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It is a zoom with the equivalent to a fullframe lens of 24-80 mm with constant bright aperture of ƒ2.8 - and here the second iteration of the original lens from 2013, but now with the OM System logo. Apparently the optical construction is the same, but got a stronger water resistance and better coatings.
Supports Focus stacking
The nice thing about this lens is, that it support not just focus bracketing, but also focus stacking, similar to what you can do with Olympus Macro lenses. (Albeit I often do it manually with Photoshop, which means, only the support of focus bracketing is enough. E.g. i don't truly need the internal focus bracketing feature anymore - albeit i do use it sometimes - but the final image stacking, I perform in Photoshop).
Focus Bracketing/Stacking in landscape images - means that you can combine different focus areas into one single image, where the closest detail to the furthest details are all sharp. I have not worked with this, so i can't say anything about it.
Very sharp optics
The Olympus / OM System ED 12-40/2.8 is well known for it's sharp optics even at wide open aperture. I added this lens, simply because when everything boils down when you want a flexible lens between wide angle view and tele photo portrait - then this is the lens to have, covering everything you can think of. Which is good, when you want to grab one lens on a travel or when going somewhere.
Fixed lens type of guy
I am usually a fixed lens type of guy, enjoying very bright, fixed lenses rather then zooms. But with a much smaller Olympus camera system, with the ability to have a zoom lens which covers wide, normal and telephoto - does appeal to me. While for a Canon camera, i am not interesting in zoom lenses. The professional ones are often large, heavy - and nowadays very expensive.
A bright zoom on a Olympus camera, are much smaller. As well highly affordable !
One ridiculous exception
I do have the super tiny Panasonic Zoom lens: the 12-32 mm [equivalent to 24-64 mm] ƒ 3.5-5.6 lens. It is ridiculously small: all super plastic, no manual focus, nothing. It also has a strong pillow distortion at the wide end. Naturally it isn't very bright either. It starts with aperture ƒ3.5 at 12 mm and ends at ƒ5.6 at 32 mm. The images above with Tekki, are made with that lens.
For general photography, it is really a very cool lens - no doubt. Optically surprisingly good, especially for the low price and the extreme small size. It bought it second hand for fun - and it is fun, especially on a small camera such as the Olympus EM5.
But - the Panasonic 12-32mm it isn't made for serious work.
This is where the new OM System ED 12-40 ƒ2.8 PRO II comes into play. It is the kind of lens to fall back onto, when you really want or need to grab ONE single lens. Due to the bright aperture of ƒ2.8 - you can use it in low light, too - together with the excellent image stabilization in the Olympus camera bodies.
8500 SEK
Up until today, there was a 2000 SEK rebate (cash-back) campaign, so it was much more attractive for me to buy it (on a payoff plan). This cash-back 2000 SEK + 1000 SEK cash-back from the small Olympus 30/3.5 macro lens, which together basically pays off that macro lens.
Canon's equivalent - the Canon RF 24-70 mm f 2.8 L IS USM lens, 900 gram, costs 300% more: a whopping 26.500-33.000 SEK / 2500 to 3000 €. While it is a indeed a professional, fantastic sharp lens... but the price levels are on a much higher level: in fact, those are Leica M lens prices from 12 years ago !
That's where we are now.
Not interested.
Reference links:
Review & Tests of the ED 12-40 ƒ 2.8 PRO lens, and here the early (Olympus) version was tested in year 2013.
https://www.imaging-resource.com/lenses/olympus/12-40mm-f2.8-pro-m.zuiko-digital-ed/review/
https://www.lenstip.com/392.1-Lens_review-Olympus_M.Zuiko_Digital_12-40_mm_f_2.8_ED_PRO_Introduction.html |
