Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 9-18 mm F4.0-5.6 Lens, Wide Angle Zoom, Suitable for All MFT Cameras (Olympus OM-D & PEN Models, Panasonic G-Series), Black

If you own m43 system, and Olympus in particular, this one is no-brainer... tiny in size big in picture quality; can sit on the camera all day when sightseeing cities - ranges from moderate 36mm equivalent for general shots to 18mm for wide views. Price will not break the bank either. Could be a bit faster or have weather sealing, but I guess would be more expensive... Panasonic equivalent may be bit better and wider but does not stretch to enough on longer end to be general lens, costs more and is bigger. Go get one, if you already don't have it :)

I swithered for a long time before biting the bullet on this lens, as it doesn't have the best reputation particularly compared to the 7 - 14mm, and it's not cheap. However, after borrowing one from a friend, I was impressed with what it can do, and a cashback offer from Olympus brought the price down to a level I felt was fair.The lens is small and light, so it's easy to bring it with you "just in case". It can be a little soft wide open and in the corners, but if you're using it for landscapes you'll want to stop it down a bit anyway for a suitable depth of field. As it has such a wide FOV, flare can also be a bit of a problem leading to reduced contrast, so a lens hood is a must. Don't get the overpriced Olympus one: I got the JJC Olympus LH - 55B which is much cheaper and does a good job.I'm still finding this a hard focal length range to compose in. It's easy to get photos that are full of nothing, with everything off in the distance. You really need some foreground interest to add depth. You can use it for architectural photos, but will need to correct the uwa distortion using software unless you want photos of buildings falling backwards.Advantages of the 9 - 18mm over the 7 - 14mm alternatives:* You can take photos at a more normal FOV in the 14 - 18mm range which makes it more versatile.* You can use filters. The Panasonic 7 - 14mm can't take filters directly.* It's smaller, cheaper and lighter* You can get some great photos with a bit of practice (I'm still working on this...)Overall, I'm really glad I bought this lens at the price I got it, and find it a worthwhile addition to my camera bag.

Firstly order the "JJC replacement Olympus LH-55B Lens Hood for Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 9-18mm 1:4.0-5.6" when you buy this lens as it does not ship with a lens hood. The JJC fits perfectly and is only £12.99 when compared to £36.99 for the Olympus one. And you do need a lens hood.Build quality is very good. I love the way the lens shrinks down when not in use by sliding a lock button and then rotating the lens. When I switch my G3 on it gives me an onscreen message reminding me to expand the lens out ready for use.It is fully compatible with my G3 producing very sharp images at the full aperture range when enlarged to 20 x 16 equivalent at ISO 100. If you want to be hyper critical then when you zoom in on Photoshop you can see some softening at the edges but in reality this isn't going to be an issue, even viewing the test images on my 47" TV didn't highlight any concerns.

A great little lens - fits in the pocket too. The camera feels so much lighter when this lens is fitted.It is really a useful lens to carry, gives that extra width and hopefully takes the image we all strive for. AIMHO.

I quite liked this lens, but returned it in favour of the 12mm prime as I thought the softness in the corners would bother me too much with the 9-18. I think mine may have had a bit of softness down one side as well. It's not a bad lens and you can find plenty of reviews for and against it. Sharpness was good, but I think the 12mm is sharper and more consistent across the frame (although I seemed to be getting a little more DOF at the same F-stop with this lens compared to the 12mm). If I was going to use it for mainly 'centre-focused' pictures such as people or animals or was going to crop most of my pictures square (thus losing the edges and corners), I would have been more tempted to keep this lens, but I had to choose one wide angle only. I had already ruled out the Panasonic 7-14 because it couldn't take filters without getting into some bulky and annoying DIY solutions, so the current choice to go wide was this or the 12mm. There are pros and cons to both, so try both if you can. I would have given it three and a half stars if I could, deducting half a star for the edge/corners issue, which you will probably only see if you view at 100% or print large and the other star is deducted for Olympus' really annoying habit of making you find and over-pay for a lens hood separately instead of including one, even if at a small premium.

I am very pleased with this lens. I use it on my Panasonic Gh2. It gives me colourful & sharp pictures with good histogram balance. Barrel distorsion is not anything like as much as I was lead to believe from other reviews, even at 9mm. Raw files can easily be used to remove this in the software. Similarly, I detected no fringing, or vignetting. You have to watch out for sun glare, even with the lens hood, as this can't be very big or it would infringe on the photos.