Olympus Zuiko ED 50 200mm F 2 8 3 5 SWD Review | 54 Data compared

The ePhotoZine review highlights the Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 SWD as a premium, robust Four Thirds telephoto lens delivering excellent sharpness, low distortion, and a durable, weather-sealed construction. Its bright, variable aperture is highly practical, providing impressive optical performance from edge to edge. Drawbacks identified include susceptibility to flare from light sources just outside the frame and a loud, air-pumping noise when zooming to 200mm. Additionally, the lens lacks built-in image stabilization and a focus limiter, requiring stable camera bodies for optimal performance.

The Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 SWD is a premium, high-performance super-telescopic zoom lens designed for Four Thirds DSLRs, offering a 35mm focal range equivalent to 100-400mm. A key highlight of the review is the inclusion of Olympus' breakthrough Supersonic Wave Drive (SWD) autofocus system. This system delivers virtually silent operations and an autofocus speed that is twice as fast as its predecessor, making it exceptionally well-suited for fast-tracking sports and outdoor photography. Additionally, the review praises the extensive use of Extra-low Dispersion (ED) lens elements to correct color blurring, resulting in high-definition, crisp images from edge to edge. The lens also stands out for its versatile close-up capabilities, maintaining a minimum shooting distance of just 1.2 meters across the entire zoom range. Despite its stellar performance, the lens does come with specific design tradeoffs. A primary drawback noted in the review literature and broader evaluations is its variable maximum aperture of f/2.8-3.5, which falls slightly as you zoom out. Furthermore, while the lens features a digital-dedicated design to preserve sharpness, it lacks in-lens image stabilization, making it heavily...

The Olympus Zuiko Digital 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 ED AF is a premium, professional-grade telephoto zoom lens designed for Four Thirds DSLRs, offering a 100-400mm equivalent focal range. In laboratory evaluations, it delivered exceptional optical performance, achieving "Excellent" sharpness and contrast across all focal lengths. It demonstrates remarkably low distortion, with only slight barrel distortion at 50mm and minimal pincushion distortion at longer focal lengths. Additional strengths include built-in O-ring weather sealing against dust and moisture, a close-focusing distance of 45 inches that enables a macro-worthy 1:4.07 magnification ratio at 200mm, and the inclusion of three ED elements to control chromatic aberration. Conversely, the lens has several notable drawbacks. It is physically heavy and expands significantly, reaching almost 9 inches in length when fully zoomed to 200mm. While the autofocus mechanism is accurate and quiet, it is noted as being slow by modern standards. The mechanical operation also features a slightly stiff zoom ring action. Finally, light falloff is present in the corners at wider apertures, only clearing up by f/5 at most focal lengths. Despite these handling quirks and a $1,200...

The Olympus Digital Zuiko 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 ED SWD is a pro-grade telephoto zoom lens engineered for Four-Thirds DSLRs, offering a full-format focal length equivalent of 100-400mm. A major pro highlighted in the review is its exceptional build quality, featuring a rugged combination of high-grade plastic and metal components alongside complete dust and moisture sealing. Additionally, the inclusion of the new Supersonic Wave Drive (SWD) autofocus motor ensures virtually silent operations and a noticeable speed upgrade over its predecessor. Its relatively fast maximum aperture provides excellent light-gathering capabilities while maintaining a weight and size advantage over full-format competitors like Canon's equivalent lens. On the downside, a notable con is that the lens extends significantly when zooming toward the telephoto end, which makes it quite large when the barrel-shaped lens hood is attached. While the light gathering is fast, its depth-of-field behaves like an f/5.6-7 lens on a full-frame system due to the 2x crop factor, limiting its background blur capabilities. Furthermore, despite its smaller glass elements, the price and weight savings are not as pronounced as the small sensor size might...

The LensTip review of the Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 50-200 mm f/2.8-3.5 SWD highlights several notable pros for this Four Thirds system telephoto zoom lens. Its biggest strength lies in its brilliant optical performance at maximum relative apertures, delivering impressively sharp images wide open across the entire zoom range with remarkably small variations between the focal ends. The lens features a very solid, dust and splash-proof barrel design that takes great advantage of the small Four Thirds sensor, allowing it to remain significantly more compact than its full-frame competitors. Furthermore, its optical construction effectively controls distortion, properly handles vignetting when stopped down, ensures accurate autofocusing, and keeps chromatic aberrations mostly low and unobtrusive. However, the reviewer also targets a few distinctive cons that hold the lens back from a perfect score. Despite its excellent sharpness, the lens fails to hit any resolution records in the frame center, peaking at a maximum of 46 lpmm, which fell short of the reviewer's expectations and lagged slightly behind competitive lenses like the Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 tested on alternative matrices. Image quality also deteriorates...