Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 14-42 mm F3.5-5.6 EZ Lens, Standard Zoom, Suitable for All MFT Cameras (Olympus OM-D & PEN Models, Panasonic G-Series), Black

Product Information

Olympus PEN E-PL7 + Olympus M.Zuiko 14‑42mm f/3.5‑5.6 EZ (1/1000 sec, ISO200, f/4.9) (Image credit: James Artaius) Olympus M.Zuiko 14‑42mm f/3.5‑5.6 EZ: Key features It captures very respectable images, and very much comes into its own as a video lens, since the fully motorized zoom can smoothly and near-silently push in and out of your scene to record more dynamic footage. That electronic zoom also means that you can fully control the focal length from your phone when shooting remotely! Manual focusing is done in a “focus-by-wire” fashion, as the very thin focus ring is not mechanically coupled to the moving lens elements. The lens does not feature a distance scale. Focusing is fully internal and the 37mm filter thread does not rotate on focus. Chromatic Aberrations

Olympus 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 ED Zuiko Digital Review Olympus 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 ED Zuiko Digital Review

Now, there are things that professionals needs, but professionals are not doing photography for themselves. They are not amateur photographers (loving the photography) but just professionals (just getting paid, no matter what ever they do).

Latest Reviews

Compared to the Zuiko pro lenses, build quality isn't great but a more fair comparison is to other manufacturers' kit lenses and then it certainly stands up well, with only Pentax' 18-55 II being noticeably better. The lens hood is quite good and the front element doesn't rotate so polarizers are perfectly useable. Zooming to 26mm results in a reduction in sharpness at maximum aperture, although good levels of sharpness are achieved in the centre of the frame. Clarity raises to very good levels in the centre and good sharpness towards the edges of the frame, with the aperture stopped down to f/5.6. Panasonic offers this lens for the micro four-thirds format, and it is indeed quite impressive. The lens isn't as sharp as the Olympus for the ranges they both cover, but the differential isn't very much - the big plus for the Panasonic is the vast zoom range that's available beyond 42mm. CA performance and distortion are both a bit better in the Panasonic than the Olympus, especially at the wide angle end.

Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ Review

The 14-42mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 is a very sharp lens, even when used wide open at wide angle settings. It's slightly softer at its telephoto end, but when closed down a stop or so, all apertures are quite sharp. The Olympus 14-42mm ƒ/3.5-5.6 ED EZ M.Zuiko is very fast to autofocus, taking less than a second to go through its entire focusing range. The lens uses Olympus' MSC (Movie & Still Compatible) design, making it ideal for use in both still and video applications. The front element does not rotate when focusing, making life that much easier for polarizer users. The focus ring is located at the end of the lens, a plastic ring that's just 3/16'' wide. The ring is a fly-by-wire design, controlling focus electronically, so there are no hard stops at either the infinity or close-focus ends. Given that focus is electronically controlled, you can assign the direction of focus to be either left or right. The front element doesn't turn during focusing operations.

The lens tested in this review was kindly provided by CameraWorld, a real camera shop helping you to make the most of your hobby. Our expert team has many years experience within the photographic trade with knowledge gained over 40 years. Many are photographers themselves and enjoy passing their knowledge on. You'll also find our online service fast, efficient and courteous and you can always call us if you want to talk to a human being! We are dedicated to bringing you the very best in service, choice and price. We're very easy to find, our London store is just off Oxford Street between Oxford Circus station and Tottenham Court Road station. The Essex shop is located in High Chelmer Shopping Centre, just off the High Street in Chelmsford. Visit us and you'll always find a friendly welcome. Our policy is to serve our customers as we would like to be served ourselves, a simple ideal that we try hard to live up to. It uses a smaller Micro Four Thirds sensor than rival mirrorless cameras and DSLRs, which might put some people off, but this sensor is still way bigger than those in regular compact digital cameras and smartphones, so the quality difference between the little E-M10 and a DSLR is really not that big.

Olympus M. Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 EZ ED MSC Lens Review

The image quality looks very good. It’s a shame the E-M10 Mark III doesn’t get Olympus's 20MP sensor, but its 16MP shots are sharp and full of detail.

However, if you are planning on shooting handheld in low light, you will be better served with a fast prime such as the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 II. This lens has some great plusses. Very good image quality in most situations, very compact when not in use and excellent close focus distance - you get 0.25m at the 42mm end of the zoom. It does have some distortion and vignetting, but, again, it's small and light. All things considered, they're well controlled.