Ridiculous Range/Constant Aperture. The big selling point here is the zoom. On a Micro 4/3 body, you’re getting the equivalent of a 24-200 in full frame. At just over an 8x range, that’s everything from truly wide to truly tele in a single lens. The f/4 aperture isn’t exactly supersonic in terms of speed but it remains constant across the range, making it a good choice for still shooters and videographers alike.

High-Quality Optics. The 12-100mm optical formula is in line with Olympus’s other PRO-series lenses. This lens’s incredibly complex optical construction consists of seventeen elements in fourteen groups, including one double-sided aspherical element, three standard aspherical elements, five extra-low dispersion elements, and three high-refractive index elements (including two Super HR elements). This glass menagerie works together to control aberrations and make things sharp and clear, all while reducing color fringing. There’s both a ZERO Coating and a Z Coating Nano 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.

Force Level Stabilization. The five-axis Sync Image-Stabilization system helps cut out the jitters when shooting hand-held or at lower shutter speeds. But when paired with an Olympus body, the 12-100 plays a special kind of Jedi Mind Trick. The camera body’s and this lens’s combined image-stabilization systems account for 6.5 stops of shake prevention, which will keep your photos sharper and more focused.

High-Quality Build. The build quality matches the high-grade optics. The dust-, splash-, and freeze-proof design keeps you shooting without fear of poor working conditions. There’s a programmable L-Fn button for customization, a manual focus-clutch function, and a depth-of-field scale built onto the lens itself.