Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 45mm f/1.2 PRO Review

Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 45mm f/1.2 Pro Handling and Features

The good looks of the lens are without doubt, with a beautiful glossy black finish and high-quality engraving throughout. It weighs in with at a satisfyingly solid 410g. The 62mm filter thread is surrounded by a bayonet fitting for the included round lens hood. This clips into place smoothly and a release catch is operated to remove it. Behind this, we find the lens designation engraving and then a depth of field scale, defunct in AF mode as the distance scale that goes with it is concealed. Pulling back the wide focusing ring reveals the distance scale and also switches the lens into MF mode. This works well enough, although the scale is such that it is very doubtful that much useful depth of field information can be gleaned from it. The spacing is very narrow and there are few figures on the scale to match up to. A certain amount of care is needed to avoid pulling back the lens into MF mode accidentally and a slightly firmer click stop on the mechanism could be helpful. Having said that, in use, it seems to be only a slight risk rather than a definite problem.

There is no aperture scale, all settings being controlled from the camera body. The solitary L-Fn switch cancels the AF when in AF mode, thus fixing the distance setting. A half press on the shutter release starts up AF again. This could be useful but more functionality may exist for the button when using different camera bodies that support additional features.

Focusing is down to 50cm, or 19.7 inches, a maximum magnification of 0.1x, or 1:10. This is reasonably close for a lens giving an “equivalent” 90mm field of view. It is worth bearing in mind that there is more depth of field because of the format, so backgrounds will not fall out of focus quite so markedly as they would with a 90mm lens on a full frame camera. That is not to detract though from the usefulness of a 45mm f/1.2 lens, and the depth of field on a portrait can still be very appealing.

The lens is billed a “dustproof, splashproof and freezeproof” and there seem to be no problems with that in cold, wet weather. It also has a “Movie and Still compatible mechanism” which means silent focusing and aperture adjustment helps ensure stable movie shooting as well as being advantageous for stills photography. Focusing is indeed very quiet and virtually instantaneous, with absolutely no trace of hunting. AF locks on every time.

Optical construction in 14 elements in 10 groups, including ED (Extra Low Dispersion) glass. The diaphragm comprises 9 rounded blades. The objective of the lens construction is to achieve a “feathered bokeh” that is especially smooth and suited to portrait photography in particular. The lens has many other strengths though and short-range sports, landscapes, architecture and travel are all well within its purview. Considering the perfect drawing of the lens, it is absolutely ideal for architectural shots.

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