Olympus's ultrawide zoom for Micro Four Thirds offers impressive image quality plus fast and silent autofocus, in a tiny package that makes it easily the smallest lens of its type.

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  Exceptionally small and lightweight, Very good image quality, Fast, practically silent autofocus, Essentially no falloff/vignetting

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  Relatively high chromatic aberration, Corners somewhat soft wide open (but sharpen up on stopping down), Slightly plastic build for the price

This lens costs around £480 and is possibly the smallest and lightest interchangeable lens available covering this angle of view.

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  Compact, lightweight design, Excellent resolution at f/8 throughout the zoom range., Excellent resistance to flare and ghosting, Fast AF

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  Chromatic Aberrations at 18mm, Resolution towards the edge of the frame at 9mm

For its size, the Olympus 9-18mm Æ’/4-5.6 provides impressive performance. While there are other lenses which provide similar or better performance, none offer the diminutive size and storage functionality of the 9-18mm M.Zuiko.

Those looking for a compact ultra-wide angle lens for a Micro Four Thirds system camera can't go far wrong with this lens. It does have some weaknesses, but so long as you are aware of these this lens is more than capable of delivering very good quality results.

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  Collapsible design, Lightweight, Fast, silent autofocus, Excellent sharpness in the centre of the frame throughout the zoom range, Low distortion, Good value compared to alternative

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  No lens hood supplied as standard, High CA levels towards the edges of the frame beyond 14mm, Prone to flare

Like any concept, the Four Thirds imaging system has its pros and cons. On the plus side, camera bodies and lenses tend to be very compact, but then the four/thirds aspect ratio that's in keeping with pre-widescreen viewing screens now looks dated.

Handling and features This compact ultra-wide angle zoom lens for Micro Four Thirds system cameras offers a 2x zoom range equivalent to an 18-36mm lens on a 35mm camera. It costs around £450 and sports a collapsible design.

An affordable compact ultra-wide angle lens for Four Thirds system DSLRs, giving an equivalent angle of view of an 18-36mm lens on a full-frame camera.

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  Compact, lightweight design, Excellent resolution at f/8 throughout the zoom range., Excellent resistance to flare and ghosting, Fast AF

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  Chromatic Aberrations at 18mm, Resolution towards the edge of the frame at 9mm

The Olympus M.Zuiko 9-18mm f/4-5.6 ED is an engineering masterpiece. It is the most compact and light-weight ultra wide angle lens that we've reviewed to date. It is easy to use despite its small size and rather unusual retractable design.

The fact, that I really had a lot of troubles to find any disadvantages for the final list is the best recommendation for this lens. I wrote these two points almost by force, these are no serious flaws, quite understandable with such a wideangle instrument.

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  compact, light, solid instrument,, very good quality of frame center picture,, very good quality of frame corner picture,, chromatic aberration well corrected,, slight astigmatism,, slight vignetting/ falloff,, fabulous against bright light,, autofocus efficient and quick.

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  chromatic aberration a bit too big for 9mm / wide open combination,, noticeable coma for longer focal lengths.

The Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm 1:4-5.6 is without doubt a very good lens indeed, especially for a relatively inexpensive ultra-wideangle zoom. It's sharp even wide open, has negligible distortion, and shows practically no vignetting.

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  High image quality - decently sharp from centre to corner even wide open, Extremely low distortion, Essentially no falloff/vigmetting, Small and lightweight

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  Moderate chromatic aberration (although not excessive for an ultra-wide)

Unlike most wide angle lenses, this one is small and light. The quality is great. One advantage of this system is that a f5.6 aperture gives a reasonable depth of field so you can actually use the lens wide open.

I am a doctor and I take pictures for my site . I bought this used and I am very happy with it . Meibomitis

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  Very compact when stored, great image quality, excellent flare control

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  weight

I am slowing building up my travel kit based on m4/3 eco system. My main system is based on APS-C DSLR. Since I already have a well established lens collection for my main system, I don't want to spend a lot to duplicate the lens collection for m4/3.

The first lens to deliver on the promise of m43 design: nice wide range while very portable. Though plastic, is has a great build. Excellent value for the price.

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  Versatile wide range, very portable, great quality.

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  No lens hood.

The Zuiko 9-18mm provides dramatic ultra-wide angle performance at an affordable price. The lens is compact, light and seems sturdy. Images are sharp with vivid colors.

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  Great at capturing wide angle images, landscapes, and even portraits with somewhat unusual angles. It is very lightweight and portable and works well with the E-520.

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  Perhaps not quite as sharp as some of the higher end lenses but more than acceptable for the price. Images tend to show barrell distortion at the widest angle. Sometimes difficult to use with a flash indoors at the widest end as shadows caused by on camera flash are visible.

So far so good. Works well seriously try it. Price was great and so was the product. I made the right choice. Love love love. I am glad I did They stay in place very well This made my life this week awesome!!!

For 469 pounds I expected a lot better quality. the outer pars of the pics where soft so you need to crop a lot. I got this for landscapes as I had a 11-16 mm on my Nikon on and its half the price and smashes the Olympus lens on photo quality.

I received yesterday the lens and I could not wait to try it on my Olympus Pen F camera.I was literally amazed by the small size, low weight and image quality when compared with my Nikon F3 HP, Nikon D7000 and my Sony A7R full frame lenses.

I received yesterday the lens and I could not wait to try it on my Olympus Pen F camera.I was literally amazed by the small size, low weight and image quality when compared with my Nikon D7000 and my Sony A7R full frame lenses.

Been looking at an ultra wide lens that didn't break the bank to compliment my 12-40. At first I was a bit sceptical that 9mm would be wide enough but this ticks the boxes. Besides I can also use my square filters with it! A must buy.