Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS PRO Lens Sample Images

Here’s a selection of images I’ve shot with the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS PRO zoom lens to give a practical sense of how it performs in real-world shooting.

By David Coleman

Last Updated: February 7, 2023

Filed Under: Lenses, Micro Four Thirds

Topics: Olympus / OM System, Olympus 12-100 f4 Zoom Lens

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The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS PRO lens is a versatile all-round lens. With a maximum aperture of f/4, it’s relatively fast but still obviously a bit slower than f/2.8 lenses. It’s also ruggedized (the “PRO” part), so it takes light rain or spray in stride.

Olympus is now OM System

In 2020-21, the photography business of iconic camera brand Olympus was spun off and sold. The core remaining Olympus brand is focusing on medical and scientific products. The camera and photography side was then rebranded as OM System, with the first cameras and lenses under that brand coming out at the end of 2021.

It’s designed to go on Olympus / OM System Micro Four Thirds bodies (while it still carries the Olympus branding, it’s fully compatible with the camera bodies that carry the newer OM System brand name). On those, the effective focal length is doubled. So it’s an equivalent view of a 24-200mm lens would be on a full-frame body. For the shots below, I used an Olympus OM-1.

I’ve previously posted some visual real-world examples of the zoom range of this lens.

Olympus 12-100mm f/4 PRO Example Photos

These were shot in RAW and lightly processed in Lightroom, but I haven’t applied any optical corrections to these (eg. chromatic aberration, distortion, vignetting, etc).

I’ve tried to include a variety of general travel-type scenes and range of apertures. You can click on each image for a full-resolution version.

I took this photo with an **Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS zoom lens** on an Olympus OM-1 Micro Four Thirds camera at an **aperture of ƒ/11** and **zoom at 12mm** (24mm in 35mm equivalent).

I took this photo with an **Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS zoom lens** on an Olympus OM-1 Micro Four Thirds camera at an **aperture of ƒ/8** and **zoom at 12mm** (24mm in 35mm equivalent).

I took this photo with an **Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS zoom lens** on an Olympus OM-1 Micro Four Thirds camera at an **aperture of ƒ/4** and **zoom at 100mm** (200mm in 35mm equivalent).

Zoom Range of the Olympus M-ZUIKO 12-100mm Lens — I took this photo with an **Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS zoom lens** on an Olympus OM-1 Micro Four Thirds camera at an **aperture of ƒ/8** and **zoom at 100mm** (200mm in 35mm equivalent).

I took this photo with an **Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS zoom lens** on an Olympus OM-1 Micro Four Thirds camera at an **aperture of ƒ/5.0** and **zoom at 92mm** (184mm in 35mm equivalent).

I took this photo with an **Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS zoom lens** on an Olympus OM-1 Micro Four Thirds camera at an **aperture of ƒ/5.6** and **zoom at 38mm** (76mm in 35mm equivalent).

I took this photo with an **Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS zoom lens** on an Olympus OM-1 Micro Four Thirds camera at an **aperture of ƒ/4.5** and **zoom at 38mm** (76mm in 35mm equivalent).

I took this photo with an **Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS zoom lens** on an Olympus OM-1 Micro Four Thirds camera at an **aperture of ƒ/6.3** and **zoom at 12mm** (24mm in 35mm equivalent).

Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS PRO Lens Sample Image — I took this photo with an **Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS zoom lens** on an Olympus OM-1 Micro Four Thirds camera at an **aperture of ƒ/5.6** and **zoom at 31mm** (62mm in 35mm equivalent).

Optical Correction Tools

I deliberately haven’t applied extensive corrections to these images. And the general rule of thumb in photography is that it’s better to get the shot right at the time of capture rather than trying to fix it after. That’s a great aspiration, but it’s not always possible to do if you’re bumping up against limitations or flaws in gear, conditions, or technique.

But it’s worth mentioning that there are some excellent tools available to help address common issues with lenses, such as distortion, chromatic aberration, and lens vignetting when editing the images. All-round image processing apps like Lightroom Classic and Capture One have solid tools built in already that often cater to specific lens profiles (or you can make your own).

Some more specialized tools can take it even further. DxO, in particular, sets the gold standard. Their software is built on the foundation of their incredibly deep archive of data from their extensive lab testing of the optical performance of lenses and cameras. But there are some other excellent specialized tools available. These are well worth a look (and have free trials):

DxO Pure RAW (for a suite of automatic RAW file corrections enhancement)
DxO ViewPoint (correcting for distortion and geometry)
Topaz Labs Sharpen AI (in addition to standard unsharp tools, includes focus correction and shake reduction)

Price & Availability of the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS PRO Lens

The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS PRO lens has an MSRP of $1299.

Check the current price and availability at:

B&H Photo

Accessories for the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS PRO Zoom Lens

It takes 72mm screw-on filters: Polarizer | UV/Haze | Neutral Density

It comes with a lens hood, but if you need a replacement, the model number is LH-76B.

There’s no model-specific lens case, but there’s a huge range of lens cases available that will work well, from neoprene soft cases to heavy-duty hard cases. When looking to see which lens cases will fit, the dimensions of the lens when retracted (i.e., zoomed out to its smallest physical size) are: 3.05 inches / 77.5mm diameter and 4.59 inches / 116.5 mm long.