Theimpressivezoom
rangeis usefulfor
shootingwildlife
OlympusOM-DE-M5II,200mm,
1/160sec at f/8, ISO 400Atshorterfocallengths,the
lensworkswellwiththe
camera’sin-bodystabilisation
OlympusOM-DE-M5II,23mm,
0.3sec at f/4.5, ISO 800‘Opticallyit’smuchbetterthan it has any right to be’aroundthemounttopreventwater
ingress.It hasa non-rotating72mmfilter
thread,anda petal-typehoodis includedin
thebox.Asusual,I’drecommendusingthisas
a matterof course,bothtoreduce flare and to
protectthefrontelement.
Buildandhandling
Appropriatelyfora lensthat’sidealfortravel,
the12-200mmfeaturesrelativelylightweight
construction,witha plasticexteriorinsteadof
themetalbarrelusedbyitsPro-linecousin.
Butthat’snottosayit’spoorlymade.Zoom
creepis almostnon-existentwhenthelensis
retractedto12mm,butthelenswillextend
underitsownweightwhen pointed downwards
at longer focal lengths.
Atapproximately10cmlongand455gin
weight,thisis a largelensbyMicroFourThirds
standards,althoughit’sa fairbitsmallerand
lighterthanthehigh-end12-100mmf/4.It’s
actuallyverysimilarin sizeandweightto
18-300mmzoomsforAPS-CDSLRs,but
Olympus’ssmallermirrorlessbodiesmean
thattheoverallpackageendsupbeingmore
compact.DespiteitssizeI foundit a good
matchtotheOlympusOM-DE-M5MarkII
thatI predominantlyusedfortesting,butI’d
thinktwiceaboutusingit onsmallerPEN
bodies,particularlywithouta viewfinder.
Thebroadzoomringoccupiesmostof the
barrel,meaningit fallsnaturallytohandduring
shooting.It rotatesthroughapproximately 90 °
from the wide to telephoto positions, meaningnoshiftin gripis requiredtoaccessthefull
zoomrange.It’sa littlestiffin operation,with
a noticeableincreasein forcerequiredto
getpastthe100mmpoint,butthisdoesn’t
hampercompositionin practicaluse.The
smoothlyrotatingmanualfocusring activates
a focus-by-wiremechanism.Autofocus
Aswe’vecometo expectfromOlympus,in
goodlightthe12-200mmprovidesgenerally
fast,decisiveandsilentautofocus.Butits
relativelysmallmaximumaperturemeans
it strugglesnoticeablyin lowerlightlevels,
especiallyat thelongendof thezoom.Sowhile
it’sperfectlygoodfordaytimeshooting,it’snot
goingto bethebestchoiceindoorsorat night.
Whenit comestocontinuousfocus,chances
arethecamerabodywillbethelimitingfactor.
OnlyOlympus’stop-of-the-rangeE-M1series
bodiesfeaturephasedetectionforrapidC-AF,
withtheothersfallingbackontheslower
contrast-detectionmethod.I foundthatthe
lenskeptupwitheverythingtheE-M5II asked
of it whentrackingmovingsubjects.
Switchingthecameratomanualfocus
activatestheringat thefrontof thelens,which
drivesthelens’sfocusgroupelectronically.
Rotatingtheringwillalsoinitialiseyour
preferredfocusaid,eithermagnifiedview
orpeaking,dependingonhowthecamera
is configured.Manualfocusingworkswell,
makingit easytogetsharpimageson the few
occasions when autofocus fails.