Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40 mm F2.8 PRO Lens, Universal Zoom, Suitable for All MFT Cameras (Olympus OM-D & PEN Models, Panasonic G-Series), Black

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https://www.ephotozine.com/article/leica-dg-vario-elmarit-12-60mm-f-2-8-4-0-asph-review-30597#Performance Laowa 4mm f2.8 Fisheye: recently announced, it offers a circular perspective with a 210˚ angle of view. Not yet tested, and I admit I’m not keen on circular fisheyes (but that’s just me). It’s cheap though. The new Olympus 12-40mm ƒ/2.8 Zuiko PRO was introduced alongside the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and is part of the company's new "Zuiko PRO" line of professional-grade Micro Four Thirds lenses. The 12-40mm focal range translates to a 24-80mm field of view in 35mm terms, and with the constant ƒ/2.8 aperture, this new Olympus lens is a very versatile lens that should work great in low-light. It's also a rugged lens with splash-, dust- and freeze-proof construction, which makes it a great match with the equally-rugged E-M1. Size is irrelevant. I tested both lenses. They're fine. I was most surprised about the 12-100 in this respect.

The Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens attached to an Olympus OM-D E-M1, extended to 40mm

Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements (aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc) to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. Standard zoom lenses, whether premium or kit, start from 12mm or 14mm. This gives you an equivalent angle of view of 24/28mm which gives you lots of flexibility if you’re interested in landscapes or architecture. Of course you don’t get the extreme view shorter focal lengths can deliver, but you have a longer reach when zooming in. The Olympus M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 lens delivers outstanding sharpness through much of the zoom range at maximum aperture with a dust and splash proof design.

This lens delivers outstanding sharpness through much of the zoom range at maximum aperture and sports a robust, dust and splash proof build, all while remaining compact and lightweight. The excellent performance of this lens will certainly win it many fans, that's for sure. I think the Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro is a great lens and definitively worth it's somewhat hefty price tag. Anyway, in my opinion it lives up to its 'Pro' label. With a FF camera, as @NZ Scott says, you can just up the ISO 2 stops and still come out with a very good image and equal or better noise.Sorry if this lens is a rude word ;p but maybe give it 5mins consideration, I think it's a beautifully operating and looking lens.

If you are shooting on a Panasonic body then perhaps you might prefer to go with the Panasonic lens to take advantage of Panasonic’s depth from defocus system and in the case of the mark ii lens their dual sync IS. The Panasonic lenses are both lighter than the Olympus. Meike 12mm f2.8: another 12mm manual focus lens designed for APS-C but it doesn’t make sense to list them all. Plus the 7artisans performs better. Linear distortion: Without correction, the lens has a great deal of troublesome linear distortion. At 12mm, it measures over 8% barrel distortion and that doesn't get down to reasonable levels until somewhere about 22mm. By the time you get to the 40mm telephoto end of the lens, things have reversed into about 1% pin cushion distortion. Short answer: if straight lines are at all important to you, you'll absolutely want to correct the output of this lens at all focal lengths except maybe 25-30mm, and probably even there, too. Story time! one of the CS-35 wraps saved my camera from potential water damage when I leaned against a wall with my sling bag behind me and the lid popped off my water bottle soaking everything, it was my fault for storing my water bottle inside my bag but even today I still do it for convenience (although I've switched to a Nalgene bottle which is less likely to have the same problem). The outer layer of the wrap is nylon which isn't truly waterproof but it was repellent/resistant enough that the water didn't penetrate/soak through to the inner layer/camera... while not perfect they don't add much bulk and are roughly the minimum level of protection I'm comfortable using to stop random crap floating around my bag from rubbing/scratching my gear (and in a pinch you can use the soft microfibre or whatever inner layer as a lens cloth).

The best choice, if affordable and size is not a problem, is to buy the Oly 12-40 and the Oly 40-150. This gives you superb IQ and F2.8 from 12-150. This is a pretty easy question to answer. If you’re getting the OM System OM1, then get it bundled with the OM System 12-40mm f2.8 Pro II. Should you upgrade to it? Honestly, I’m not sure. If you go with the Panasonic 25-50mm f1.7 and pair it with the 10-25mm f1.7, you’ll probably be in pretty great shape. But you’ve got far more range with the OM System 12-40mm lens instead. However, you’re at only f2.8! Years ago, it was an impressive feat to have a 24-80mm equivalent lens with an f2.8 aperture. But the world has moved on. Unsurprisingly, you can find the best performance from both lenses between f/4 and f/5.6 across the focal range. That said, anything up to f/11 is perfectly useable. It does seem that the M.Zuiko is more capable of extracting very fine detail across the frame at these apertures but the difference really is minimal.

Meike 6.5mm f2 Fisheye: an interesting combination of fast aperture and very wide fisheye lens, but we haven’t tested it. There is also an 8mm f3.5 but it is designed for DSLRs, and is therefore larger. Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software.No one is saying the exposure changes when you engage a crop mode. In fact that article and several of my comments spell out that the standard exposure model is designed to work across formats. Overall I would rate the Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 as one of the best zooms I have used. It is very well-built and combined with my EM5II or an EM1 series body offers excellent weather-sealing and a very useful focal range.