Olympus Zuiko ED 12 60mm F2 8 4 0 SWD Review | 54 Data compared

The DPReview analysis of the Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 12-60mm 1:2.8-4.0 SWD highlights it as a "no holds barred" pro-level standard zoom lens, offering versatile 5x range, near-flawless edge-to-edge sharpness, low chromatic aberration, and fast SWD autofocus. Despite its high-end performance, the review identifies significant barrel distortion at 12mm, a somewhat heavy, bulky build, and a high premium price tag as notable drawbacks.

The ePHOTOzine review highlights the Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 12-60mm f/2.8-4 SWD as a versatile 5x zoom (24-120mm equivalent) for Four Thirds DSLRs, offering exceptional center sharpness at 12mm and 25mm, robust weather-sealed construction, and rapid SWD autofocus. The lens features a durable build with a mechanically-linked manual focus ring, providing excellent performance for landscapes and general use. However, the lens has notable drawbacks, including soft performance when shooting wide open and a rapid loss of the f/2.8 aperture when zooming past 12mm. Additionally, it is quite heavy and creates a front-heavy balance on smaller bodies, with edge-to-edge sharpness lagging behind the center, requiring stopping down to f/5.6 for optimal results.

Technical Profile & Performance Pros The Olympus Zuiko Digital 12-60mm f/2.8-4 ED SWD is a premium, professional-grade zoom lens designed for the classic Four-Thirds system, delivering a highly versatile 35mm equivalent focal length range of 24–120mm. Reviewer Klaus Schroiff highlights its exceptional build quality, featuring a robust combination of metal and high-grade plastics alongside dust and moisture sealing. Major performance advantages include its blazingly fast phase-detection autofocusing speed, powered by Olympus’s "Supersonic Wave Drive" (SWD) motor, and a smooth, mechanical focus ring coupling rather than a standard focus-by-wire system. Furthermore, it boasts an impressive minimum focus distance of just 0.25 meters across the entire zoom range, allowing for a highly useful 1:3.6 maximum magnification ratio. System Constraints & Performance Cons Despite its strengths, the lens has several design compromises and system-dependent drawbacks. Its variable maximum aperture drops down to f/4 at the telephoto end, failing to achieve a constant f-stop across the zoom range. Optically, the full format depth-of-field equivalency is quite slow, measuring at f/5.6–f/8. While its phase-detection auto-focus is top-tier, its contrast-detect auto-focus is heavily flawed, causing significant...

The Olympus Zuiko Digital 12-60mm f/2.8-4 SWD is highly praised by Cameralabs as an exceptional, premium general-purpose zoom lens designed for Four Thirds system DSLRs. It provides a highly versatile 5x optical zoom range (24-120mm equivalent) that handles everything from wide-angle landscapes to telephoto portraits. Key pros highlighted in the review include its superb optical quality with corner-to-corner sharpness across all focal lengths, a relatively bright and fast maximum aperture, and a robust, dust- and splash-proof build. Additionally, it introduces a fast and quiet Supersonic Wave Drive (SWD) autofocus motor and transitions back to a highly responsive, traditional mechanically-linked manual focus ring instead of the electronic "focus-by-wire" systems used on older lenses. On the downside, Cameralabs notes that the lens lacks built-in optical image stabilization, relying entirely on camera bodies with sensor-shift stabilization to prevent shake. Its physical size and weight also present ergonomic challenges; while it balances perfectly on larger flagship bodies like the Olympus E-3, it feels front-heavy and bulky on compact bodies like the E-420. Furthermore, using this large lens with the pop-up flash on smaller camera...

The Popular Photography review details the Olympus Zuiko Digital 12-60mm f/2.8-4 SWD AF as an exceptionally sharp 24-120mm equivalent zoom lens designed for the Four Thirds system. A major pro of this lens is its outstanding optical performance, showing excellent sharpness and contrast across all tested focal lengths, outperforming its main Leica competitor. It is highly praised for its advanced Supersonic Wave Drive (SWD) autofocus system, which utilizes dual opposed motors to deliver incredibly fast, precise, and quiet autofocusing when paired with the Olympus E-3 camera. Additionally, it boasts impressive close-focus capabilities down to 8.5 inches, achieving a strong 1:3.08 magnification ratio at 60mm. Its corner illumination is also stellar, with zero vignetting detected at 35mm and 60mm even at maximum aperture. However, the review outlines several clear cons to consider before purchasing this $950 glass. At 1.33 lbs, it is a hefty and heavy piece of gear, weighing nearly 5 ounces more than the Leica 14-50mm despite lacking a built-in stabilizer motor and being optically slower at the telephoto end. Distortion is well-controlled overall, but it does exhibit visible...

The What Digital Camera review highlights the Olympus Zuiko Digital 12-60mm f/2.8-4 as a highly versatile and well-built 5x zoom lens. Key pros include its robust, weatherproofed casing, rubberized control grips, and a fast, responsive Sonic-Wave Drive (SWD) autofocus motor. The lens extends from a compact 98mm at wide-angle to 145mm at the 60mm telephoto setting. It delivers a true macro experience with a consistent 0.25m close focusing range at both extreme focal lengths. Additionally, its extra-low dispersion (ED) glass successfully minimizes distracting chromatic aberrations. However, the review points out several significant cons, specifically regarding image quality consistency and aperture drop-off. The reviewer strongly advises against shooting wide open at any focal length, noting that resolution is visibly inferior to what is achieved when the lens is stopped down. Furthermore, the maximum f/2.8 speed is lost immediately as soon as the zoom ring is adjusted away from the absolute widest 12mm setting, steadily dropping to f/4 at the long end. In conclusion, while the older 14-54mm zoom provides more consistent edge-to-edge optical performance, the 12-60mm remains the more flexible daily...

The Olympus 12-60mm f/2.8-4 ED SWD Zuiko Digital lens is an optically outstanding Four-Thirds system lens that delivers an effective 24-120mm focal range due to its 2x crop factor. It excels in sharpness, producing incredibly crisp images across the frame even when shot wide open, with peak performance achieved by f/5.6. Furthermore, chromatic aberration is highly optimized and well-controlled in the mid-range (~35mm), while vignetting is minimal, presenting a manageable 2/3-stop light falloff only at its widest 12mm f/2.8 setting. The lens is solidly built with dust and water resistance, features a metal lens mount, a non-rotating 72mm filter thread, and a mechanical focus ring that allows for seamless manual override at any time. Despite its strengths, the lens has notable drawbacks, primarily regarding its autofocus consistency and geometric distortion. While the Supersonic Wave Drive (SWD) motor is advertised as incredibly fast and silent, the reviewers faced significant difficulties getting the lens to focus accurately during testing, requiring them to rely on live view and 10x magnification. Additionally, there is a known product advisory for a specific serial number range...

Andrzej Wrotniak’s review highlights the Zuiko Digital 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 SWD lens as a versatile, high-resolution, professional-grade zoom for Four Thirds, offering a 24-120mm equivalent range with fast, quiet focusing. Pros include its excellent sharpness, robust weather-sealed construction, and a 12mm wide-angle advantage over traditional 14mm lenses. However, the review notes significant barrel distortion at 12mm with a complex "wave" pattern requiring post-processing corrections. Other potential issues include occasional high default sharpening and a tendency to blow out highlights, requiring negative exposure compensation in bright conditions.

The Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 SWD Lens review highlights several key performance pros that make it a massive upgrade over standard 14-42mm kit lenses. The reviewer praises its highly versatile wider focal length range (12mm vs 14mm), which offers a significantly larger wide-angle view, and its reduced focal range gap when pairing it with telephoto setups. Additionally, the lens delivers a brighter aperture for better low-light performance, notably faster autofocusing speed (especially compared to the slower 70-300mm lens), and the handy ability to perform closer macro focus. On the flip side, the major cons center around the physical size and system ergonomics. The reviewer notes that the lens is enormously bulky and heavy, weighing more than three times its predecessor and compromising the lightweight portability advantage of the Olympus camera system. This extra weight causes the camera setup to hang down significantly when carried by a strap. Finally, there are minor usability "strangenesses," such as a lack of detailed focal length markings on the barrel, which makes it frustrating to manually set specific focal lengths like 14mm without...