Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-45 mm f/4.0 PRO review - Introduction

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Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-45 mm f/4.0 PRO

3 June 2020

Maciej Latałło

1. Introduction

Apart from simple kit lenses, the line-up of standard Olympus zooms was mainly based on two devices: the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 12–50 mm f/3.5–6.3 ED EZ, presented in December 2011, and the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 12–40 mm f/2.8 ED PRO introduced two years later. Some might add the Olympus M.Zuiko ED 12–100 mm f/4 IS PRO to that list although it rather belongs to the group of megazoom instruments.

Of course two Panasonic 12-60 mm models could also give a helping hand to the owners of Olympus cameras but the lack of a similar lens in the Olympus line-up was becoming quite conspicuous.

In February 2020 Olympus decided to make another move in that segment and they presented the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12–45 mm f/4.0 PRO. The lens's parameters are quite a surprise to me personally – I think they are too close to the M. Zuiko Digital 12-40 mm f/2.8 ED PRO. To be honest I expected the maximum focal length nearer 60 mm. On the other hand the lens is small and shapely and, I suppose, it would be impossible to get such physical parameters with a wider focal range without weakening aperture fastness and/or other optical properties.

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Courtesy of the Olympus Polska ompany we have been sent one specimen of that lens for testing purposes and now we can invite you, dear Readers, to find out how it fared in our tests – enjoy your reading!

You are also invited to get acquainted with our test procedure, described in the article "How do we test lenses?" If you feel it’s still not enough, please go to our FAQ section where you can find some further explanation.