When I sold my Olympus PEN-EP7 a couple months ago, I knew I had to keep the kit lens that came with it. Yes, we are talking about the Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ. This lens doesn’t get much praise. Moreover, I think it’s even hated a little bit. Would you be surprised if I told you that it’s one of my favorite lenses? Let me show you why this lens should be getting more love than it gets now. If you’d rather check out sample images directly, click here.
It’s the World’s Smallest Zoom Lens
M.Zuiko 14-42mm EZ is the benchmark for compactness. When it collapses it’s merely 14mm long. It’s even smaller than the pancake primes. If you compare it to typical small zooms like Sony’s 16-50mm or Panasonic’s 12-32mm, the M.Zuiko 14-42mm EZ generally wins on sheer miniaturization when retracted.
It has Fast and Precise AF
You would not expect a good AF performance from such a small lens. For example, one of my favorite lenses, Lumix 20mm f1.7 is a comparably small prime, however its auto-focus is sluggish and noisy. On the contrary, M.Zuiko 14-42mm EZ has top notch AF. It’s precise and silent and works perfectly both for stills and for video.
For video you get nice focus pulls and focus breathing is practically absent. While on bodies without PDAF (for example PEN) it might struggle a little bit in continuous AF for video, on bodies with PDAF (like OM-1 or OM-3), it works flawlessly.
It’s Versatile
You get very good coverage with this lens - 28-84mm in full-frame equivalence. Yes, it’s not as wide as 24mm (in full-frame equivalence) however, at 28mm it’s very good for landscape, selfies and group shots. Also, from my experience it has the best image quality at 28mm. At the telephoto end you get a decent lens for casual portraits.
The lens has very close focusing distance of 20cm and delivers maximum magnification of x0.46 (in full frame equivalence).
The lens has electronic zoom, which is another bonus, especially if you use it for video and this lens is MSC Movie & Still compatible.
It’s Sharp
At the wide angle it’s a very sharp lens. Towards 42mm it gets quite soft though. I normally don’t use it beyond 35mm unless I absolutely need it.
It Renders Beautiful Images
M.Zuiko 14-42mm EZ renders beautiful images. It captures good detail and has very nice microcontrast. The lens controls chromatic abberation and vignetting well.
It’s Still Quite Fast
At the wide end you get f3.5 and on the telephoto length you have f5.6. It’s still quite fast. On small zooms you normally get worse maximum apertures.
It’s Cheap
In Europe new costs around 350-390 Euro. It’s one of the cheapest lenses. If you get it with PEN EP7, the price would come even better. Also, from time to time there are deals on this lens, so you could get one at a very low price.
Drawbacks
The biggest shortcoming of this lens is the lack of weather sealing. Using this lens in an adverse environment is not a good idea. Also, some people report that the lens fails mechanically. Some people report dust getting inside. However, I haven’t run into any issues.
Another drawback is a variable aperture, but from a zoom lens as small as this, it’s unfair to demand more.
The filter size if 37mm. In the past couple years I have switched to magnetic filter systems. Unfortunately, there are no magnetic filters for 37mm. I normally don’t use filters with this lens and if I need to, I have a stepup ring to 49mm.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve never used M.Zuiko 14-42mm EZ, I recommend that you get one. It’s very small and weighs almost nothing. It spends a lot of time on my OM-3 and even when I go out with another lens, I always carry M.Zuiko 14-42mm EZ in my bag or pocket.
Thanks for the post. It's a nice lens.