Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-07-26)

subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 20 July 2019 47

LENS TEST Testbench

AndyWestlakeexaminesanall-in-one

superzoomwithaphenomenalfocal-leng hrange

S

eriousphotographerstendto be

suspiciousof all-in-onelenses.The

largerthezoomratio,thethinking

goes,thelowertheopticalquality

mustbe.Sowhattomakeof Olympus’slatest

offering,withitsimmense16.6x,24-400mm

equivalentrange?Thisis a hugezoomratio,

surpassedonlybyTamron’s16-300mmand

18-400mmDSLRsuperzooms.Perhaps

surprisingly,there’snothinglikeit foranyother

mirrorlesssystem,whichonlyoffersmaller,

lessambitiouslensessimilartoOlympus’solder

M.ZuikoDigitalED14-150mmF4-5.6II.

Toborrowa sportingcliché,it’sa bigaskto

make a lens like this with anything approaching

decentimagequality,despiteits£800launch

price.ButOlympushasform,withitsexcellent

butexpensive12-100mmF4IS Pro

redefiningexpectationsforlong-rangezooms.

If thefirmhasmanagedtotransferwhatit’s

learnedtothisnewoptic,thenwithanyluck

thelenswillperform better than we might

haveexpected.

Features

Inordertoachievetheimmensezoomrange,

Olympushasreallygonetotownontheoptics.

The12-200mmemploys 16 elementsin 11

groups,includingthreeasphericalelements

and a whole array made of special materials,

Thelensis sharpestat

itswideanglesetting

OlympusOM-DE-M5II,12mm,

1/50sec at f/8, ISO 200

Olympus M.

p rs on(ED)glass,

p r EDglass,highrefractiveindex(HR)glass

andsuperHRglass,withtheaimof reducing

distortionandchromaticaberration.

Comparingopticalformulaeshowsa distinct

resemblancetotheaforementioned12-

100mm,althoughwithreducedcomplexity

that’spresumablyattributabletotheabsence

of opticalstabilisationin the12-200mm.

Focusingis internal,witha minimumdistance

of just0.22mavailableat thewideangleend.

Zoomtofulltelephotoandthisincreasesto

approximately70cm,butnowwitha maximum

magnificationequivalentto0.46x,givingan

imageareaof 7.6x 5.7cm.Thisletsyou

captureclose-upswitha decentworking

distanceof 50cmfromthesubject.

Thelensfeaturesa dust-,splash-and

freeze-proof design, including a seal