Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-07-26)

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LENS TEST Testbench

Resolution

Evena quickglanceatourImageEngineeringMTF

testsrevealsthatthisisn’tthesharpestoptic

you’llfind.Atwideangleit recordsveryrespectable

centralsharpness,butthecornerslagbehind.

In themiddleoftherangeit’snotsosharpin the

centre,andthecornersareevensofter.Atfull

telephotoit’ssimplynotverysharpatall.For

best results, select apertures around f/5.6-f/8.

12mmcentre

50mmcentre

200mm centre

12mmcorner

50mmcorner

200mm corner

OlympusM.ZuikoDigital

ED 12-200mm F3.5-6.3

Curvilinear distortion

TheMicroFourThirdssystemusesintegrated

softwarecompensationtodealwithdistortion.

Asa result,yousimplydon’tseethemassive

distortionthatyou’dexpectwithsucha long

zoomrange– it’sprocessedawayautomatically

to give near-perfect straight lines.

Shading

Onthewhole,vignettingdoesn’tpresentmuch

ofa problem.There’snoappreciableshadingat

wideangleorin themid-range,butsomedoes

becomevisibleattelephoto.Eventhen,you’ll

probablyonlydiscernit withevenlytonedsubjects,

whereit’snotespeciallyobjectionableanyway.

It also decreases quickly on stopping down.

12mm f/3.5 200mm f/6.3

12mm 200mm

SMIA TV = -0.9% SMIA TV = 0.1%

Howyoutaketothislenswilldependon

whatyouvaluemostin yourphotography.If

youdemandcriticalpixel-levelsharpness,or

shallowdepthof field,thenlookelsewhere.

Butif youvaluethecreativepotentialof

havinga hugerangeof focallengthsin a

singlelens,it’sa reallyinterestingoption.

Opticallyit maynotbeperfect,butit’smuch

betterthanit hasanyrighttobe.

Indeedwithitsmassivezoomrange,

impressiveclosefocusandweather-resistant

construction,thisreallyis a lensthatcan

tacklealmosteverykindof subject.Butit’s

notwellsuitedforlow-lightshooting,soI’d

pairit withoneortwoof Olympus’ssmall

f/1.8primesfora lightweighttravelkit.

Overall,if youliketheidea of a compact

all-in-onelens,the

Olympus12-200mm

is certainlywortha

look,anda clearstepup

fromthefirm’scheaper

14-150mm.It’sfarfrom

thesharpestlensI’ve

everused,butI’vereally

enjoyed shooting with it.

Verdict

Notallimagesneedtobe super-sharp anyway Olympus OM-D E-M5 II, 200mm, 1/500sec at f/8, ISO 200

Price£799.99

Filterdiameter72mm

Lenselements 16

Groups 11

Diaphragmblades 7

Aperturef/3.5-6.3

Minimumfocus0.22m

Length99.7mm

Diameter7 7. 5 m m

Weight455g

LensmountMicro

Four Thirds

Data file

Performance
Themomentyoustartlookingcloselyat
imagesrecordedusingthe12-200mm,it
becomesclearthatthisreallyisn’ta lensfor
pixel-peepers.Likemostsuperzooms,it’s
prettygoodat itswidersettings,butgetsless
sharpasyouzoomin,andis justplainsoftat
telephoto.Soif you’relookingforcrisp
corner-to-cornerdetailwhenviewingyour
imagesup-closeonscreen,orwanttomake
super-sharpA3prints,you’llneedtosaveup
moremoneyforthe12-100mmF4IS Pro.
If, however,youaren’tsodemandingonfine
detail,thenthe12-200mmactuallydoesa
prettydecentjob.LikeallMicroFourThirds
lensesit hasthebenefit of integratedsoftware
distortioncorrection,whichmeansyoudon’t
gettheunpleasantbendingof straightlines
alongtheedgesof theframethat’stypicalof
SLRequivalents.OnolderOlympusbodies
you’llseecolourfringingtowardsthecorners
duetolateralchromaticaberration,especially
at fulltelephoto,butthisis successfully
suppressedonmorerecentmodels,including
thosefromPanasonic.
Thelackof opticalstabilisationis muchless
of a problemthanI initiallyfeared.It’sclear
that200mmis reachingthelimitsof whatboth
Olympus’sandPanasonic’sin-bodystabilisation
systemscansensiblyworkwith,meaningyou’ll
probablyonlygeta coupleof stopsof shake
reductionat thetelephotoend.Butthat’sa lot
betterthannothing,andyou’llgetconsiderably
greaterstabilisationat wideangle.ButI don’t
recommendusingthislensonPanasonic
bodiesthatlackin-bodystabilisation.
Withitslongfocallength,the12-200mm
candeliversomenicelyblurredbackgrounds,
especiallywhenshootingclose-ups.In factI
waspleasantlysurprisedbytheattractiveness
of thebokeh,whichis usuallya weaknessof
superzoomlenses.Flareresistance is
pretty impressive, as well.

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