Comparing Pana 12-35mm zoom to some primes

Thanks for the test.

It is very very practical for Oly JPEG shooters because the bad fringing will stay. Also I wonder why f/2.8 on 12-35 looks so much darker - a killer vignetting?

My conclusion, that just for 12 mm 12-35 on Oly is not that much better (faster, lower CA, sharper) than Oly 12-50 to justify the price. 12/2.0 is the whole different game, enabling freezing motion indoors, fantastic handheld landscapes and nightscapes etc.

Obviously 12-35 is a significant improvement over 12-50 at 17-35 mm where 12-50 is simply way too dark. Too bad it is not as versatile (does not go to 50, does not have macro). So value of 12-35 for an Oly user of 12-50 lies primarily in the value of low-light shots between 17 and 35 mm and versatility vs having both 17/1.8 and 25/1.4 instead (which together are still cheaper than 12-35, at MSRP of which you can even add a used Pana 20/1.7 or 14/2.5 and new Sigma 30/2.8).