Way back in the day, I used Olympus 35mm film cameras largely because they had the first match needle, in-camera metering system and superb glass.
When autofocus came out in the mid-80s, I switched to Minolta (Some of you won’t recognize that brand because it’s now defunct) and eventually Nikon and Canon. But I always missed the Olympus glass.
Around 2010 when I bought my first Olympus digital camera I was quickly reminded of how good Olympus glass was. And now that I am a full-time, Olympus shooter, I am thrilled with the “Pro” lens lineup.
It occurred to me that not everyone knows each and every lens in the Olympus Pro Lens lineup so I’ve put together a quick post that references each of the existing Pro lenses.
In no particular order…
The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 17mm f/1.2 PRO Lens (Get it at B&H or on Amazon) is weatherproof and employs a state-of-the-art ED-DSA lens element, keeping the total lens size compact as it delivers beautiful feathered bokeh and outstanding total image quality at maximum aperture of F1.2. It’s a prime with an EFL of 35mm.
The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 25mm f/1.2 PRO Lens (Get it at B&H or on Amazon) is a large-diameter lens delivers superb resolution and the most beautiful bokeh from maximum aperture. It’s dustproof, splashproof, and freezeproof construction allows its optical performance to shine anywhere. It’s a prime with an EFL of 50mm.
The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 45mm f/1.2 PRO Lens (Get it at B&H or on Amazon) offers extreme attention to detail and employment of Olympus precision technology, this weatherproof portrait lens provides elegant feathered bokeh which makes your subject stand out more beautifully. It’s a prime with an EFL of 90mm.
The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO Lens (Get it at B&H or on Amazon) is a versatile, super wide, compact, splashproof, dustproof, and freezeproof lens that provides extraoridinary expressiveness. It’s a zoom with an EFL of 14-28mm.
The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO Lens (Get it at B&H or on Amazon) is a large-diameter zoom lens features a constant f/2.8 aperture throughout the zoom range, as well as dustproof and splashproof construction, making it the ultimate standard zoom lens. It’s a zoom with an EFL of 24-80mm.
The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS PRO Lens (Get it at B&H or on Amazon) is perhaps the most versatile camera lens I have ever seen, used, or owned. This high-magnification zoom lens provides an f/4.0 aperture throughout, from wide-angle to mid-zoom ranges. Its optical performance combined with its weatherproof construction make it perfect for landscape, travel or even birds in flight photography. It’s a zoom with an EFL of 24-200mm.
The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO Lens (Get it at B&H or on Amazon) is the most versatile wildlife/bird photography lens I have ever seen, used or owned. Despite being a powerful telephoto zoom lens with constant f/2.8 aperture and weatherproof construction, this lens possesses a compact and lightweight body. It’s a zoom with an EFL of 80-300mm.
The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 300mm f/4 IS PRO Lens (Get it at B&H or on Amazon) is the ultimate bird/wildlife/sports photography lens. It has fantastic optical performance. Offer sturdy, weatherproof construction and best-in-class image stabilization. It’s all packaged in a compact form for outstanding mobility. This revolutionary pro-spec lens introduces the world to hand-held super-telephoto photography. It’s a prime with an EFL of 600mm.
The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 8mm f/1.8 Fisheye PRO Lens (Get it at B&H or on Amazon) is the world’s first f/1.8 fisheye lens. It captures the entire scene in a breathtaking way. Pairing an expansive 180° angle of view with a fast maximum aperture, the M.Zuiko Digital ED 8mm f/1.8 Fisheye PRO helps to produce unique perspectives and creative distortions. It’s a prime with an EFL of 16mm.
Next year, Olympus is adding a 150-400mm zoom lens to the Pro lineup. But for now, you can cover everything from 16mm to 600mm EFL with all Pro glass.
CONCLUSION
I’ve had the good fortune to use some of the best lenses ever made and I am proud to say that this group from Olympus has few equals. You simply cannot go wrong with any of these lenses.
DISCLAIMER
I am an Olympus Visionary – also NOTE: I will refer to crop factors in this post. It’s important to know that crop factor and the associated focal length multiplier only affects field of view. I prefer to reference this as effective focal length (EFL) but others use FOV. Feel free to use whichever term you like.
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2 Responses
Scott,
I’d love to hear your thoughts on printing Olympus images. Why doesn’t Olympus promote print quality next to the full frame “ muscle flexer “ brands?
Jay
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Hi Kristie and Jay – I print every week. I think the prints I get from my OM-D system are superior to those I got from my Canon. My prints hung at Photo Plus Expo in NYC last year and the year before – some as much as nine feet wide – most at least 48″ and those were at eye level. I wish Olympus would promote that quality but they have their own marketing department which has its own priorities. Frankly – I think ALL the camera companies have seriously dropped the ball in this regard because it’s the one place that almost ANY dedicated digital camera will utterly blow away a smart phone camera – We have allowed Instagram to become the new print and I blame the camera companies for not responding to the threat years ago. Consumer behavior is learned and had the CIPA alliance companies been promoting printing all along, it’s my opinion that the big losses in market share to cell phone cameras would have been at least mitigated if not wiped out. But what do I know 🙂