The new 12-100mm Pro lens might just be a winner…

A new road to travel
A new road to travel

I love my 40-150 Pro at 150mm and I love my F/2.8 aperture.  In fact I carry both that and my 12-40mm to all my shoots.  The 12-40mm is so good I dare to say its one of the best lenses I have seen for a system camera hands down.  Macro focusing, usability, corner quality, etc…  It checks a lot of boxes to a high level.  Olympus announced their 12-100mm PRO F/4 and I have been thinking a lot about it.  Why would I give up an extra 100mm worth of view and a whole stop of light?  It did not make sense for a while.  Especially when the other two pro zooms are so good. The more I think about it…the more it doesn’t sound that bad depending what your focus is.

So the new 12-100 focuses slightly closer than the 12-40.  That’s a big deal for me as I love macro, but when I travel I rarely want to carry a macro lens.  The 12-40 has been good enough, especially for slightly larger bugs.  You get a wide angle as well as good telephoto reach.  As much as most people use in most regular scenarios.  This is like having a 24-70 and a 70-200 mashed up into one lens.

The size is not that much larger or heavier than a 12-40.  What I am sensing is that this is probably the best general purpose travel and nature lens they have made, or anyone has made yet.  Let’s explore why.

With one camera body and this one single lens, I would never have to change lenses while in the field.    I generally shoot at F/7.1.  I almost always have a Singh Ray polarizer on.  The filter size also lets me shoot with smaller P-size neutral grads so my filter pouch is small.  (and filters less expensive!)  The camera and lens are weather sealed.  There is great stabilization, and synced stabilization with the coming E-M1mk2.  It is a light weight setup so a smaller tripod could in fact be utilized.  Something like a gitzo traveler is ideal.  I then don’t need virtually any other equipment with me.  The bag or backpack I can go with is much smaller, or has room for other things.  I don’t get tired in the field, and I spend more time focused on my subjects instead of gear decisions.  This sounds excellent.  In reality if I am traveling, I would probably also keep a small fast prime like the 17 or the 25 F/1.8 in my back just to have an option for fun shots at night or indoors if I am with other people.  Think candids, selfies, and street shots.  Or I have that mounted on a second body that is a backup.  This 12-100 is starting to make sense.  A lot of sense.  It might not be my first choice as a general purpose portrait lens, or for certain other subjects… but for travel and nature this just might be the winning ticket.  I thought I would never give up my 12-40… but I don’t know…I will definitely be trying out the 12-100 as soon as I can.

With the 25mm F/1.2 coming out as well… that is a very interesting combo if you can live without needing past “200mm.”

Any thoughts?  Are you looking forward to the 12-100?

The picture at the top is in the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee with the 12-40 lens.  What I can find in a scene like that alone with “24-200mm” is endless…

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October 27, 2016

1 responses on "The new 12-100mm Pro lens might just be a winner..."

  1. I think I will buy it and carry it around instead of my 12-40

    1) The higher ISO quality will make up for the 1 stop lost.
    2) the added stabilization will alow me to shoot at a slower speed (mostly static objects) making up again for that f2.8 to f4 loss

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