Both lenses feature zoom and fly-by-wire focus rings with a ribbed design to give you a better grip. Next to the zoom ring, you’ll find the most important focal lengths.

Olympus 9-18mm F4-5.6 Review Samples Olympus 9-18mm F4-5.6 Review Samples

An excellent little lens with a useful range for many interests. No doubt it could replace the 7-14 PRO for many but I may not be one of them - choosing instead to use both a bit differently. That said a small m43 body with the 14mm 20mm and 45mm should not be underestimated. It's capable of profesional results that can be printed in magazines if the person behind the camera is as capable as the body lens combination. The 7-14 certainly feels like the better built lens, but there is something eminently satisfying about using the 9-18mm. It’s just so tiny for an ultra-wide that it’s hard to believe it actually does what it does. These who like to travel light, but can't be without an ultra-wide zoom will love this lens. It's capable of producing excellent results at moderate apertures, is incredibly resistant to flare and ghosting and isn't priced too highly either.

Because people who actually rate those things, they are gearheads and pixel peepers who have no idea of the great tools there are, unless it is the best of the class out there so they can hype it out to the sky as blindly as they can the 35mm sensors. We have chosen to use the Panasonic L10 as our standard test body for Four Thirds lenses purely because it gives the highest numbers in our resolution tests (which we believe is most likely due to it having a relatively weak anti-aliasing filter); this is intended simply to provide the fairest comparison to other manufacturers' systems. This remains the case despite the recent release of the 12 Mp Olympus E-30 and and the Micro Four-Thirds Panasonic DMC-G1, and we've therefore chosen to continue with the L10 for the sake of consistency (although the difference compared to these cameras is minimal). The samples gallery contains images shot with the Panasonic L10, Olympus E-30 and Olympus E-3 bodies. Headline features

Olympus 9-18, Good or bad? - Digital Photography Review Olympus 9-18, Good or bad? - Digital Photography Review

At a normal viewing size, the color fringing in the first image would hardly be noticeable. I did not take pictures of branches against the bright sky–those would probably have evoked even stronger fringing. But under most conditions, the fringing is manageable in post processing. Distortion The Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm 1:4-5.6 is Olympus's latest all-new lens design, announced in May 2008. It sits in the company's 'Standard' series of lenses, and offers ultra-wide angle capability to the more budget-conscious user. In this regard it costs around 15% less than the venerable 'Pro' series Zuiko Digital ED 11-22mm 1:2.8-3.5, while offering significantly wider angle coverage, but giving up a stop with regards to maximum aperture and featuring lower build quality (most notably no water/dust sealing).Those looking for a compact ultra-wide angle lens for a Micro Four Thirds system camera can't go far wrong with this lens. It does have some weaknesses, but so long as you are aware of these this lens is more than capable of delivering very good quality results. The Olympus 9-18mm f/4-5.6, on the other hand, is downright tiny. It uses a collapsible design, similar to the 14-42mm kit lenses from Olympus, though with a little higher end build than those. It shares the same cheap plastic look that the original 14-42mm lens carries, but thankfully, it feels MUCH better put together than that lens. The zoom action is beautifully damped and smooth and the overall fit and finish is very nice, though not quite as solid as the Panasonic. However, the unique collapsing design means that when you aren’t using the lens, it is very small. It’s almost half the length of the Panasonic, and has a much smaller diameter as well, making it take up a lot less space in a bag. It also has front filter threads, allowing you to mount filters. The 7-14mm can’t take filters unless you create a home-made rig to hold square filters. Lens configuration: 15 elements in 10 groups (3 aspherical lenses, 2 ED lenses, 1 aspherical ED lens, 1 UHR lens)

Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm f/4 - 5.6: Digital Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm f/4 - 5.6: Digital

It’s not an exaggeration to say that all three of these lenses are extremely sharp, particularly in the center. The resolution of the 9-18mm falls off a little more toward the extreme edges and corners, but even there it’s a very strong performer. Somewhat surprisingly, the Panasonic 7-14mm shows more CA toward the midway point and edge of the frame, but it's sharper at the edges and corners than either Olympus lens. It is a joy to use and the only caveat I place on that is that as the lens is so compact, I found that you can accidently change the focus (I shoot a lot of MF) when you zoom the lens. Once you get use to it, that problem is essentially eliminated. This is a great Ultra Wide lens for the 4/3 system at a bargain price. DPReview tested this lens and rated it Highly Recommended which matches my personal results.Secondly, this lens is small and light, which makes it ideally suited for long walks. In conjunction with a small camera like the Panasonic G1, carrying it in your hand all day is no issue whatsoever. So all things considered, the M.Zuiko 9-18mm f4-5.6 is still your best bet if you want a small and light super wide-angle lens for your Micro Four Thirds system that offers you more flexibility than a prime lens such as the M.Zuiko 12mm f2. And compared to the Panasonic 7-14mm f4, the M.Zuiko 9-18 is still a bargain. Additional Image Samples The focusing ring of the lens is an ndented ribbed plastic just 3/16 inch wide. The ring uses a ''fly-by-wire'' system to achieve manual focus results, and the E-P1 provides some interesting manual focus functionality. When you turn the focus ring with the MF assist option on, the camera brings up a magnified center view to allow you to precisely focus. The ring will turn forever, as there are no hard or soft stops in the focus ring, and there's no way to know how many ''degrees'' of turning action are available. The fly-by-wire operation does allow for an interesting option: you can set the focus ring direction to either left or right, from the camera's menu. Optical Quality – Through the lens GH5, 1/800, f/3.5, ISO 200 – Leica at 8mm Pen F, 1/1000, f/8, ISO 200 – Olympus at 9mm Get the latest photography news straight to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter. Newsletter Signup