Olympus M.Zuiko 12mm f/2.0 lens gets new black colour option

Photokina doesn’t officially start until later today, but that hasn’t stopped Olypmus from making a slew of announcements. As well as catering to high-end mirrorless camera fans with an update to the OM-D EM-1, the company also revealed a new black version of its popular 12mm wide-angle, fixed focal length lens for PEN owners that like to colour coordinate.

Designed to cover a wide number of possible shooting scenarios, the M.Zuiko Digital ED 12mm 1:2.0 has a fixed f/2.0 aperture for capturing the most amount of light possible and a 12mm wide angle view that’s equivalent to 24mm on a 35mm camera. It’s also lightweight and very compact, making it ideal for anyone that wants to travel without a bag full of heavy lenses.

Inside, it has the same Dual Super Aspherical lens element as the original silver version, along with Olympus’ ZUIKO Extra‑low Reflection Optical lens coating for reducing reflections. It also includes a Movie & Still Compatible (MSC) autofocus for fast and practically silent operation, as well as a Snapshot Focus mechanism. This lets you move the focusing point to a specific distance by sliding the focus ring towards you, then move the focal distance within the range shown on the lens body by rotating the focus ring.

Built for the micro four-thirds lens mount, the M.Zuiko Digital ED 12mm 1:2.0 is compatible with all Olympus PEN compact system cameras and will also play nicely with Panasonic’s CSC range, although because Olympus uses on-camera stabilisation you’ll need to keep your Panasonic camera steady – unless you bought a GX7, which has both on-camera and on-lens stabilisation.

The lens should be going on sale in the UK from late September onwards, with an expected RRP of £739.99.