Product Description

When you need wide angle lenses with great performance and fast apertures, Zuiko Digital Wide Zoom lenses can deliver. The superb optics are designed specifically for digital photography delivering the highest image quality with their design highlighted by two aspherical glass lens elements that help prevent aberrations and distortions. These elements combine with new multi-coating on the first two lenses, which contributes to the removal of ghost or glare that can occur with a wide-angle lens, so clarity of images is obtained at all distances. Floating focusing system results in close focusing distance of 0.28m (11.02 inches) for close-up macro shots. Closest Focusing Distance - 11.02 inches/0.28m Maximum Image Magnification - 0.13x (0.26x 35mm equivalent) Maximum Aperture - f2.8 Wide - f3.5 Telephoto Minimum Aperture - f22 Number of Blades - 7 Filter Size - 72mm Dimensions - Diameter 75 x 92.5mm Weight - 485 grams

Product Details

• Brand: Olympus
• Model: 146044
• Dimensions: 5.10" h x 5.40" w x 6.20" l, 1.07 pounds

Features

• 11-22 millimeter F2.8-3.5 wide-angle zoom lens (equivalent to 22-44 millimeter on a 35 millimeter film camera)
• Compatible with Olympus E1 and Evolt E300 cameras
• Designed to perfectly match the imager so light strikes the sensor directly, ensuring rich, accurate colors
• Two aspherical glass lenses that minimize distortion, spherical aberration and "Koma" aberration
• Utilizes a floating mechanism to deliver sharp, high contrast images

From the Manufacturer
The Zuiko Digital 11-22 millimeter f2.8-3.5 features two aspherical glass lenses that minimize distortion, spherical aberration and "Koma" aberration. A new multi-coating process applied to the first two lenses helps remove ghosting and glare, problems often associated with wide-angle lenses. The 11-22 millimeter focusing system also utilizes a floating mechanism to deliver sharp, high contrast images up to the lens' closest focusing distance, 0.28 millimeter (11.02 inches) at any zoom setting.

Zuiko digital specific lenses are designed specifically for digital capture with smart technology that delivers edge-to-edge sharpness with reduced distortion and shading. The lenses are designed to perfectly match the imager so light strikes the sensor directly, ensuring rich, accurate colors, sharp contrasts, and bright images even at the edges. Zuiko digital specific lenses deliver higher resolutions, faster aperture speeds and focusing, and more compact sizes than equivalent 35 millimeter lenses.

Zuiko digital specific lenses are based on the new FourThirds System, an open standard for digital SLR cameras and interchangeable lens systems that utilize a 4/3-type image sensor. The FourThirds System is designed to achieve an optimal balance between image quality, camera and lens size, and system expandability. The system maximizes the performance of image sensors and lenses with a 100 percent digital-from-the-ground-up design.

Customer Reviews

Amazing low-light wide-angle possibilities
While there may be wider options available from Olympus and other vendors, this lens is quite flexible in shooting architecture, landscapes, nigthscapes, streets, museums, insides of low-lit cathedrals and even portraits (at tele-end of 44mm eFoV). I also have Canon EFS 10-22m which though wider, is not as flexible in variety of scenarios as 11-22. Image quality rivals primes.

With an aperture of F2.8 and image stabilized body, this lens can take some incredible handheld lowlight shots. On E520 and other bodies with IS, it is possible to take handheld shots as slow as 1/2~1/5 seconds at 11mm. Neither Canon nor Nikkon offers anything similar.

Highly recommended and extremely under appreciated among non-Zuikoholics.

A current and future collectible.

Perfect for Portraits, Panoramas, 3D and Infrared
At 22mm/f11 this lens is perfect for the kind of portraits, where you need high depth of field, e.g. on the front cover of my Suntan Book (see link below), the family members are lined up behind each other. For panoramas the low distortion and large depth of field make panoramas possible, where closeup and far-away elements are combined. Adding a infrared filter delivers snow white greenery. Using camera shift or 2 cameras and 2 of these lenses, 3D is crispy clear. Especially for 3D, closeup and faraway elements need to be in the picture. Again, at f11 they are all in focus. A fantastic lens for artistic photography!

Following are some links of my books created with this lens and a E300:




Suntan: Skin Tone Color Adjustments in Lightroom and Photoshop

Panoramic & Stereoscopic Photography in Color and Infrared: A Step by Step Guide

Florida - Focus on Anna Maria Island - Panoramic & Stereoscopic: Hypnotizing Sceneries

3D Stereoscopic Portraits - Photography by Rolf Bertram - Posing by Audrey Michelle: Color and Infrared

Flexible: Posing by Audrey Michelle

Fantastic Lens
I have had this lens a short time now, and the weather has not permitted much in the way of outdoor use. The shots that I have been able to take, including some indoor available light and flash, have been superb. Extremely sharp optics with excellent FOV. This lens will probably stay on my L1 body for all-around use.