Review on Olympus M.Zuiko 12-200mm F3.5-6.3 Digital ED Lens for Micro Four Thirds Cameras by Jason Unruh

This Olympus M.Zuiko 12-200mm lens was put up for sale just before my trip to Europe, the zoom range allowed me to use this lens most of the time . Although I used the lens on my Panasonic GH5 and GX85 and not on an Olympus camera, I expected good and fast focusing. Almost 15% of my shots were blurry or out of focus; I can give some credit to the Panasonic focusing system, but it was about 5% with my Panasonic lenses. I've rarely been able to get a sharp image at more than 180mm when my photos were handheld and the lens didn't have internal stabilization, but my 100-300mm came out sharper at full handheld zoom. The lens was slower to focus than all of my Panasonic lenses, which was very frustrating on my open-top bus tour. My video attempts were even worse; I would not recommend it for this type of use. I was very happy with the color reproduction of the lens until I got into the low light conditions you'd expect from an F3.5-6.3 lens. When it rained, the lens became even softer, I suspect fogging. I'll leave the lens for general use due to its flexibility, I would recommend a tripod for use at distances greater than 100mm. From the negative points I put 3.5 stars. Fairly priced at $799.00, the lens is getting closer and closer. Pros: Best in class for 12-200mm zoom range, 16.6x zoom. Best in class for its weight and body length in its magnification range. Available as Revain Prime. Shipping costs Cons: Slow autofocus on Panasonic cameras Not listed by Olympus for firmware updates I could not see any peeping focus on this lens Hard zoom ring after 150mm zoom ring opposite direction of Panasonic lenses No internal stabilization No manual focus switch on the lens Price without Stabilization Weather protection questionable Lens sharpness at full zoom?