This was my first telephoto lens, and I wasn't too sure about what to expect. The first thing that struck me was how small it is. At it's shortest length, it is only about the thickness of the lens cap longer than the kit 14-42 lens when it's extended. It is also the same size in diameter. I also have the panasonic leica 25mm lens and the leica lens is fatter, and with the hood attatched, it is longer as well. This lens is very lightweight, by feel the same as the kit lens, but does not feel cheap like the kit lens does. My kit lens has spots where it will creak if you squeeze it a certian way on the zoom ring, and the focus ring has a slight gritty feel to it. This zoom lens has none of those issues. The focus ring is nicely damped, and smooth. The zoom ring is the same. I was suprised at how much larger the lens gets when zoomed in; I would say it roughly doubles in length to extend about 5 & 3/4 inches from the camera body. In this state, with the lens fully extended, is the only time it looks a little cheap to me, I guess because of the smooth plastic body that is revealed.
Now on to how the lens works. This is where I was truly impressed. I am using the lens on a cheap e-pl1 body, with image stabalization turned on. The lens is fast to focus, and is not noisy at all. I used it on a trip to the zoo, and was impressed with how many good pics I got with it. It is very sharp, even zoomed all the way in, and was'nt hard to use at all. All my pics were handheld, and more often than not were tac sharp. I even got a couple of shots of a helicopter passing buy that shocked me. I could see reflections of something on the back of the heli. I also liked how you could focus right through a cage, making it dissapear in most cases (probably can do that with any telephoto lens, but I'm new to them so was happy to learn that). Of course, lighting was good, and this lens won't compete with a faster one indoors, but used where it's designed to be used it is amazing. I did not notice any distortion or any other problems. If you zoom in on a close subject, you can blur the background very well for that 3D effect.
Since I mentioned the Panasonic-Leica 25mm, I will give my thoughts on the two compared. In good light outdoors, the pictures can be very hard to tell apart. The Leica has the advantage for things that are close, because of the fov, but on my old body, the Olympus M.Zuiko 40-150mm focuses faster, and is much quieter than the 25mm panasonic, which makes lots of clicking noises. Of course, the telephoto lens is better for getting close to a distant subject. Outdoors, I prefer the olympus lens. Indoors, there is no contest, the 25mm is awesome in low light. Finally, there is the price difference. I probably paid too much for the olympus, but you can find it now for around two hundred, and at that price I think it is a steal. Now the panasonic is three times that price, but you do get a lens hood and carrying bag for it, and it's low light capabality. It does seem to be a much higher quality lens. If my shots were primairly outdoors, I would take the olympus over the panasonic for sure, but if you take pics indoors and don't want to use flash, then you should spend the extra for a fast lens made for it. I think they both are keepers, but the olympus is to me the better value.
Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/4-5.6 R Lens for Micro Four Thirds, Silver
4.6 | 1,973 ratings
Price: 129.99
Last update: 07-14-2024
About this item
3.75x zoom lens
Macro focus range: 0.90 meter, focal length: 40 to 150 millimeter
Lightweight, portable design, 80 to 300 millimeter equivalent field of view
Nearly silent movie and still compatible auto focus, perfect choice for second lens
Great for portraits and sports
Macro focus range: 0.90 meter, focal length: 40 to 150 millimeter
Lightweight, portable design, 80 to 300 millimeter equivalent field of view
Nearly silent movie and still compatible auto focus, perfect choice for second lens
Great for portraits and sports
Product information
| Product Dimensions | 3.27 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches |
|---|---|
| Item Weight | 6.7 ounces |
| ASIN | B005KJH8WO |
| Item model number | V315030SU000 |
| Customer Reviews |
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars
1,965 ratings
4.6 out of 5 stars |
| Best Sellers Rank | #14 in SLR Camera Lenses |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Date First Available | September 1, 2011 |
| Manufacturer | Olympus |
| Country of Origin | China |
Top reviews from the United States
WRC
Very nice lens for your micro four thirds camera
Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2012Nova
Great results in a little package: does surprisingly well with digital teleconverter
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2024
Nova
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2024
Images in this review
Digistyle
My first zoom lens
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2023
Digistyle
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2023
The camera's stabilization worked well, as the lens itself isn't stabilized. I was able to shoot hand-held for photos and video.
The lens itself is fairly light and didn't add much weight to my camera bag or neck strap.
A great lens for the price. I recommend it.
Images in this review
beikokunotora
Good travel zoom - liking it better the more I use it.
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2015
beikokunotora
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2015
Pros: Relatively inexpensive ($99), smooth focus and zoom controls. Fast focus on bright scenes. Good contrast and color rendition. Sharp enough for many applications with reasonable bokeh at low F. The more I use it the more I am happily surprised with the images. Overall I think the optics are first rate for a lens in this price range. Lightweight.
Cons: Most of these are expected - slow or no focus in low contrast/dark shots. While < 80mm gave rapid focus (< 0.25 sec) focus was slow and often got confused at max focal lengths. The entire assembly is plastic - at the very least I would have expected the MFT mount that mates with the camera to be metal. This was probably the most disappointing feature for me as I question how many times the lens can be mounted /dismounted before something breaks. Finally, why is the filter ring 58mm (e.g. expensive) while the front optic is only 34mm?
Other things to be aware of: At 150mm the lens physically extends out to about twice the length of the 40mm setting, so with the lens hood on this lens is huge (I am used to small primes) - it is light but your camera will not be "compact" with this lens on it.
Comments for future improvements: I hope Oly is listening :). This would be an extremely good lens as a straight F4 (maybe 40-120mm F4).
Would be REALLY REALLY nice if it were in a metal body - or at the very least, a metal baseplate/mount (weather sealed would be even better). Finally if the filter ring could be made smaller it would keep costs low. Perhaps an RII for a little more $ will include these improvements?
All photos below shot with lens in mostly in full zoom (150mm) on Oly EPL7 body. Note transformer shot is a 2x crop of an image to show detail of lens from center to edge.
Images in this review
