The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-50mm f3.5-6.3 EZ Lens ($499.99 direct) is a 4x zoom lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras. It covers a wide angle to telephoto field of view, equivalent to 24-100mm in traditional 35mm photography, and also sports a special Macro function that allows the lens to focus close on objects at a fixed 43mm (96mm equivalent) focal length. It can be used with any Micro Four Thirds camera, inclduding models manufactured by Panasonic like the Lumix DMC-GX1 ($799.99, 3.5 stars). The lens features electronic power zoom and manual zoom capability, which can be toggled by moving the focus ring forwards or backwards.

Because the lens is fully weather sealed, it is an ideal companion for the Olympus OM-D E-M5 ($1,299.99, 5 stars)—so it's no surprise that Olympus bundled it with that camera. Owners of Olympus PEN cameras, like the popular E-PM1 ($499.99, 4 stars), may consider it as an upgrade over the company's standard 14-42mm kit zoom. I used Imatest to measure the lens's sharpness and the results are quite impressive. Any score over 1,800 lines per picture height is considered to be sharp, and the 12-50mm exceeded that score throughout its zoom range. At 12mm it notched 2,129 lines, it increased to 2,521 lines at 25mm, and the lens managed an impressive 2,477 lines at 50mm.