Karellen's reviews

  • Olympus 40-150mm f/4-5.6 ED Zuiko Digital

    10 out of 10 points and recommended
    Lowest blur in its class; small and lightweight
    Lens hood needed to control flare; plastic mount

    The brilliantly engineered Zuiko 40-150 joins the 9-18, 14-42, 70-300, and 35 macro in Olympus's class-leading family of consumer DSLR optics. Its sharpness results here on Slrgear are simply astonishing. At f/8 the 40-150's blur index is 1.0-1.5 center-to-edge, and mostly below 2.0 all the way from f/5.6 to f/16! Cost is $100 in an Olympus DSLR kit.

    reviewed February 5th, 2009 (purchased for $100)
  • Olympus 11-22mm f/2.8-3.5 Zuiko Digital

    10 out of 10 points and recommended
    Superb sharpness, CA, distortion; fast, wide; dust and splash-proof; vast DOF with Four-Thirds
    expensive 72mm filters; exposed front element

    This is the most distortion free optic I've ever used. In fact, I chose it over Olympus' excellent 12-60 for this reason. The psychological effect of seeing truly straight lines in a photo where they were straight in life is never forgotten once you've used a lens like the 11-22.

    reviewed April 6th, 2009
  • Olympus 50mm f/2 Zuiko Digital Macro

    10 out of 10 points and recommended
    Best lens tested by Slrgear, crystalline sharpness at every aperture, weather resistance
    Non-SWD focusing motor

    Analyzing various camera makers lens lines (before choosing Olympus) I found the ZD 50mm f/2 possessed the highest IQ of any lens tested by Slrgear, Dpreview, and Popphoto.

    reviewed May 8th, 2009 (purchased for $365)