Review on Olympus E 9-18mm f/4.0-5.6 Zuiko Lens: Versatile Wide-Angle Option for Olympus DSLR Cameras by Malik Berry

I recently ironed out a seeming contradiction in my photography: Most of my shots are landscapes or architecture, but I've never used an ultra-wide lens. In fact, I've often been tempted by "sexy" telephoto/zoom lenses. Not anymore - I ended up taking 9-18. One of the reasons I bought this lens was in anticipation of a trip to France. I used 3 lenses in France - telephoto (40-150), standard (14-42) and this ultra wide. (These 3 lenses make a great lightweight travel backpack with the E-620.) I ended up using telephoto zoom just under 10% of the time - to capture detail, capture distant subjects and isolate the subject. The rest of the shots were split fairly evenly between the standard 14-42 and 9-18, with the 9-18 beating the 14-42 by a few shots - I left the 9-18 set on my E-620 and swapped for one of the other lenses only if necessary. . All the pictures turned out great. There were shots that could only be taken on an ultrawide, say, full dome of a church or cathedral, end to end in one shot. or in front of a large building when backup space is limited. There are problems - many frames, especially when captured from fairly close range, are distorted. There's no avoiding this, of course - when I have a picture of a wall 10 feet in front of me, showing the floor in front and the ceiling 75 high (remember the stained glass walls at Sainte Chapelle), I'm overall very happy with it the results - some of my best shots were taken with this lens. Try an ultra wide-angle lens, especially if you often photograph landscapes or architecture. To get such a wide-angle lens, you have a choice between this excellent little lens or the super high-end 7-14 lens, which costs about three times as much. This is highly recommended.