Despite its pending legal problems, Olympus makes some of the best Micro Four Thirds shooters out there. This brand new lens has a motorised zoom for video shooters and middle ground specs that combine a wide f3.5 aperture with 4.2x zoom.
Micro Four Thirds cameras are little, which is great, but it also means they’re tough to stabilise while shooting video. The new Olympus M.Zuiko 12-55mm f3.5-6.3 motorised zoom lens should help eliminate the clunkiness and camera shake of manual zoom. It also has three zoom speeds. Wonderful, if video is your thing, and manual zoom bugs you.
Under that motorised gloss is an all purpose lens. The 12-55mm f3.5-6.3 lens hits a nice compromise between zoom and wide angle. Not an earth-shattering development, but one that some lens shoppers are sure to appreciate. The kicker is that at a maximum f6.3 aperture means you’re limited to a fairly shallow depth of field no matter what. You can’t have it all. The lens will be available in January for $US499. [Olympus]