Olympus OM-D hands on review

Olympus OM-D – new power-zoom lens

The new 12-50mm lens has several tricks up its barrel. It can either be used with motorised zoom – rotating the ring a small amount activates a servo that zooms the optics in or out, not dissimilar to Panasonic's power zoom – or you can allow the zoom ring to float free like a traditional zoom lens. There's also a Macro mode, for 1:1-scale close-ups, that's activated via a button on the side. If you want to swap for something a bit longer in the zoom department, that's when you'll see the real benefits of the Olympus OM-D's new five-axis image stabilisation, which allows for pitch and yaw. Results are very impressive, and it's hard to shake it once it steadies the scene.