All-Purpose Zoom. The Olympus 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 ED’s big selling point is the zoom. On a Micro 4/3 body, you’re getting the equivalent of a 24-400mm in full frame. That’s everything from truly wide to truly super-tele in a single lens. The variable f/3.5-6.3 aperture isn’t useful for low-light shooting, though, so you’ll probably want to stick with outdoor-lighting conditions for best results.

High-Quality Optics. This lens’s incredibly complex optical construction consists of sixteen elements in eleven groups, including three standard aspherical elements, two super-extra low-dispersion elements, two extra-low dispersion elements, two high-refractive index elements, and one Super HR element. This glass menagerie works together to control aberrations and make things sharp and clear, all while reducing color fringing. A ZERO coating is applied to each lens element to reduce surface reflections and prevent lens flare and ghosting. The bottom line: this lens makes a pretty nice picture.

Built-In Autofocus System. This autofocus system offers fast, smooth, and nearly silent performance, making it ideal for video and still applications. You get an 8.7-inch minimum focusing distance at the wide-angle end, a 3.9-inch working distance, and a 0.46x maximum magnification, all of which benefit working with close-up subjects.

High-Quality Build. The build quality matches the high-grade optics. The dust-proof and moisture-proof design keeps you shooting without fear of poor working conditions.