The similarities between the Leica 8-18mm and the Olympus 9-18mm start and finish with their near-identical zoom range and centre sharpness. Everything else, from their build quality to their aperture range, is quite different. So the dilemma now is a used copy of Olympus 9-18 (~300Euro) vs a new PL 9mm/f1.7 (~500E). Quality wise I don't expect them to be very different. The M.Zuiko 9-18mm is as straightforward to use as any Micro Four Thirds zoom lens. Only the collapsing mechanism might be a little awkward for first time users. This being a super wide-angle lens though, the vastness of the scene appearing on the screen when the lens is set to 9mm might be frightening at first. There are situations where an extreme angle-of-view such as this is beneficial, but in other situations, even the 18mm setting won’t get you close enough. Its wide enough, though 7-14 was wide, insanely wide, this in my opinion is mostly what I needed, there were very few times (less thab 5%), when I missed the wider coverage.

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

I would really value some input from people who have used the Olympus lens on a Panasonic body, does the camera implement distortion and CA control as it would with the Panasonic lens. 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. Focus on more with the larger depth of field afforded by the ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 9-18mm 1:4.0-5.6 (18-36mm) * lens. This super-compact and light-weight addition to the E-System family is ideal for anything from sweeping desert landscapes to broad shots: emphasise the green of a cactus against burnt red cliffs, or capture the breadth of a farmer’s market in a single shot. Meanwhile, a remarkably compact design – featuring a diameter of 79.5mm, a length of 73mm and a weight of only 280g – ensures utmost mobility. It takes filter so add on a small UV filter (Hoya HD Pro UV is my choice) and you are safe with the glass. I lost the lens cap (at western wall), so UV filter is all I am having on it now. Actually its good in a way, I dont have to keep worrying about removing and placing cap, all the time now. In both cases, I can't guarantee that no ringers have crept in - but should give some indication of the results you could expect... drawn from a rather wider base than you've had respondents here?But I left it home when I went to my 7 year old grand daughter's basketball game. Sure enough, f/2.8 on the 40-150 Pro lens and iso 1600 wasn't enough for 1/500 sec shutter speed with the available gymnasium mixed lighting so I switched to the 45f/1.2 Pro. I didn't need a wide lens there anyway, but an f/4 lens would not have worked very well.

18mm f/2.8-4 vs Olympus M.Zuiko 9-18mm f/4 Panasonic Leica 8-18mm f/2.8-4 vs Olympus M.Zuiko 9-18mm f/4

The Olympus 7-14 is big, heavy, and does not take filters naturally (I do have an adapter that lets me mount 105mm filters). 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 The 9-18mm's only direct competitor in the Four Thirds system is the Sigma 10-20mm 1:4-5.6 EX DC HSM, which at the time of writing is rather cheaper and features ultrasonic-type focusing, but loses at the wide end where every millimetre of focal length counts (9mm offers an extra 5 degrees angle of view over 10mm). The Sigma will be subject of a future review; for now let's see how the 9-18mm fares in our tests. Use of the Panasonic L10 as Four Thirds test body That "contraption", I presume you mean the 9-18 is far more useful and versatile than a fixed focal length lens.

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I have two other lenses that function great so it's probably not a camera issue, but I desperately need this lens as my only wide angle lens. In terms of features, the lens has little else to offer. There is no distance scale, focus limiter or image stabiliser on board - the main features are the 100° maximum angle of view, the ultra-compact size and the collapsible design. From Olympus lens literature) Olympus has applied its optical expertise to develop the Zuiko Digital 18-36mm equivalent (ED 9-18mm Four Thirds) f4.0-f5.6, a super-wide-angle zoom lens covering a wide focal length range. This compact ultra-wide-angle zoom lens can be used on any of the Olympus E-System digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera bodies, and measures only 3 inches long and weighs a mere 9.88 ounces for greater portability. At the 18mm end, the angle of view is 62°, which is the same as that of a 36mm lens on a 35mm full-frame camera.

Olympus M.Zuiko 9-18mm F4-5.6 - Blogger ROBIN WONG : Lens Talk: Olympus M.Zuiko 9-18mm F4-5.6 - Blogger

Between 9mm and 14mm, Chromatic Aberratons are extremely well-controlled, with Imatest barely being able to detect over a quarter of a pixel width of colour fringing during testing. As the lens is zoomed in further the performance in this area tends to deteriorate. At 18mm colour abberations exceed 1.25 pixel widths at f/5.6, which may start to become noticeable in high contrast scenes. Stopping down only makes matters worse, in fact I had to alter the scale on the CA graph to fit the reading toward the edge of the frame on there as it exceeds 4.25 pixel widths. Considering the 14mm is barely larger then a body cap i see no reason to bring that contraption into the field. I’ve owned the 7-14mm for several years now, and it’s been a fantastic lens for me. I love the extreme wide-angle possibilities at 7mm, and there’s no denying it’s got quality optics. However, I’ve recently noticed I tend to leave it at home unless I know I’ll be shooting really wide-angle stuff. It takes up a lot of space in the bag, as it’s one of the larger Micro 4/3 lenses out there, and as you may have heard, it also can occasionally suffer from excessively purple flare when used in conjunction with the latest Olympus sensors (in the OM-D, E-PL5, E-PM2 and E-P5). So, I started giving the Olympus another look. When used wide open (ƒ/4-5.6) the Olympus 9-18mm M.Zuiko provides nicely sharp results in the central portion of the frame, in the range of 1.5-2 blur units. There is some light corner softness, most noticeable at 9mm and 11mm: at the extreme, it's 6 blur units at the top right at 9mm. On the average, it's around 2-3 blur units in the corners.While we haven't yet tested this lens, the most obvious alternative would be the non-M Zuiko equivalent of this lens design, which can be used on the PEN series of camera with an adapter. However, it's twice as heavy and slightly longer and wider. For the price premium, you're getting the storage functionality of the M.Zuiko. Its sharp enough, don't compare with Panny at pixel level specially at corners and you are fine. Little PhotoShop RAW adjustment and there you go. I found it shapest at f5.6 and 9mm.

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

I currently use the Panasonic 8-18; it is smaller, lighter, and takes filters. Since I use UV filters when shooting in sand and water, and ND filters for motion blurring, it is ideal for my use. Since the Panasonic is f/2.8 at 8mm, it is also good for low light interiors. So it just doesn't get to 7mm. Here is an image I shot with the 9-18mm at 9mm. I also had a ND filter to slow the shutter down. There is a center crop and a corner crop. 9mm Scene 9mm Center 9mm Corner The most natural point of comparison for the recently released Panasonic Leica 8-18mm f/2.8-4.0 is the only other high-end wide angle zoom for Micro Four Thirds, the Olympus M.Zuiko 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO. (In fact, it was the very first comparison we published after receiving the Panasonic zoom to test.)I have also used the 9-18 successfully in low light situations with good results thanks to IBIS in my EM5. http://nigelvoak.blogspot.it/2015/02/torrechiara.html At 9mm, this lens is capable of producing images with excellent resolution at moderate apertures. Wide open, the lens performs acceptably, but stopping down to f/8 produces images with excellent centre sharpness. Unfortunately the resolution towards the edge of the frame never exceeds good on our scale, and it just reaches this level at f/8. There are a few too many M.Zuiko lenses to cram into a single guide, and they cater for a multitude of purposes and user types, so we've split our guide into four sections: Chromatic aberration is, despite the application of Extraordinary Dispersion (ED) and High Refractive (HR) glass, a point of attention. Here, performance is not bad for a wide angle lens, but chromatic aberration is visible. See for example the following two images. Chromatic aberration is easy to correct afterwards, using photo editing software. Panasonic does it for her lenses in the camera. Why not Olympus? So without further ado (as they say on YouTube), here's our list of the best Olympus / OM System lenses to get right now. Best Olympus ultra-wide-angle zooms