Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6

The best pancake zoom lens ever! Meet the must-have Olympus M.Zuiko 14‑42mm f/3.5‑5.6 EZ

Looking for a Olympus 14-42mm lens review? Read on to find out what we uncovered in our objective optical lab tests.

A new Olympus kit lens that is less than half the length and weight of the original kit lens but boasts a metal mounting plate and near-silent focusing and zooming.

The Zuiko Digital 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 ED is the standard kit lens which Olympus supply with their lower-tier DSLRs, including the E-420 and E-510. Announced in September 2006 to accompany the launch of the E-400, it shares that camera's defining characteristic, being remarkably compact in size. Indeed it takes advantage of the relatively small size of the Four Thirds sensor to be comfortably the smallest and lightest DSLR zoom lens currently available, great for those users who wish their camera systems to be as portable as possible.

The new Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ is no ordinary kit lens. Despite measuring just 22.5mm in depth and weighing less than 100g, the world's most compact pancake zoom lens still offers a 3x focal range of 28-84mm. But can it really score highly in the image quality stakes? Read our Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ review to find out...

The Olympus M.Zuiko ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ isn't a top-shelf optical performer, but it is impressively compact.