Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150 mm F4-5.6 Lens, Telephoto Zoom, Suitable for All MFT Cameras (Olympus OM-D & PEN Models, Panasonic G Series), Black

Product Information

Every so often we’ll encounter an optic which makes us gasp. We all have our favourite lenses and that will vary depending on our system and the things we shoot. Each lens will have its own character and that’s usually demonstrated by its handling of contrast, colour, the quality of out of focus areas, and of course sharpness. In fact sharpness is the one attribute which gets flogged to death in lens discussions and I will say that as a portrait photographer sharpness is not always top of my list. But in nature and sport photography sharpness is crucial – in this line of work we do need to show as much detail as possible in our subject and kit lenses won’t always cut the mustard. Since Olympus digital SLR cameras employ the four-thirds imaging sensor, any lens attached to the body will have an effective focal length (in 35mm terms) of double the listed length. Thus, for this particular lens, it will exhibit an effective focal length of 80-300mm. The lens takes 58mm filters, and comes with a cone-style lens hood. When shooting birds, the less magnification you bring to the game, the more you will crop. The image below is the 40-150 f2.8 with 1.4x at full power. In the original shot the picture is 5184x3888, the crop is less than 1600x1200, just a small piece of the original frame (1/3200 of a second at f5.6 ISO 800 March 10).

If you shoot a lot of fast action in varying amounts of light, the twice-as-bright 40-150mm F2.8 Pro is more likely to get the shot while keeping those image-degrading ISO’s low. I’ve included this second image really just to show the shallowness of the depth of field with a reasonably close subject and the pleasant bokeh produced by the 40-150mm’s circular aperture diaphragm. This time the AF has nailed it with good sharp detail in the face. The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/2.8 PROis an excellent addition to the Micro four Thirds line up and delivers excellent performance. The 40-150mm F4 is manufactured in Vietnam. This lens does not support the use of Olympus MC-14 or MC-20 teleconverters. Ease of Use The 75-300mm was announced with the original PEN (E-P1), and while we haven't yet tested it, it definitely makes an interesting alternative if you're looking for a telephoto option for your micro-four-thirds body.

Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 Pro Image quality

The M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm F4.0 Pro lens is very well built, fully living up to the PRO designation that Olympus have given it. In terms of features, the M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm F4.0 Pro is simpler than some of the the bigger, faster Olympus Pro lenses. The lens gives excellent results in terms of sharpness, bokeh and versatility. It is certainly the biggest lens for MFT but don’t be fooled by its appearance. It is actually not that big for what it delivers. have found for increasing my telephoto lenses focal length. If anyone has a better system that will autofocus fast, I

The OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm F4.0 Pro is capable of producing quite nice sunstars when stopped-down to f/22, as shown below, although the lens is susceptible to flare when shooting directly into the sun, even with the supplied lens hood fitted.With the lens set to its maximum aperture, you can see some pretty heavy light fall-off in the corners at most focal lengths, especially at 150mm (see the macro sample below for an example). How noticeable this will be in your real-life photographs will depend on the subject too, of course.

The OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm F4.0 Pro is not really a macro lens, but it does offer a usefully close focus point of 70cm / 27.55in from the sensor plane and a maximum magnification of 0.21x. BokehA handy little lens with surprisingly good optics. It is fully suitable for critical use at all its focal lengths. There is some reduction in contrast at 150mm. I don't particularly care about the plastic mount, but the construction feels nasty and the zoom doesn't turn smoothly. Olympus PEN-F + Olympus M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 R (45mm, 1/125 sec, f/4.1, ISO200) (Image credit: James Artaius) Olympus M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 R: Key features And it appears to do just that. For instance, the Olympus 40-150 F4 Pro has many of the same pro-grade features found on the Olympus ED 40-150mm F2.8 Pro. Yet, the OM System 40-150mm F4 weighs just 382 grams and costs half as much. So is this the lens for you? Let’s find out. Jump to Conclusion

The Olympus 40-150 mm f/4-5.6 ED M.Zuiko Digital performs reasonably well on autofocus. It is not the fastest Micro Four Thirds lens, but due to the low weight of the moving parts, it is still fairly smooth and rivals some larger, heavier full-frame lenses with this range. And what might be even more important is that the autofocus – thanks to the focus on the sensor – is very accurate with good repeatability. Olympus has produced a 40-150mm zoom lens for some time, but not in the M.Zuiko mount; introduced near the end of 2010, the Olympus 40-150mm ƒ/4-5.6 M.Zuiko makes an excellent companion to the 14-42mm kit lens.Splashproof type: IEC Standard publication 60529 IP53 (applies when the lens is used with OM System (Olympus) splash proof body). Dustproof construction If there's a price to be paid for the excellent sharpness results we've just seen, it might be in below-average performance in handling chromatic aberration. The lens appears to be optimized for use in the telephoto spectrum (>70mm): from 40mm to 70mm, chromatic aberration is evident at all apertures. Further than 70mm however, chromatic aberration becomes less of an issue (the lens grouping focusing on the more central portions of the glass). Interesting review. I've heard reports that this lens is as sharp as the best primes etc. In fact it is a good example of an MFT lens and decent value for money but doesn't break any new performance ground, rather makes the necessary compromises intelligently. OM Systems, formerly Olympus, has released a new lens, the Olympus 40-150 F4 Pro. Also known as the OM System 40-150 mm F4.0 Pro, this lens combines premium optics and portability. It’s fair to say this has been a highly anticipated lens, seamlessly continuing where the 12-40mm stops, and delivering an 80-300mm equivalent range that’s desired by close-range action as well as street and portrait shooters. Now with two lenses, Olympus can take you from an equivalent of 24mm all the way to 300mm with a constant f2.8 focal ratio throughout, and while the 40-150mm is obviously one of the larger lenses in the catalogue, it remains compact for a lens for its class. As well as superior optics and performance, the Pro tag denotes high quality construction with an all metal body that is dust, splash and freeze-proof. The lens also comes with a removable lens collar for tripod mounting, as well as a collapsible lens hood.