Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.2 PRO Review by Opticallimits: “THE best lens available for Micro-Four-Thirds”

Opticallimits tested the Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.2 PRO lens:

Olympus put all the right ingredients into the Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.2 PRO for making it one of the best, if not THE best, lens available for Micro-Four-Thirds. It is sharp as a tack at all relevant aperture settings. Lateral CAs are low and image distortions are nothing to worry about. Image auto-correction takes care of vignetting but even without the digital helper, it’s quite decent considering its large aperture. Another highlight is the quality of the bokeh which is smooth as silk and as good as it gets in a conventional lens.

While some full-format snobs may frown upon the shallow depth-of-field capabilities, the reality is that for the vast majority of use cases, it’s “good enough” really. And if you need something like a 85mm f/1.2 or f/1.4 on a mirrorless full-format camera – with an admittedly superior DoF potential – you also talking about system costs (and size/weight) two or three times as high. Thus it’s a very different discussion then anyway.

The build quality of the Zuiko is also excellent thanks to a tightly assembled all-metal and sealed construction. We aren’t completely sold on the rather shiny finish but that’s a matter of taste. The same goes for the focus-clutch mechanism for switching between AF and MF. However, manual focusing itself is very smooth and precise. The speed of the MSC AF is also impressive. Furthermore, it’s also a very lightweight and compact lens – making it a joy to use out there.

All in all the Olympus  M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.2 PRO is one of the best lenses that we reviewed – ever. As such – highly recommended!