Why One Superzoom Might Be All You Need on a Long Hike

The OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS PRO covers the same range as a 24-200mm zoom on full frame, so it raises an obvious question if you hike long distances with a camera: can one lens stand in for the three you usually carry? A single weather-sealed zoom saves weight and spares you lens changes in wind and spray, but landscape work also asks for real wide angle coverage, close foreground focus, and sharpness from corner to corner.

Ian Worth took the 12-100mm f/4 IS PRO out on a stretch of the West Wales coast without having shot a single frame with it beforehand. His scene had sea stacks in deep red rock streaked with lichen, set against dark blue water, with gorse and dying bracken framing the bottom corner. The gorse sat so close to the lens that he planned a three-shot focus stack, then added a fourth exposure for a bright sky. Dropping a new lens straight into a scene that demanding tells you more than a walk around town would. You see how it handles near-far compositions and soft, shifting light on the first try, and those are the conditions that make or break a hiking lens.

The lens supports Sync IS, which lets the lens' stabilization and the camera's in-body stabilization work together for more correction than either manages alone. Worth sees it as a pro-level superzoom, with a function button, an IS switch, and full weather-sealing. Its appeal for him comes down to one thing: on a long hike, it can cover nearly everything, so the bag stays light. He also makes a case against the old line that gear doesn't matter. His view is simple. Price and brand don't make better photographs, but equipment that suits your environment and your way of working makes time outside more enjoyable, and that enjoyment is a big part of why he shoots at all.

On Micro Four Thirds, the 2x crop works in your favor for landscapes. At f/4, you get roughly the depth of field that f/8 gives on full frame at the same framing, so many scenes come out sharp front to back without stacking. A plant a short distance from the lens still breaks that rule, which is why stacking stays in the toolkit. OM System bodies such as the OM System OM-1 Mark II can capture and merge a focus stack in camera with compatible M.Zuiko lenses, which helps on a windy cliff where you'd rather not wait until you're home to learn if the frames line up. Lightweight systems have also become a deliberate choice among hikers who cover serious distance, and the conversation has moved away from sensor size alone toward what you can carry for 15 miles and still enjoy using. A long zoom with strong stabilization fits that thinking. It lets you handhold in fading light when you'd otherwise stop to set up the tripod.

As the sun started breaking through the cloud, Worth moved to the second lens he picked up, the OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 8-25mm f/4 PRO. He hadn't owned a real wide angle lens since switching to OM System, so it fills a gap in his kit. He tried to use lines in the rocks to pull the eye toward the light while balancing a strong diagonal on the right with the cloud shapes. Flare crept across the foreground and washed it out, so he shot one frame with a finger blocking the sun and another without, then blended the two with layers in Photoshop. With both new lenses in hand, he now has two setups. For the coast, he can pair the 8-25mm with the OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 50-200mm f/2.8 IS PRO. For the hills, the 12-100mm goes out alone.

Judge for yourself whether the red rocks and the sky work together in Worth's first frame with the 8-25mm, which he shows in the video.