Olympus mZD 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO lens
see also:
introduction
specs
eq. to 14-28mm on 35mm full frame
f/2.8 aperture
weathersealed in 11 areas
ZERO coating
does not accept any lens filters although third party adapters (see below) may allow 150mm filters
14 elements in 11 groups, the lens contains two Aspherical ED elements, one DSA element, one Aspherical element, three Super ED elements, one ED element and two HR elements
silent AF
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'L-Fn' button which can be customized with 17 possible functions
105.8mm long x 78.9mm diam and 534g
$US1299
filter holders
compared to the Panasonic Leica DG 8-18mm f/2.8-4.0 lens
compared to the Olympus ZD 7-14mm f/4 Super High Grade Four Thirds lens
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1 stop faster than the Four Thirds lens – that is – it lets in TWICE as much light thereby allowing lower ISO to be used in low light, but even with this extra stop of aperture it is a welcome compact size
shorter: 105.8mm long instead of 120mm
smaller: 78.9mm diameter instead of 87mm
much lighter: 534g instead of 780g
close focus reduced to 20cm and a working distance of 7.5cm (the close focus of the Four Thirds lens was 25cm from sensor)
new ZERO nanocoating to further reduce flare
new manual focus clutch to switch into “analog” manual focus mode with distance scale instead of the default focus by wire mechanism
new L-Fn button which can be assigned to any of 17 functions on the Olympus OM-D cameras
AF is now silent and optimised for CDAF live view and videos
new optical design appears to have much more distortion and curvature of field than the Four Thirds lens
perhaps best of all is it is around HALF the price at $US1299
compared to the Canon EF 14mm f/2.8 L II prime lens
compared to the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II pro zoom lens
compared to the Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L pro zoom lens
compared to the Nikon AF-S 14-28mm f/2.8G pro zoom lens
the Nikon AF-S 14-28mm f/2.8G lens is generally regarded as the best ultra-wide zoom lens for full frame, so much so, that even many Canon users go to the trouble of using it (although now they have the Canon 16-35mm f/4L IS lens which is superb)
let's see how the Olympus lens compares, it is:
much lighter at 524g instead of 970g
much shorter at 106mm vs 132mm
focuses closer 20cm vs 28cm
more affordable at $A1499 compared to $A2797
sharper wide open edge-to-edge (see charts below)
marginally less CA
much less distortion at widest zoom 1.7% compared to 7.4% barrel distortion!!
much less vignetting wide open 1.5EV vs 2EV
7 blades not 9 blades
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has
image stabiliser of 5 stops allowing hand held shots at 1-2 seconds courtesy of the Olympus cameras (the Canon has no IS)
has eye detection autofocus for portraits
has fast, silent AF for movies
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if you already have a Nikon full frame dSLR with 35mp and you shoot landscapes or studio fashion on a tripod at f/8 then it may have a use (although for static scenes, the new Olympus cameras can shoot 40mp HiRes shots with less moire on a tripod, although a little less dynamic range)
one could argue you can get 2 stops better ISO on full frame, but with this lens you need to stop it down 2 stops to get close to the corner sharpness of the Olympus lens, so that argument generally won't hold much
you may get better sun stars with its 9 blades
otherwise see your mental health therapist
From ePhotozine.com's reviews (not totally comparable given different sensor sizes, and note the scales are different):
| Olympus mZD 7-14mm at 7mm | Nikon AF-S 14-28mm f/2.8G at 14mm |
sharpness | | |
chromatic aberration | | |
reviews
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amongst the sharpest ultra wide angle lens out there
very sharp wide open corner-to-corner
nice star shapes should make it good for Milky Way astroscapes
minimal, nearly non-existent wide angle flaws - minimal CA, flare, no obvious barrel or pincushion distortion
surprisingly good close up shooting
lens cap can fall off in the camera bag with potential for damage to front lens element
can be hand held to 1-2secs with OM-D cameras
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extremely sharp wide open at 7mm where it is sharpest
excellent sharpness wide open at 10mm but a touch sharper at f/4
sharpest at f/4-f/5.6 at 14mm
very minimal CA
vignetting 1.5EV wide open at 7mm and 1.3EV at 14mm; minimal at f/5.6
can be prone to flare from direct sunlight
1.73% barrel distortion at 7mm which reduces to 0.61% at 14mm but these are further corrected in-camera
excellent lens
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1.3% barrel distortion at 7mm corrected in-camera, 7% uncorrected RAW
1.2EV vignetting at 7mm uncorrected RAW
outstanding centre sharpness wide open and good to very good corners
minimal CA
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“surprisingly flare-resistant (relative to others in this class)”
“In terms of build quality, the Olympus is up there with the very best and it's a joy to use in the real life”
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