My Own experience On the Zuiko Lenses

Distortions were checked with a target of over 50 Meters away.

XA-4, 28mm F3.5 Macro Superb resolution and sharpness, better than the two Zuiko 28mm f2.8 I have, but light falloff is very noticeable, not quite acceptable for scenic shots with sky in the picture. Interestingly, for low light photography, the falloff is less noticeable. With a little care on selecting of subject, you can take great photos with this little camera. Concerning falloff, I have found some much more expensive compact cameras today has similar performance, what can I expect with a low cost 85 design! Slight pincushion distortion found. Click here for some test shots of XA-4 (Updated on 5-Mar-02)
16mm F3.5 High resolution, very good resistance to flare, normal contrast. Some falloff at corners, but not bad, slightly stop down eliminates the problem. Corner a bit soft when wide open, stop down to f5.6 provide edge to edge sharpness. Probably the smallest fisheye available, overall an excellent lens. Click here for some test shots of Zuiko 16/3.5 (Added: 31-May-00)
18mm F3.5 High resolution and sharpness, color saturation is good, high contrast. Very noticeable falloff at corners, has to stop down to f11 for better result. Ghost image found when sun light entering from side. Slight barrel distortion for distance objects, but according to Modern Photography it has slight pincushion at 1:49. Click here for some test shots of Zuiko 18/3.5 (Updated: 31-May-00)
21mm F2 High resolution, normal to low contrast. Slightly falloff at wide apertures, but not quite noticeable for normal shots, slight barrel distortion. Excellent performance at close distance, thanks to the effective close focus correction mechanism. It is the world's largest aperture 21mm lens. Click here for some test shots of Zuiko 21/2 (Added: 31-May-00)
21mm F3.5 SC High resolution, normal contrast. Slightly falloff at wide apertures, very high field curvature at close up. For distance objects and at F8, the resolution is better than 21/2 at the corners, at the center the 21/2 is slightly better. (Added: 15-Aug-02) Click here for some test shots of Zuiko 21/3.5 (Updated: 3-Sep-02)
24mm F2 Very good resolution, normal contrast. Slightly falloff at wide apertures, but not quite noticeable for normal shots, Higher than average waveform distortion and higher than average field curvature. Althought with the above imperfection, it is still my favourite lens, always provide very pleasing results. This 24mm is a very easy to use wide angle, good for people and snap shots. Click here for some test shots of Zuiko 24/2 (Added: 31-May-00) (Updated: 15-Aug-02)
24mm F2.8 MC Resolution - good wide open, very similar to F2 version at F5.6. Normal contrast, sligthly cool color balance with slight barrel distortion. (Added: 15-Aug-02)
24mm F3.5 Shift High resolution, normal contrast, normal to slightly cool color balance. Slight pincushion distortion, stop down button is very convenient. Even with the superwide angle and shift it is still possible to handheld but need to spend more time on composition. Click here for some test shots of Zuiko 24 Shift (Added: 14-Aug-03)
28mm F2 Good resolution and sharpness, normal to high contrast. Slightly falloff at wide apertures but not noticeable for normal shots, slight but noticeable barrel distortion. Very good close distance performance, thanks to the close focus correction mechanism. A very good general purpose wide angle. Click here for some test shots of Zuiko 28/2 (Added: 31-May-00)
35mm F2 Very good resolution, normal contrast. Slightly falloff at wide apertures but not noticeable for normal shots, noticeable barrel distortion. Good flare resistance and smooth tonal rendering. A very good general purpose "standard lens" if you want something little wider than 50mm. Click here for some test shots of Zuiko 35/2 (Added: 11-Mar-01)
35mm F2.8 Shift High resolution, beautiful color, normal contrast. Very little pincushion distortion shown at max shift position. Quite easy subject to flare, stop down button is very convenient, an excellent shift lens. Click here for some test shots of Zuiko 35 Shift (Added: 11-Mar-01)
40mm F2 High resolution, normal contrast and high color saturation. Bokeh and flare resistance is very good, slight barrel distortion. Amazing performance for a lens that was originally design as a low cost press lens. Click here for some test shots of Zuiko 40mm F2 (Added: 16-Aug-03) (updated: 20-Sep-03)
50mm F1.2 Provide acceptable result wide open, slightly fall below F2.8, very high resolution from f2 and above for distance objects, contrast is normal, slight barrel distortion. Soft at close distance (mag. around 15x) but I think it is normal for standard lenses, the same happen to the other Zuiko 50mm non macros. Click here for some test shots of Zuiko 50/1.2 (Added: Added 31-May-00)
50mm F1.4 MC S/N>1,000,000 Provide acceptable result wide open, very sharp from f2.8 for distance objects, color saturation is good, contrast is normal, slight barrel distortion. Soft at close distance (mag. around 15x) but I think it is normal for standard lenses, the same happen to the 50/1.2 and 55/1.2 while the 50/3.5 macro is excellent. (Added: 15-Dec-99)
50mm F2 Macro Slightly soft at F2, at F4 sharpness and resolution are excellent, contrast is high, extremely slight barrel distortion. The shortcoming is the 55mm filter size, makes it impossible to directly connect to the slide copier and to reverse mount the lens to bellows. (Updated 15-Dec-99)
50mm F3.5 Macro Very slight soft at F3.5, excellent resolution at F5.6, un-detectable distortion, normal to high contrast, pleasing color. The resolution and distortion are very good from close up to infinity, I have used it for lots of my family portraits. Click here for some test shots of Zuiko 50/3.5 (Updated: 28-Jul-02)
90mm F2 High resolution and contrast, color saturation is very good, a little bit soft wide open but very sharp starting from F4. The resolution is acceptable at macro range (1:4 or larger) but not as good as Zuiko 50/3.5. A versatile lens with variable characteristic : Use F2 to F2.8 for portrait, it gives lower contrast. Use F5.6 or above for landscape, very sharp and contrast. Macro performance is consistence with most apertures, but stop down a bit provides better DOF and contrast. Very little distortion, as usual with all Zuiko macros. Click here for some test shots of Zuiko 90/2 (Added: 31-May-00)
100mm F2 Superb resolution, very sharp with normal contrast, color saturation slightly lower than 90/2 undetectable distortion. Good for portrait and landscape, excellent in poor lighting condition, always got sharp pictures. In my testes, there was almost no different in resolution from F2 to F11, only very slightly soft at wide open. It was very disappointed that it does not work with Zuiko 2XA, but I found it works very well with a Tamron SP 2x. Test photos coming soon (Updated: 27-Jul-02)
180mm F2.8 Superb resolution, much better than Zuiko 200mm F4, moderate contrast, great shadow details, undetectable distortion, the out of focus softness is very pleasing, excellent for portrait works. It is one of my most favorable Zuiko. Chromatic aberration found at bright reflection area, but it doesn't bother me too much as the problem not easy seen with my usual shots. In case of chromatic aberration critical object such as snow mountain, try to stop down to F11 and it should be fine. It works well with the 1.4X-A and 2X-A. Click here for some test shots of 180/2.8 Click here for a chromatic aberration test on the 180/2.8 (Updated on 20-Mar-01)
300mm F4.5 The color and resolution of this lens is very good even at wide open. The focusing ring is a bit tight, in order to obtain high quality images for action shoots, a monopod or tripod is required to stabilize the lens during focusing. Found only very slight pincushion distortion.
85-250mm F5 This tele-zoom is very nice both in handling and optical quality, it weight only 800g without the tripod collar. The focusing ring is light and smooth, when used with motor or winder the weight is very balance. For shutter speed of 1/125S or greater, hand-held shooting should have no problem even at 250mm. Removable tripod socket is a real plus, very important for stable shoots at low light. At 85mm F5 the lens sharpness is excellent, it is comparable or even better than the Zuiko 85mm/F2 at F4. At 250mm, the lens sharpness is very good. (obviously better than my 75-300mm F4-5.6 UC APO zoom). At 85mm/f5, light falloff at corners is noticeable, improves at f8, need further confirm if it was related to the tiny lens hood. Distortion - slight barrel at 85mm, very slight pincushion at 150mm and 250mm. (Updated 15-Dec-99)
500mm F8 Mirror The special feature of mirror lenses are easy handling, especially with this light and small Zuiko. You can shoot without using tripod with shutter speed of 1/250s or above. From 4 meter to infinity you have to turn the focusing ring for around 180 degrees, my sample is a bit tight but I have seen another one that is better. The resolution of this lens is fine, of course you cannot expect it perform as good as the shorter lens like the 300/4.5 or 200/4. Actually even if the resolution of this lens is very high, you cannot easily get the maximum performance for such a long focal lenght and no tripod socket design. Color reproduction of this lens is also fine. Click here for some test shots of Zuiko 500/F8 (Added: 8-Oct-00)