Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 8-25mm F4.0 Professional Overview

Introduction

Ease of Use

The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 8-25mm F4.0 Professional is a weather-sealed wide-angle zoom lens with a devoted Micro 4 Thirds mount that’s made from steel, with a rubber seal across the mount. Communication between lens and digicam physique is supplied via eleven electrical contacts.

Be aware nonetheless that to be able to take full benefit of the weatherproofing, you will have to mount it on a equally weather-sealed physique, like the brand new flagship OM System OM-1 digicam that we examined it with.

Tipping the scales at 411g and measuring 88.5mm in size and 77mm in diameter, the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 8-25mm F4.0 Professional is a compact and light-weight ultra-wide-angle to straightforward zoom lens.

When it is unlocked and zoomed out to 8mm, although, it does acquire one other 3cm in size. It is truly a bit of shorter in size when set to 25mm than at 8mm.

The OM System OM-1 used for this check is an excellent match for the lens, providing good stability, quick auto focus, and full environmental seals.

The M.Zuiko Digital ED 8-25mm F4.0 Professional lens may be very properly constructed, totally dwelling as much as the PRO designation that Olympus have given it.

When it comes to options, the M.Zuiko Digital ED 8-25mm F4.0 Professional gives many of the identical controls supplied by among the greater, sooner Olympus Professional lenses.

As with all Olympus M.Zuiko lenses, the 8-25mm F4.0 Professional doesn’t supply picture stabilisation. As an alternative that is supplied by the digicam physique, on this occasion the frankly wonderful 5-axis system within the OM-1, which gives 7 stops of compensation when paired with this lens.

So whereas the shortage of in-lens picture stabilisation is a non-issue for Olympus digicam customers, homeowners of different producers merchandise who do not supply in-camera picture stabilisation in a few of their cameras, like Panasonic, could need to contemplate a unique lens.

With the 8-25mm lens hooked up to an OM-1 physique, focusing proved to be very fast in most conditions. This mixture is able to locking concentrate on a topic nearly immediately, even when alternating between shut and faraway topics.

In excessive low-light conditions you might expertise a bit of focus looking on the lengthy finish, the place a lens with a sooner f/2.8 fixed aperture would assist keep away from this.

Handbook focusing is completed in a conventional vogue, with the adequately sized focus ring mechanically coupled to the shifting lens components, though there are not any exhausting stops at both finish. Focusing is totally inner and the filter thread doesn’t rotate on focus.

There’s a reasonably sized focusing ring across the lens, which you should utilize when manually focusing the lens. You may snap again the focusing ring to vary from auto focus to handbook focus in a particularly fast movement, snapping it again once more if you wish to swap again to utilizing autofocus. When within the handbook focus place, you may see a number of focal distances are displayed in each meters and ft.

Slightly below the zoom ring on the base of the lens is a operate button, marked L-Fn, which may be customised through the digicam’s major menu to regulate plenty of totally different actions. One helpful operate is depth of discipline preview – this lets you see how your picture will have a look at the chosen for those who maintain down the L-Fn button, and is especially useful when working with slender apertures.

The Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital ED 12-45mm f/3.5-6.3 EZ lens includes a 72mm filter thread and a entrance bayonet for attaching the provided LH‑76E petal-shaped lens hood, which twists into place to lock and launch it from the lens. The filter thread doesn’t rotate on focus, which is nice information for anybody intending to make use of a polariser or ND grads.

Focal Vary

The 8mm focal size gives an angle of view of 107 levels.

8mm

The 25mm focal size gives an angle of view of 47 levels.

25mm

Chromatic Aberrations

Chromatic aberrations, usually seen as purple or blue fringes alongside contrasty edges, are usually not an excessive amount of of an issue with the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 8-25mm F4.0 Professional lens, besides in areas of very excessive distinction.

8mm

25mm

Vignetting

With the lens set to its most aperture of f/4, there may be some gentle fall-off within the corners, requiring you to cease down by not less than 2 f-stops to fully forestall it.

8mm

25mm

Distortion

The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 8-25mm F4.0 Professional does not exhibit an excessive amount of barrel or pincushion distortion, as you’ll be able to see within the images under.

8mm

25mm

Sunstars and Flare

The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 8-25mm F4.0 Professional is able to producing good sunstars when stopped-down to f/22, as proven under, though the lens is vulnerable to flare when capturing immediately into the solar, even with the provided lens hood fitted.

8mm

25mm

Macro

The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 8-25mm F4.0 Professional shouldn’t be actually a macro lens, however it does supply a usefully shut focus level of 23cm / 9.05in throughout your complete zoom vary from the sensor airplane and a most magnification of 0.21x.

Bokeh

Bokeh is a phrase used for the out-of-focus areas of {a photograph}, and is normally described in qualitative phrases, reminiscent of easy / creamy / harsh and so on.

Olympus have paid shut consideration to this side of lens use, using a 7-segment diaphragm with rounded blades for pretty pleasing bokeh.

In our view, their efforts have been fairly profitable for an ultra-wide to straightforward zoom lens – see the examples under to guage for your self.

Sharpness

As a way to present you ways sharp the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 8-25mm F4.0 Professional lens is, we’re offering 100% crops on the next pages.