what you get used to, I guess. But its smooth. The manual focus clutch is a fantastic feature. I still havent found a use for the lens fn button, but then I never really needed as many function buttons as the E-M5II has. Its still a nice touch. One issue Ive had is that the lens hood seems to occasionally fall off. It clicks on tight. And I cant just pull it off. I think the release button gets bumped sometimes. It only actually locks on one side, and I feel like the issue would be fixed if it locked on both. Its a small issue, but its happened to me several times. Some people complain about the lens cap. These people should not be allowed in public unsupervised.

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I took this zoom lens and an OMD E-M1 on a two week trip to China. I was concerned about the extra weight compared to my Olympus Pen with a fixed focal length Lumix 20mm F1.7. It was worth the extra effort involved in carrying the heavier system. The 12mm wide angle setting was very useful for architecture and outdoor scenery. The lens is sharp and should resist moisture. The images are not as sharp, however, as the Lumix 20mm. The large aperture on this zoom made for excellent shots in museums with natural lighting only. I never really needed the pop up flash. In the middle of my trip, to my great disappointment, the auto focus stopped working. Turns out SNAP RING AUTO FOCUS DEFEAT is a FEATURE of this lens. When you pull the focus ring back it snaps in place engaging the manual focus mechanism and tells the camera to work with manual focus only. When you turn the manual focus mechanism the camera zooms in to help you focus. Both nice features if you are aware of them. I had no trouble with the hood falling off and I recommend practicing attaching the hood properly. Beware of using the pop up flash with the hood on as the hood may interfere with the flash lighting. I had no problem transferring images to my iPhone6 over wireless using the Olympus OI.share app. Be warned that if you then share your photos using Apple share the photos are not the full 3.6 meg files.

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Honestly, what can I say about this lens that hasnt been already said? This lens has become for many reviewers and bloggers, either the Lens of the year or runner up. This lens has pro level IQ, amazingly fast AF and one of the most useful all around focal range for photography today. at 2x crop factor on m4/3 it behaves like a 24-80mm. It has nice bokeh and the ability to for decent subject isolation (shallow Depth-of-field) at 35mm+ (70mm) and very sharp at 12mm (24mm) wide angle. Some sites have said that the 12mm f2 lens is slightly sharper but to me its negligible. PLUS you get all this IQ and focal range in a weatherproof package! Pair that up with the OM-D EM-1 and you have an adventure waiting to happen! Another question that pops up frequently on blog pages and review sites is the question between this and the high quality prime lenses out there for the m4/3 format. My opinion (just my 2 cents) is if you plan on shooting on nice bright days and dont want the hassle of changing lenses, then bottom line, this is your lens. On sunny/bright days you will end up stopping down the prime lenses anyway so you will get just the same amazing results especially if you pair this with an Olympus OM-D that adds in-body 5-point IS and Chromatic fixes in the software for this specific lens. On the other hand, if you like to shoot in low light, have no problem switching lenses, and generally want the ability for a very shallow DOF (depth of field) and subject isolation you can get on the m/43 format, stick with primes. Though to be fair, the bokeh is perfectly fine for my taste on this lens. One detail that is often overlooked with this lens is it has an amazingly short focusing distance. This means you can get pretty darn close to your subject which is like having a sudo-macro function for this lens. This just adds to the incredible diversity of this lens. If you are concerned with price, you shouldnt be. A lens of this quality at this price is an amazing deal. Here is my cost comparison/value break down: If you bought the 12mm F2 and 45mm F1.8 you would be $200 above the cost of this lens (all brand new) and only have 2 focal lengths. The equivalent price in primes would be the 17mm f1.8 and the 45mm f1.8 but you lose the nice wide angle 12mm focal length and gain possibly the "best portrait lens" for m4/3 cameras with nice creamy bokeh and sharp IQ. To me the ideal prime set is the 12mm f2, 25mm f1.4 (Panasonic) and 45mm f1.8 which puts you at roughly $1800 give or take. A nice f2.8 combo would be this lens (12-40mm f2.8 Pro) and the 60mm f2.8 macro giving you a fully capable system of varied focal lengths plus macro and medium telephoto capabilities all for about $1400. Pros: Extremely Sharp IQ corner to corner Super-fast AF (I think faster then my L series lens tbh) The best and most versatile focal lengths for everyday photography Ability to get very close to subjects. Just a few inches in fact Large Aperture for decent bokeh and good subject isolation at the higher focal lengths Weather-proof! All metal construction MF choke design for quick switching to Manual Focus mode Includes a customizable L-FN button on lens for additional functionality. Cons: Big and somewhat heavy (though half the size of lets say the Canon 24-70mm f.28 L) - The size doesnt bother me in the least I have to add. Makes the E-M1 look pretty awesome. Tube Extends during Zooming (would have liked the elements to stay within the lens, thought this would probably double the price) Not the smoothest zoom and focus ring on the market. The other primes I have are way smoother. In fact there is small tap-like vibrations when zooming. After speaking with Olympus directly they informed me this is normal operation. Loses almost 2 stops compared to the primes available today for m4/3 format cameras. Im happy to answer questions posted here in Amazon. Good luck!

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Frequently left my DSLR Nikon at home due to size and weight - bought an Olympus EPL7 and a lot of their primes and have not looked back - but needed a single lens (zoom) for travel. Have used the kit zoom lens for 2 years and like it (see my review), I wanted the wider angle this affords and of course the F2.8 to boost options. I finally took the plunge during a recent $100-off sale. This zoom is an F2.8 12-40mm (eq. of 24mm - 80mm) Pros: Solid and well-finished construction - mechanically this is one of the best feeling lenses that I have had on any camera, silky smooth focus and solid zoom. Even wide open the lens is much sharper that the kit zoom it replaces. The sharpness is close to the 25 and 45mm primes from Oly. over the full zoom range! Color rendition and contrast is the best I have seen, primes included and lenses from SLR NIKON. Bokeh at F2.8 - 5.6 is super-creamy. Lens can focus very close ~ 4" even fully zoomed. Vignetting minimal at 12mm, with standard height filter. I good flare control shooting into the sun (with shade). Manual focus automatically engaged by sliding the focus ring back (like the 17mm) Nicely done lens shade attaches easily. Lens bag also included. Cons: BIG and HEAVY! This is basic physics of F2.8 optics so I took no points off. As others have pointed out, it is not well-matched to the smaller bodies such as the PEN series. I recently upgraded to an M5 + grip and the lens feels amazingly well-balanced. I am very impressed and have this on my camera most of the time! Especially on travel - this is the only one I need.

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This lens will probably be the death of me. It is amazing. Absolutely amazing. It is sharp as a tack, and so so so fast. This lens cost more than my entire other camera set up (Canon T3i, 50mm), but it is worth EVERY PENNY. Before i shot almost entirely with my 50mm, and spent a lot of time switching lenses. I find myself rarely taking this lens off. Buy it, apologize later, its worth it. <3

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Having bought the Olympus 40-150 f 2.8 PRO and enjoying the superb image quality using this great lens on vacation, I decided to purchase the Olympus 12-40 2.8 PRO in order to have a truly professional set of lenses for my OMD camera. I had an EPL-1 pen camera for several years and liked how I could use it for family outings with minimal gear. I had too many concerns about the image capture capabilities to consider the Olympus seriously. With the OMD series, however, every concern I had about the Pen camera was addressed. Meanwhile, I continued to shoot Nikon professionally because I felt that my Nikon FX glass couldn’t be beat. I liked what the Olympus M.4/3 primes were capable of, but they didn’t give me the same IQ that I was getting with Nikon. I have and use the Nikon 300 f.4, the 105 2.8 Macro, the 85 1.8, and the 70-200 2.8 - all of which I still like to use. Please note that the Olympus PRO lenses are different, because I love using them. The PRO 40-150 2.8 is the best glass I have ever owned, and the 12-40 2.8 is a close second. The bottom line is that the 12-40 2.8 is a professional lens that will serve me for many, many years. It is everything I wanted from a lens in this zoom range, and was a sound photo investment. I have no buyer’s remorse with either one of these superb and well crafted tools. And I may be selling my Nikons… UPDATE: I just used this lens in the studio for a student model shoot and reviewed the images in LR last night. The results were a very nice portfolio for the students with accurate color, good definition, and sharp details. More than that, the lens was an absolute pleasure to work in terms of how easy it was to use.

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This is truly a "Pro" lens. I am a long time Leica user with a bunch of Leitz lenses, and one of the reasons that I use Olympus SLR cameras as well, is the close "look" the Oly Zuiko lenses have to the Leitz glass. This lens is one of the best in my bag including my Leica lenses. The build is what one would expect from a professional lens. Very sturdy and tight construction. Because of the metal construction this lens is one heavy bugger, probably as heavy as the M1 camera it is attached to. The auto focus of this lens is extremely fast and quieter than other auto focus lenses I have used (compared to other auto focus lenses used on my Oly E1 digital SLR). Optically this lens is phenomenal. I have used this lens for about a month on numerous subjects from extreme close ups to portraits. Its so sharp that the portraits need to be "un-sharpened" in Lightroom/Photoshop. Color rendition is great but of course depends on how the camera is set up. I am beginning to think that this lens will remain on the camera, never needing removal. Other being a bit heavy, this will be my main carry around lens.

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When I need an all-purpose close-in, street photography, like lens in an urban environment this lens is usually mounted to one of my Olympus bodies. Its a nice lens. Like all Olympus Pro lenses it earns respect. But zooms are tricky in terms of character and so far the only MFT zoom that really wowed me is the Olympus Pro 40-150mm 2.8. That lens is unbelievable. The 45mm 1.2, 75mm 1.8, are, in my opinion, also absolutely must-own lenses as well. Which leaves this 12-40mm 2.8. I feel its optically superior to the Panasonic 12-35mm 2.8 but the Panasonic 12-35mm 2.8 has its own benefits if you use it at all on Blackmagic Design or Panasonic camera bodies. If you dont mind the extra weight/length seriously consider the 12-100mm F4 from Olympus. But back to this lens. If you can score it for a great price pick one up. Otherwise I would suggest getting other Olympus lenses before buying this one to complete your system. Thats what I did and am happy with the lens for the urban/street photography scenario. Its really not bad in that regard. Wish I could give a more glowing review but the other Olympus lenses are so unbelievably amazing that it would be unfair to speak better of this lens. Its good not amazing.

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I cant believe I waited to buy this. Sharp, great micro contrast through its entire range. This lens has been called a bag full of primes, and with good reason. I bought an OMD EM5 a few years ago, came with 14-42, which I soon swapped for the 12-50, which is a pretty decent lens. This is better. Much better. I replaced the EM5 with an EM1; the pair, this lens and the EM1, seem to be made for each other. Super fast focus, very sharp and clear images, and the constant aperture is great. The included lens hood fits nicely backwards for storage. I love the close focusing ability, too. The only significant drawback I can see is that the lens is big and heavy, for M4/3; bigger than the 12-50 and about the same size as the 40-150 non-Pro. Well worth the price; replaced three of my primes.

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