Olympus’s 18-80mm f/3.5-6.3 Zuiko Digital ED is designed for cameras which use the FourThirds mount, like the E-450, E-620 and E-3. Taking the mount’s 2x crop into consideration, the Olympus 18-180mm F/3.5-6.3 Zuiko Digital ED offers an equivalent of 36-360mm in film terms. When the lens is fully extended, it’s much shorter in length compared to other lenses in this range, so it’s no surprise to find it’s a lightweight 435g.
The zoom ring is small, which made it difficult to get a really good grip, but there was a consistent smoothness through the entire focal length on our sample. Similarly, the focusing ring feels well-balanced but does make a whirr in Manual Focus mode.
With no AF/MF switch or Image Stabilisation system built into the lens, users have to rely on setting the focus mode from the back of the camera and using the in-camera image stabiliser featured on all current Olympus models. Where you’d normally find the AF/MF switch on a lens, there’s a zoom lock to thwart lens creep.
The internal focusing system means that the front element doesn’t rotate as it focuses, and this is good news for those who want to use filters. Without any silent motor, though, AF was a tad noisy in operation, but its performance was pretty good with only slight hunting in low contrast lighting conditions. The construction of the lens features a pair of aspherical glass elements and 2 Extremely Low Dispersion (ED) elements. It can focus down to 45cm and 62mm filters can be screwed onto the front thread.
AT A GLANCEPrice: £423
Mount: FourThirds
Construction: 16 elements in 13 groups
Aperture blades: 7
Max aperture: Wide f/3.5, tele f/5.6
Min aperture: f/22
Minimum focus: 45cm
Filter size: 62mm
Dimensions (DxL): 78x84.5mm
Weight: 435g
www.olympus.co.uk