In this guide, you’re going to find our recommendations of the best Olympus lenses for traveling. As you know Micro Four Thirds cameras are ideal for travel photography, due to their compact size and weight.
Many people are mistaken in thinking that travel photography is just about traveling and making photos. Actually travel photography is a genre of photography that may involve the documentation of an area’s landscape, people, cultures, customs and history.
Good photography is all about being in the moment and having a way to record and share the nature. Micro Four Thirds cameras from Panasonic and Olympus are smaller, lighter and more mobile, had wireless capabilities. Lightweight and compact, these cameras offer an easy-to-carry alternative to DSLR systems when traveling.
For travel photographers, a quality lens is your most valuable tool. We discuss all of these lenses below, but first let’s go through what matters when buying a lens for traveling.
Best Olympus Travel Lenses
Olympus M. Zuiko 7-14mm f/2.8 ED PRO
Olympus M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO
Olympus M. Zuiko 12-100mm f/4 PRO
Olympus M. Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6
Olympus M. Zuiko 12mm f/2
The Olympus M.Zuiko 12mm f/2 is a premium quality wideangle lens for the Micro Four Thirds system offering excellent image definition coupled with sturdy construction. Equivalent to a 24mm focal length in the 35mm format, the M. Zuiko 12mm is well suited to landscape photography. However, thanks to its great manual focus features, rugged weather-sealing, and a durable all-metal build, it clearly also begs to be used for candid street shots.
Featuring a rounded seven-blade diaphragm, this lens produces pleasing bokeh when used wide open. However, at 12mm this will never be your first choice of lens for portraiture. Instead, with such a wide field of view, the 12mm f/2 is better suited to fast shooting in crowds, or capturing sweeping vistas of either the night sky or more terrestrial landscapes.
You can buy it at Amazon.
Olympus M. Zuiko 17mm f/1.8
The Olympus M. Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 is a discrete and fast lens for use with OM-D and PEN mirrorless Micro Four Thirds cameras. Boasting excellent optics and weighing just 4.23 oz/120g, it’s a great choice for everyday shooting. Fast maximum aperture, silent AF, and compact dimensions also make it well suited to unobtrusive documentary and snapshot photography in low light conditions.
This is faster and more versatile than the 12mm, and also costs sightly less. Meanwhile, staying within the 17mm range, the f/1.8 is way more affordable than Olympus’s slightly faster “PRO” f/1.2 offering. However, what you save in money you lose in the form of the PRO lens’s superior optics and weather proofing.
You can buy it at Amazon.
Olympus M. Zuiko 7-14mm f/2.8 ED PRO
The Olympus M. Zuiko ED 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO lens is an excellent ultra wideangle zoom lens for the Micro Four Thirds format. Despite being relatively lightweight, the lens is satisfyingly solid and ruggedly built. Meanwhile, hermetic sealing keeps it protected when shooting in difficult terrain. Its wide field of view, sharp optics and constant fast aperture of f/2.8 throughout all zoom settings makes this an ideal lens for landscapes, interiors, night sky photography, and street shooting.
With the addition of Olympus’s separately available waterproof housing, this lens can be used underwater for shooting spectacular wideangle sub-aqua seascapes. Pair the 7-14mm with its 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO sibling, and you are prepared for almost any photographic situation conceivable.
You can buy it at Amazon.
Olympus M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO
The Olympus M. Zuiko ED 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO is a great all-purpose, go-to lens for daily use. It is part of Olympus’s range of constant aperture f/2.8 “PRO” zoom lenses for the Micro Four Thirds format, covering everything from 7mm through to 300mm. Dust and splash proof, and ruggedly built to withstand the rigors of professional use, this is pretty much the only lens you need: regardless of the genre of photography you shoot, the 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO will have you covered.
Unusually for a zoom, there appears to be no compromise on image quality: Olympus’s ZERO coating has pretty much done away with ghosting and aberrations altogether, and keeps flare to a minimum. If you’re less in need of a fast aperture and more interested in a convenient, all-in-one, solution, consider the 12-100mm f/4 IS PRO instead.
You can buy it at Amazon.
Olympus M. Zuiko 12-100mm f/4 PRO
The Olympus M. Zuiko ED 12-100mm f/4.0 IS PRO is a great all-round workhorse for those less concerned with fast glass and more in need of a single dependable lens they can take everywhere. If you’re the kind of photographer who strives to get each image crystal sharp from background to foreground, it’s likely that you rarely ever shoot with the diaphragm at wider settings anyway.
Offering an enormous choice of focal lengths in one single compact and portable zoom, this a great solution for landscape shooters who don’t want to be weighed down by a bag full of heavy prime lenses as they trek off into the wilderness. For those in need of a wider maximum aperture than this can provide, Olympus’s 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO is the lens to look at.
You can buy it at Amazon.
Olympus M. Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6
The Olympus M. Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 is a highly portable electronic pancake lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras. It perfectly compliments the compact design of any PEN or OM-D body, making it an awesome travel lens! Capture a broad range of images, from wide-angle landscapes to portraits to architecture, and it’s especially desirable for shooting HD Movies.
According to Olympus, this is the thinnest such lens in the world – making it ideal for traveling. As the lens extends just 22.5mm when retracted, and weighs a mere 93g, obviously the primary advantage here is being able to slip a camera in your pocket and carry it everywhere, without it being a drag. Nonetheless, there would be little point in taking the camera with you at all if the lens itself wasn’t up to scratch optically: and the 14-42mm holds its own in this department.
You can buy it at Amazon.
