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Olympus E-400 with Zuiko Digital 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 ED Gordon Laing, November 2006

Outdoor
/ Resolution / Noise / Noise 2 / Corner sharpness / Fringe & macro / Geometry / Vignetting

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Click here for the Olympus E-400 video tour

 

Olympus E-400 wide-angle uniformity comparison

Olympus E-400 with 14-42 wide angle geometry test  

To measure and compare the Olympus E-400's kit lens vignetting and light fall-off we photographed a white target with a highly diffused custom filter using it and a number of rival models.

Here are the results for each camera with their kit lenses set to their widest focal lengths with the apertures wide open and the focus set to infinity.

The images were analysed with Imatest and the full areas presented here at a reduced resolution. Bigger percentages are better.

14-42mm at 14mm f3.5
Mean corner fall-off: 63.6%
 
The image above was taken with the Olympus E-400 using the Zuiko Digital 14-42mm kit lens zoomed-out to 14mm with its aperture wide open. Here the light falls off in the corners to an average of 63.6% of the center measurement. This is roughly similar to the Canon and Panasonic kit lenses, although all are beaten by the Zuiko Digital 14-45mm in this particular test.

Canon 400D / XTi
Using EF-S 18-55mm
Olympus E-500
Using ZD 14-45mm
Panasonic L1
Using Leica 14-50mm
Canon 400D with 18-55mm wide angle geometry test
Olympus E-500 with 14-45 wide angle geometry test
Panasonic L1 with 14-50mm wide angle geometry test
18-55mm EF-S at 18mm f3.5
Mean corner fall-off: 68.8%
  14-45mm at 14mm f3.5
Mean corner fall-off: 74.1%
  14-50mm at 14mm f2.8
Mean corner fall-off: 66%


Olympus E-400 telephoto uniformity comparison

Olympus E-400 with 14-42 telephoto geometry test  

To measure and compare the Olympus E-400's kit lens vignetting and light fall-off we photographed a white target with a highly diffused custom filter using it and a number of rival models.

Here are the results for each camera with their kit lenses set to their longest focal lengths with the apertures wide open and the focus set to infinity.

The images were analysed with Imatest and the full areas presented here at a reduced resolution. Bigger percentages are better.

14-42mm at 42mm f5.6
Mean corner fall-off: 85.7%
 

The image above was taken with the Olympus E-400 using the Zuiko Digital 14-42mm kit lens zoomed-in to 42mm with its aperture wide open. Here the light falls off in the corners to an average of 85.7% of the center measurement, which again is similar to the Canon kit lens, although measurably superior to both the Zuiko Digital 14-45mm and Leica 14-50mm.


Canon 400D / XTi
Using EF-S 18-55mm
Olympus E-500
Using ZD 14-45mm
Panasonic L1
Using Leica 14-50mm
Canon 400D with 18-55mm telephoto uniformity test
Olympus E-500 with 14-45 telephoto geometry test
Panasonic L1 with 14-50mm telephoto geometry test
18-55mm EF-S at 55mm f5.6
Mean corner fall-off: 83.8%
  14-45mm at 45mm f5.6
Mean corner fall-off: 71.3%
  14-50mm at 50mm f3.5
Mean corner fall-off: 72.5%


Outdoor / Resolution / Noise / Noise 2 / Corner sharpness / Fringe & macro / Geometry / Vignetting


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