Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150 mm F2.8 PRO Lens, Telephoto Zoom, Suitable for All MFT Cameras (Olympus OM-D & PEN Models, Panasonic G Series), Black

Product Information

The M.ZUIKO Digital ED 40-150mm f/2.8 is designed to meet the expectations of serious Micro Four Thirds users that demand a long zoom and the type of ruggedness you’d expect from a lens that comes with a four-figure price tag. With the focus ring in its normal position, manual focusing works just like it does on any other Micro Four Thirds lens. In MF, S-AF+MF or C-AF+MF mode – as set on the camera – you can simply grab the focus ring and rotate it to focus on your subject. In this position, the focus ring has no stops, hard or soft, at either end of the focus range – which is again typical of an MFT lens.

Offering long reach with an advanced feature-set and optical design, the M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO from Olympus is a versatile 80-300mm equivalent telephoto zoom for Micro Four Thirds mirrorless cameras. As part of the PRO series of advanced lenses, this zoom distinguishes itself with a bright f/2.8 constant maximum aperture for consistent illumination throughout the zoom range to suit working in a variety of lighting conditions. Its optical design makes use of a series of aspherical and low dispersion glass elements to suppress chromatic and spherical aberrations for notable sharpness and clarity, and a ZERO coating is also used to reduce flare and ghosting for high contrast, color-accurate imaging. This lens achieves a compact, lightweight and high performance by taking advantage in this product of the hallmarks of the Micro Four Thirds System standard to achieve a maximum aperture of f2.8 at all zoom focal lengths and cover a telephoto range of 80mm to 300mm (35mm equivalent). To achieve compact, lightweight lens with optical performance exceeding that of the heretofore highly regarded Four Thirds System standard Super High Grade (SHG) lens, the lens employs such glass materials as the Super ED lenses, the ED or HD lens*2 as well as of EDA*3 and other aspherical lenses. The latest design technologies were also incorporated in developing the lens, such as making proactive use of ZERO (Zuiko Extra-low Reflection Optical) Coating to thoroughly eliminate ghosts and flare. As a result, with a maximum aperture at all zoom focal lengths the lens provides the high Olympus image quality that satisfies professional standards. In the comparison with the Lumix lens, I did some basic test shots but I think that images taken in real situations, like the ones you’ll see below, are actually more interesting to share. E-M1, 1/200, f/ 2.8, ISO 1600 – 150mm E-M1, 1/160, f/ 2.8, ISO 1600 E-M1, 1/160, f/ 2.8, ISO 200

Intro

I wish the zoom ring were a little lighter so I could rotate it with my outstretched index finger. It would be cool if the teleconverter were built in, but that’s asking a lot on a lens in this price range. Seriously, that’s all I can think of. Olympus 40-150mm F2.8 Compared If you photograph distant subjects like birds, then the best overall option for Micro Four Thirds owners in my view is the Panasonic Leica DG 100-400mm f4-6.3 OIS with its long 200-800mm equivalent coverage and optical stabilisation; I’ve used it on both Olympus and Panasonic bodies very successfully. There’s also the Olympus 100-400mm to compare. If you think you can work with a fixed focal length long telephoto, then also consider the Panasonic Leica DG 200mm f2.8 OIS or Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 300mm f4IS, both of which offer optical stabilisation

Inside the 40-150mm f2.8 Pro there are 16 elements in 10 groups including ED, Super ED, EDA and HD elements. Essentially these technologies are designed to reduce internal light dispersion (ED stands for Extra-low dispersion, EDA is Extra-low Dispersion Aspheric and HD is High refractive index & Dispersion) and improve image quality and contrast. Function button (L-Fn) mounted on the lens. It makes it possible to adjust functions corresponding to such custom settings on the camera body as “AF stop”. Beyond this, you may find manual aperture rings on some higher-end Panasonic lenses which become redundant on Olympus bodies – you can still adjust the aperture on an Olympus body by using one of the camera control dials, but the aperture ring on the lens is ignored.

Olympus 40-150mm First Look – The Function Button and Hood

Following an initial day of testing at the Cheltenham horse races with Ken McMahon, Gordon sourced a second sample of the lens and tested it for a month in a wide variety of portrait, landscape and action environments. He also retested the lens with the Olympus ODM EM1 updated to firmware 2.2 which claims to deliver superior AF precision with the 40-150mm. Read on to find out if this is the telephoto zoom Micro Four Thirds owners have been waiting for. Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 Pro design and build quality I was particularly interested to see how the Leica DG 50-200mm f2.8-4 compared to the Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 PRO zoom. In terms of sharpness across the frame in my tests, the Olympus visibly out-performed the Leica in the corners between 50 and 100mm at large apertures, while being a tad crisper in the middle too. At 150mm though the Leica pulled ahead a little in the corners, at least until stopped-down, and of course it keeps zooming on to a longer length of 200mm. But if you’re mostly shooting between 50 and 100mm, the Olympus delivered sharper results in my tests, particularly in the corners. It’s the speed of the autofocus, as well as the image quality performance of course, that Olympus users will be most eager to read about.