OM System ED 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO

This OM System zoom, introduced in 2015, covers 7–14mm on Micro Four Thirds cameras. It suits tight interiors, architecture, night skies and wide landscapes. At 7mm the perspective is dramatic, while 14mm keeps framing easier to manage.

The constant f/2.8 aperture keeps the same maximum at every focal length, which helps in dim churches and evening streets. The main trade-offs are the lack of autofocus and weather sealing. You focus by hand, and you should keep the lens dry. The lens remains in production today.

The lens weighs 1 lb 2.8 oz (534 g) and measures 4.17 in (105.8 mm) long. That makes it a modest load on a small body. The body is 3.11 in (78.9 mm) across. There is no front filter thread, so screw-in ND or polarising filters cannot attach directly. It earns a physical score of 93/100.

The 7mm end frames whole rooms from a corner and cathedral naves from a doorway. The 14mm end gives a less extreme view when you want the scene calmer. Both ends reward strong foreground interest, since distant subjects look small at these focal lengths.

Focusing down to 0.7 ft (20 cm) lets you set a rock or flower close to the camera. The landscape behind it can still stay sharp. That near-far approach is a natural fit for this range.

The f/2.8 maximum holds through the zoom. It helps indoors without flash and after sunset, and it gathers light for night skies. Depth of field stays deep at 7–14mm, though, so blurred backgrounds are largely out of reach. Compose with lines and scale instead.

The lens does not autofocus, so you focus by hand. At these focal lengths the zone of sharpness is generous, which makes manual focusing more forgiving. Even so, quick candid work is harder than with an autofocus zoom. Our optics score for this lens is 56/100.

The lens has no built-in stabilization. Wide focal lengths forgive slower handheld shutter speeds, so the omission hurts less here than it would on a telephoto. Still, mount the camera on a tripod for long exposures after dark or for interiors lit only by window light. A wall or doorframe can also steady the camera.

There is no weather sealing and no fluorine coating. Keep the lens dry in rain, spray and dust. The exposed front glass also picks up fingerprints, so carry a cloth for field cleaning.

Zooming is electric, operated by a push-pull motion rather than a twist ring. There is no zoom lock switch.

The optical design packs 14 elements into 11 groups, with special glass to control the faults wide angles invite. Four aspherical elements, one of them bi-aspherical, help correct distortion, which matters for architecture. Three ED and three Super ED elements help reduce chromatic aberration, the coloured fringes that can appear along high-contrast edges such as branches against a bright sky. Our construction score for this lens is 65/100.