Olympus ZD 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 lens

see also:

• Olympus Four Thirds dSLR system
• Four Thirds lenses
• super telephoto lenses
• Olympus mZD 40-150mm f/2.8 pro lens
• Panasonic Leica DG Elmarit 200mm F2.8 Power OIS lens

• a unique telephoto zoom lens for Olympus Four Thirds dSLR system offering field of view of a 100-400mm zoom lens combined with weatherproofing, wide aperture and relatively compact and light size for such a range, plus one gets close focus capability not available on comparable Canon or Nikon lenses.
• this is one of my favorite lenses
• unfortunately it is not designed for contrast-detect AF thus when used on current Micro Four Thirds system cameras, AF in bright light takes 3-6secs. Olympus has addressed AF speed with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 having phase detection AF.
• most users would now be better off buying the smaller, lighter, CDAF-optimized Olympus mZD 40-150mm f/2.8 pro lens although you don't get as much telephoto reach and there is no 2x teleconverter for this new lens as yet

• Olympus macro flashes can be attached via the bayonet method
• nice lens but some vignetting wide open; good bokeh; ~$A1400;
• 1.07kg; 67mm filter; close focus 1.2m;
• SLRGear.com
• Photozone.de

• no longer allows the macro flash to be attached
  • see compatibility
• similar to older model but adds faster SWD autofocus and improves color blur property
• 157mm x 87mm / 6.2 in. x 3.4 in. (extends to ~225mm)
• 1.07kg / 2.4 lb (with tripod plate)
• filter 67mm
• focusing is internal, and the filter thread does not rotate on focus
• 16 elements in 15 groups, including 3 ED elements
• 7 rounded blades
• close focus to 1.2m giving 1:2 macro
• matches beautifully with either the TC-14 or TC-20 teleconverters
  • see my photos with the 2x teleconverter giving 800mm reach at f/7
• RRP $A1599

• photographyblog review:
  • “a fast and robust telephoto zoom lens”
  • “With the lens attached to an Olympus E-5 camera body, focusing is extremely fast and, thanks to the Supersonic Wave Drive auto-focus motor built into the lens, essentially silent too”
  • “Lateral chromatic aberrations, typically seen as coloured fringes along contrasty edges, are a non-issue with this lens. A truly exceptional performance!”
  • “some light fall off especially at 100mm”
  • “Build quality is outstanding, with a solid construction and superb fit and finish. It's also very good in the optical department, showing pretty consistent sharpness results across most of its aperture range”
• photozone.de review:
  • “only slight distortions throughout the range. It shows a bit of barrel distortion at 50mm changing to slight pincushion distortions from 100mm onwards”
  • “vignetting of ~0.8EV in the 100-200mm range which can be visible in critical scenes. Stopping down by 1 f-stop solves the problem. At 50mm vignetting is a non issue”
  • “produced very convincing resolution results in the MTF lab. At 50mm the quality is next to perfect across the frame. At 100m the center performance remains excellent from f/2.8 all the way up to f/8 whereas the border quality decreases slightly. It's impressive that the Zuiko is capable of keeping the center performance on very high levels at 150mm and 200mm. The borders suffer a bit more but stay on a very good rating even wide open”
  • “Lateral chromatic aberrations (color shadows at hard contrast transitions) are very well controlled - less than 1px”
  • “bokeh is variable depending upon the background but in critical backgrounds can get a touch nervous” - “but this occurs with most other comparable zoom lenses as well”
  • “build quality of the Zuiko is exceptional”
  • “All in all a highly desirable lens”
• SLRGear.com review