Nice and compact, very light and allows you to put this, attached to an Olympus E-M10 or E-M10 II, in your jacket pocket. All the lens has on the outside is the zoom ring, and that is it.
Olympus 14-42 f3.5-5.6 EZ (28 - 84mm in 35mm terms)
Weight: 91g
Size: 23mm x 61mm
Aperture: f3.5 - f22
MFD: 25cm
Filter: 37mm
Price: €280
14-42 or 28 - 84 in 35mm terms is not to my liking at all. The long end is a little too short and the short end should start at 12mm (24mm), but that's just my opinion. A couple of mm at the short end makes a tremendous amount of difference. Personally I've stopped purchasing lenses that start at 14mm, it's just not wide enough. Again, just my taste in lenses. The only reason I have it is because it came together with my second E-M10 II camera and I couldn't find a body only option. Oh well.
My copy is atrocious on both the left and right sides at the wide end (sample image at the end of this post). Even worse than the 12-50 EZ lens. The longer end is just ok and the middle range is good. Contrast is a little better than the 12-50 zoom but that's about it.
I bet you can tell I'm not really a fan of this lens...right?
Perfectly fine if you're just going to keep to the kit lens and want something small to carry with at all times. Filter thread is tiny at 37mm, but filters of that size can sometimes be difficult to purchase.
Just like the 12-50 it's an EZ lens. I've seen reviews of this lens that are quite positive and it gets a 4/5 from quite a few people. Sorry but my evaluation of my copy is lucky to get a 3/5. I believe Olympus are terrible at making kit lenses. Maybe they should start bringing cameras on the market as body only. I do believe their kit lenses doesn't add to their reputation. They have some cracking lenses on the market and you'd be better to stick to those. I think their best option is to make a good kit lens and bring that out with every new camera they offer. I remember Panasonic bringing that 14-45 lens out with the GF1; excellent lens that is still hard to beat today and I still use mine even though it's widest setting is 14mm.
The Panasonic GH5 comes out with the Pana-Leica 12-60 f2.8-4.0. Now that will be a kit lens. Everything Panasonic have done in conjunction with Leica has been a success. Their new lenses won't be any different, in my opinion. If you don't believe me, just take a look at the Pana-Leica 100-400.
The sample images below may look ok at this resolution but the lens will be put into the same box as the 12-50, namely "Don't use again".
I've strayed away from this little post about the 14-42EZ but only because there really isn't a lot to say about it. Enjoy the images below, they were taken on the same outing as the 12-50 test run so the images may look similar.
Enlarge this image by clicking on it.
I mentioned earlier that my copy was horrible at 14mm.
Look at the buildings on the laft AND right had sides of this image. You can see how soft they are.
