OM SYSTEM Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm F2.8 PRO II for Micro Four Thirds System Camera, Weather Sealed

Product overview

OM System M.Zuiko ED 12-40mm F2.8 PRO II: What to Know

The cross-brand compatibility is the structural advantage and it is unique on this page. Micro Four Thirds is an open mount standard rather than one manufacturer's proprietary design, and OM System states the mounting type directly as Olympus, OM System and Panasonic. That means this lens is not reverse-engineered against a protocol somebody else controls, which removes the compatibility risk that applies to every other lens here, and it means the lens survives a switch between those camera brands.

The two specifications OM System chose to lead with are both about survival. Weather sealed design is the headline, and on Micro Four Thirds that pairs with weather-sealed bodies to give a genuinely usable system in rain. A fluorine coating on the front element repels water and oil and makes fingerprints and spray wipe off rather than smear, which is the practical companion to sealing.

As a lens, 12 to 40mm on Micro Four Thirds is equivalent to roughly 24 to 80mm on full frame, which is the classic standard zoom range, and it holds a constant f/2.8 throughout rather than ramping to f/6.3 like most of the zooms in this guide. A constant f/2.8 standard zoom is the workhorse lens of professional photography, and getting one in the smaller, lighter Micro Four Thirds format is the system's main argument.

Two honest notes. This listing has only three feature bullets, the thinnest in this guide, so element counts, minimum focus distance and filter size are not published here and should be checked on OM System's own site. And the detail table says Image stabilization: Digital, which does not describe a lens feature; Micro Four Thirds bodies from both makers generally provide in-body stabilisation instead.

Key Listed Features