Olympus 12-60mm f2.8-4.0 SWD ZUIKO Digital ED Four Thirds lens

Comments about Olympus 12-60mm f2.8-4.0 SWD ZUIKO Digital ED Four Thirds lens:

The best combination of image quality, handling and focal length range of any zoom lens I have ever used. Although the 12-60 zoom is heavy the lighter and equally high quality 14-54 zoom does not possess the excellent range and handling of the larger lens.

Comments about Olympus 12-60mm f2.8-4.0 SWD ZUIKO Digital ED Four Thirds lens:

Claimed by some to be the finest zoom lens money can buy and whilst I bet you could find a better one with an unlimited budget, at under £1K it's probably true. Yes there are distortion issues at 12mm but they hardly matter and are seldom noticeable, even when pixel peeping.

Sharpness is extraodinary and the extra it offers at each end of the zoom range is well worth having, it is mightily quick at focussing in almost all circumstances and is very well built.

The only con is weight and that only because it's hard to settle for any other lens as your everyday walkaround if this is in the bag. So you just have to grin and bear it.

Comments about Olympus 12-60mm f2.8-4.0 SWD ZUIKO Digital ED Four Thirds lens:

Purchased the lens this week and the photo quality is outstanding, in fact best images i've seen so far from a lens on a DSLR. I would def recommend if can afford to buy, you won't need another lens again

Comments about Olympus 12-60mm f2.8-4.0 SWD ZUIKO Digital ED Four Thirds lens:

I purchased this to replace the excellent 14-54 and 11-22 so that I no longer had to carry two lenses.

The 12-60 is heavier than either lens, but of course it is still lighter than carrying two lenses. The size is similar to the 11-22 but it extends much further at 60mm as you would expect.

Build quality is on par with all other high grade zuiko lenses; weather sealed, sturdy and confidence inspiring.

The sharpness is simply amazing. I was expecting it to at least match the 14-54 and 11-22 which are both near flawless. However the 12-60 beats them both noticably. Sharpness wide open at any focal length surpasses many other lenses at their sweet spots.

The downsides are some quite complex barrel distortion at 12mm and some vignetting at 60mm wide open. Neither are big problems but do become noticable when conditions become more difficult.

Focusing for me was mixed. The SWD focus is as fast as it gets, and the lens appears to be limited more by the camera than its own focus motors. On the E510, focus travel is much faster than the 14-54, although the time to lock in low light is still extremely slow. As I say it's limited mostly by the camera.

Focus accuracy >18mm is perfect. However, at 12mm it was very mixed. This I believe is also down to the camera focus systems, phase detect having big issues with repeating fine patterns which become very small and hard to lock onto at such a wide angle.

The price is quite steep especially since it's not significantly less expensive than owning the 11-22 and 14-54 separately. However, once you see the results, plus the weight saving and convenience from carrying only one lens, it becomes less of an issue.

Basically if you're used to the impressive and dependable nature of Olympus standard zooms so far, the 12-60 will not disappoint at all. If you haven't already got the 14-54 and 11-22, I'd say definitely get the 12-60. Even if you have those lenses, the 12-60 will make your life a lot simpler.