M.Zuiko ED 14-150mm f4.0-5.6 (Black)

The long range is handy because it avoids frequent lens changing; however it is a huge compromise.

The lens tries to cover to long a focal range and that builds in compromise. At 300mm this lens is NOT that sharp. I used it last week to shoot hummingbirds and the lens was not a sharp as my friend's who was just two feet away.

Chromatic Aberration can be a problem. If bright light is coming through trees, I see a thousand little flares of blue yellow light. A simple algorithm would correct that if Olympus built it into the camera, but Olympus does not. Panasonic does on their micro 4/3rds, so I wish Olympus would too.

I'd rather have a prime 300 mm (600mm in full frame terms.) for wildlife shooting. I don't think Olympus makes that for the OMD-EM5 but I will have to research that.

The M.14-150mm is the M4/3 equivalent of the 28-300mm in 35mm format lens. It is the kind of flexibility you are looking for a one zoom package when you are travelling especially in outdoor country.

The M.14-150mm is a compromised design using low maximum aperture. My best results have been obtained at its widest setting (re : 14mm) in daylight. I have never experimented vignetting results even when using the lens hood. It may be have been auto-corrected by the camera post-treatment software as many modern cameras do now.

The handling is good since the lens is light and have a moderate size. The so-call « plastic » (polymer) construction is well made considering the price-point of the lens.

Color rendition when using it with the EP-3 was respectful of the real scenery.

Since the low maximum aperture of the M.14-150mm, I agree with other reviewers to use the electronic viewfinder (VF-2/3) with the PEN series to get a better stabilized combination.

I recommend the M.14-150mm for a one-zoom option in particular for outdoor traveler in open space.

I like the range and use it for most of my photographs. The only two lenses I carry most of the time are this and a 75-300 although I do occasionally use a 500mm lens for extreme distance.It is just too convenient to do without.

This adds a bit of bulk to the Pen, especially the smaller ones, but the range and functionality are great. Combine this with one of the f2.8 or faster primes and you have a solid day / night combo that won't weigh you down and will preform very well. I have 12,000 photos to prove it.

I gave the lens a real workout in a dusty, smoking outdoor environment - a Civil War re-enactment. Photo subjects were from 30 to 500 feet away. Olympus Pen E-P3 body and VF-2 View Finder. No hood used but did attach a Quantaray DMC-1A filter. Shot 300 + photos in one afternoon's time. No vignetting noted. I did not shoot directly into the sun, but did shoot at such an angle where I fully expected flare. No flare noted. Depth of field was exceptional.

Sorting through the photos, I found no throw a ways due to poor focus, movement blurs, or flare. I did have some throwaways due to composition and a few because of exceptionally high contrast between subject and background.

I contrast this lens review with similar Canon, Vivitar, and Nikon lenses, I've owned. Some in the 35mm film format; others in 35mm digital lenses.



It works for me.

On the PL-2, the pop up flash leaves a large shadow when at the wide end, therefore not an all around lens ....

This is an excellent all around lens and you can get spectacular results, but it takes some practice to learn the quirks and get around them.

When you use this lens, your camera *has* to be in A (Aperture Priority) mode for the best results. From 14mm to around 35mm, you should stop it down one stop to get sharp results (F/5.6). From around 35mm to around 80mm, you can soot wide open, but then from 80mm to around 130m you have to stop down to f/8. At the longest end, you will get the best results at f/9 to f/10.

Of course if there's not enough light you can shoot at larger apertures, but the results won't be really sharp.

Know these limits and try to adapt yourself to them, and this lens performs excellently. If you ignore these and shoot in iAuto or P mode, then you might get disappointed with the sharpness and CA (Chromatic Aberrations).

Also this lens is very susceptible to flare, but then again many other lenses are like that too. For the best results you absolutely have to use a lens hood. The Olympus LH-61C lens hood that is made for the classic 4/3rds 14-42mm lens fits on the Olympus 14-150mm micro 4/3rds lens, as well as other third party lenses (Like LH-J61C from JJC), and they do the job.

I travelled to europe last year with only this lens (and a prime for night shots), and knowing its limits it performed very well.

I have had this lens for a few months, and find I like it more the longer I use it. Without the VF 2 I was getting some fuzzy shots at the long end, due to holding it at arms length with such magnification (equal to a 300mm on 35mm). When I use it with the VF 2 my images are sharp throughout the range. Yes, I see a little darkness in the corners sometimes, but has not been a significant problem or concern. I really like the weight, size, overall image quality and the great colors I get from this lens. It focuses substantially faster than the kit lenses, making getting pictures of the kids much more hit than miss. On that note, even the slowest AF out there is generally much faster than manual focus, something we tend to forget.

This lens is not the sharpest, particularly at the long end. However, it's biggest flaw is that the projected image circle doesn't cover the entire sensor at 14mm, leaving your raw files with black corners. When the image is corrected for barrel distortion, the corners are pushed out and the occlusion is no longer visible. If you don't want to correct the distortion then you will have to crop the image to remove the defect.

On the plus side the lens is very small and light, so it can go along when larger alternatives are not practical.

Great all-in-one travel lens that makes the PEN a little larger, but a far better travel companion than a full DSLR.