Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm F/4 IS Pro

Olympus has made probably the best superzoom lens on the planet, says Andy Westlake

- Andy Westlake

It’s widely understood that cameras with larger-format sensors should give better results than those with smaller ones, and that fixed-focal-length prime lenses are sharper than zooms. When we compare zooms, those with relatively short 3x ranges are best, while ‘superzooms’ with zoom ratios of 7x or greater require considerable optical compromises to achieve their range.

So what are we to make of Olympus’s 12-100mm f/4 lens, launched alongside the firm’s flagship OM-D E-M1 Mark II at the end of 2016? It’s an 8.3x superzoom for Micro Four Thirds cameras, which have sensors somewhat smaller than the common APS-C format found in most enthusiast DSLRs and mirrorless cameras. Surely this must be a marriage made in hell, at least in terms of image quality? Well, sometimes it turns out that what we think we know is wrong.

The giveaway that things are different here is in the lens’s name, not to mention price. The ‘Pro’ designation means it’s in Olympus’s top line, with premium optics and weather-sealed construction. Meanwhile, the £1,100 price tag suggests the firm hasn’t skimped in solving the problems posed by such an ambitious design. To cut a long story short, the result is probably the best superzoom ever made.

Features

The 12-100mm is one of a handful of such lenses starting at a 24mm equivalent, compared to the more usual 28mm; in return, it extends less far at telephoto. The closest comparable optic is Sony’s FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS for full-frame mirrorless, but at £750 it has less lofty ambitions.