Photography News Issue 66

Photography News | Issue 66 | photographynews.co.uk

First tests

12mm

25mm

45mm

70mm

100mm

200mm

F/3.5

F/4.7

F/5.4

F/6.1

F/6.2

F/6.3

F/5.6

F/8

F/11

F/16

F/22

Our test shots of Wimpole Hall were taken with the 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 on an Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II in Raw mode. The camera was mounted on

a Gitzo travel tripod with the shutter release using the self-timer. Focusing was done manually using the camera’s zoom tool to check sharpness.

Raws were converted in Lightroom with default sharpening applied. The maximum aperture values were those shown in Lightroom.

Images The long end of the 12-200mm zoom gives an

IS test

equivalent focal length of 400mm in the 35mm format and is useful for nature and action shooting. Good for shallowdepth-of-fieldwork too. Exposure was 1/320sec at f/6.3 and ISO 200

An effective image stabiliser will help you get the most from long lenses. The camera we used for our test, the OM-D E-M5 Mark II, has a five-axis stabiliser with a claimed 5EV benefit. The 12-200mm f/3.5- 6.3 – like most Olympus lenses – has no built-in stabiliser.

With the lens set to 200mm I shot sets of five images at whole shutter speeds from 1/15sec to 1/125sec with the camera’s stabiliser on and off. The shots were taken outdoors on a still day. I got five out of five at 1/40sec and 200mm with the IS on which I think is an impressive showing.

Camera IS on, 12-200mm at 200mm, 1/40sec f/10

Verdict

Superzooms, covering from wide-angle all the way to extreme telephoto, are optical compromises but Olympus has done a decent job with its M. Zuiko ED 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3. Used at its best apertures – the wide to mid settings – you can enjoy good- quality pictures, and its small size makes it eminently portable. Priced at £799.99 it is a tempting, nicely priced proposition for photographers on the move but with still an eye on a decent optical performance.

diffraction has a significant impact – less good sharpness at the small apertures was a recurring theme throughout the lens’s range. From 25mm onwards the lens’s performance improved. Wide open, detail and sharpness looked good and again matters got better with smaller

little unsharp mask in editing helped the cause significantly. At the risk of sounding repetitive, moving out to 70mm and 100mm revealed a similar pattern of performance with decent sharpness at wider apertures, peaking in the middle then falling away.

Camera IS off, 12-200mm at 200mm, 1/100sec f/6.3

apertures, with f/8 being very good before falling away at f/16 and f/22. A similar pattern of events was seen at 45mm, again with f/8 being the best setting; but performance at the maximum aperture of f/5.4 looked impressive too. Resolution of fine detail was good and the addition of a

The lens’s showing at 200mm was really quite impressive, especially at f/8 and f/11 where fine detail looked crisp and nicely defined and quality dropped off only a little at f/6.3. To sum up, this is a respectably capable lens considering its range coverage, size and price. WC

Pros Size, 16.6x zoom, versatility, silent AF Cons Image quality at smaller apertures