Olympus Zuiko Lens ED 9 18mm F4 5 6 Review | 54 Data compared

The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm f/4-5.6 is a fine-performing, highly portable lens featuring an exceptionally small, collapsing design that makes it ideal for travel and landscape photography, according to. It delivers very good overall image quality, high central sharpness, excellent flare resistance, and fast, silent autofocus. Key drawbacks include relatively high lateral chromatic aberration with noticeable edge fringing, along with soft extreme corners when shooting wide open at the ultra-wide end. Additionally, the construction feels somewhat plastic relative to its price point.

The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm f/4.0-5.6 is praised as a compact, durable, and highly capable ultra-wide-angle lens for Micro Four Thirds, featuring excellent central sharpness and fast, near-silent autofocus. Its, compact, retractable design is ideal for travel, complemented by good flare resistance and the ability to use standard filters with minimal vignetting. However, the lens is limited by its variable maximum aperture of f/4.0-5.6, making it less suitable for low-light without stabilization, along with noticeable softness in the extreme corners when shooting wide open. Other drawbacks include visible lateral chromatic aberration and a cramped layout that can cause accidental focus adjustments while zooming.

The Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital ED 9-18mm f/4.0-5.6 is a super-compact and lightweight (155g) ultra-wide-angle zoom lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras that delivers a highly portable 18-36mm equivalent focal length spread. The reviewer praises the lens for its fast, silent internal autofocusing mechanism and its excellent, accurate colour rendering. Image quality is highlight-worthy, boasting very good resolution, well-balanced contrast, and low barrel distortion at 9mm (which is mostly mitigated by in-camera processing) that becomes negligible at 18mm. Furthermore, its internal focus prevents the front element from rotating, allowing for the easy use of circular polarisers or gradient filters. However, the lens suffers from notable drawbacks, including rapid light loss across the zoom range, quickly darkening from f/4.0 at 9mm to f/5.6 at 18mm. Because lens diffraction kicks in around f/11, photographers only have a narrow aperture window (f/5.6 to f/10) at the long end to maintain critical sharpness, making it restrictive for indoor or low-light shooting. Optically, there is minor softening at the image edges and visible magenta/green chromatic aberration in mid-contrast areas. Finally, the plastic build lacks dust and...

The DPReview of the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm f/4-5.6 highlights its exceptionally compact, lightweight, and retractable design, making it an ideal, highly portable ultra-wide zoom for the Micro Four Thirds system. Key performance strengths include fast, near-silent autofocus, excellent central sharpness, and minimal vignetting. Conversely, the review notes compromises such as noticeable corner softness at wider apertures, significant lateral chromatic aberration, and a plastic construction with a non-included hood.

The Olympus 9-18mm f/4-5.6 ED M.Zuiko Digital is an exceptionally compact and lightweight ultra-wide zoom lens for Micro Four Thirds systems, featuring a retractable design ideal for travel. It provides swift autofocus, impressive center sharpness, and low distortion, making it a versatile choice for wide-angle perspectives. Conversely, the lens, which lacks weather sealing and has a plastic construction, requires a manual locking mechanism for operation. Image quality limitations include soft corners at most focal lengths and noticeable color fringing in high-contrast areas.

The DPReview evaluation of the Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm f/4-5.6 highlights its groundbreaking, compact, and collapsible design, making it an exceptionally portable ultra-wide-angle zoom for Micro Four Thirds. The lens is praised for high central sharpness, low distortion, and fast, silent autofocus. Conversely, the review notes moderate chromatic aberration (color fringing) and soft corners at wide-open apertures. Additionally, the construction feels somewhat plastic, and the focus-by-wire system lacks physical feedback.

The DPReview evaluation of the Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm f/4-5.6 lens highlights impressive sharpness and high consistency across the frame, with peak performance achieved wide open. The lens demonstrates excellent optical engineering with extremely low distortion and negligible vignetting, resulting in a very clean ultra-wide performance. The primary drawback is a moderate to high level of lateral chromatic aberration, which creates visible color fringing in the outer corners, particularly around the 11mm focal length. Despite this, the review notes that this fringing is easily corrected in post-processing, making the lens a strong performer.

The Olympus Zuiko Digital 9-18 mm f/4-5.6 ED is a highly praised ultra-wide angle zoom lens designed for the Four Thirds system, noted for offering a 100-degree field of view at a much more affordable price than the high-end ZD 7-14 mm model. According to the comprehensive review by LensTip.com, the lens delivers exceptional optical performance, featuring a compact, lightweight, yet solid build. Its pros include very high image resolution and sharpness across both the center and corners of the frame, excellent correction of chromatic aberration, minimal astigmatism, and low vignetting. Furthermore, the lens proves to be incredibly resilient against bright light, generating almost no ghosting or flares, and features an efficient, quiet, and highly accurate autofocus system. Despite its stellar overall performance, the review highlights a few minor cons that are typical for an ultra-wide angle instrument of this class. Its main drawbacks include chromatic aberration that becomes a bit too noticeable specifically when shooting wide open at the 9mm focal length, alongside some observable coma at longer focal lengths. Additionally, while the lens performs adequately with barrel distortion...