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

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The lens barrel is constructed from a combination of metal and high quality plastics, with a glossy finish and the bayonet is metal with a rubber gasket to prevent the ingress of dust and moisture into the camera body. Despite the robust build and the telephoto range covered this lens only weighs 760g. As far as size and handling are concerned, this lens is a perfect match Micro Four Thirds cameras with a deep grip, such as the Panasonic Lumix G6, but it can feel a little unwieldy on smaller bodies, such as the Olympus OM-D E-M5 used for testing, when used without the optional grip. 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.

The 40-150mm f2.8 has a closest focus distance of 70cm. That’s constant regardless of the focal length so you can get close in at 150mm to produce very shallow depth of field shots. I shot with this lens in the cold and light snow. And then, since I didn’t think the light snow was really up to IP53 standards, I put it under the faucet. The lens continued to function normally, including smooth turns on both rings. I also didn’t detect any debris on the sensor after shooting with this lens. 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. Having said that, I am thrilled with an extremely small, lightweight, fully weather-sealed TC that doesn't significantly negatively impact image quality or AF speed. But for the Olympus 40-150mm ƒ/2.8 Zuiko Pro or the 300mm ƒ/4 Zuiko Pro lens, the MC-14 teleconverter is a an accessory that needs to close the gap just a pinch. However, focusing wasn’t perfect. I had more misses when photographing birds when the camera wanted to focus on a branch closer or further away. A focus limiter switch would have helped immensely. It’s not technically a macro lens, which is where you usually find focus limiter switches, but the range is big enough that such a feature would have helped. I turned on the focus limiter inside the camera menu instead and had much better performance. Having a focus limiter switch on the lens itself would have helped easily activate that mode when needed and turn it off when not.Within the Micro Four Thirds range, the closest rival is Panasonic’s 35-100mm f2.8 which measures 67mm in diameter 100mm in length and weighs 360g, significantly smaller and around half the weight of the Olympus. That difference is all the more remarkable when you consider the Panasonic lens is optically stabilised where the M.Zuiko 40-150mm relies on the built-in stabilisation of Olympus OMD and PEN bodies to iron-out any wobbles. That said, there is of course also a substantial difference in the respective zoom ranges of these two with the Panasonic lens’s ‘classic’ 70-200mm equivalent range starting slightly wider but stopping well short of the 80-300mm equivalent range of the Olympus lens. 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. OM Systems have paid close attention to this aspect of lens use, employing a 7-segment diaphragm with rounded blades for some pleasing bokeh. Traditionally, F4 telephoto, such as the Olympus 40-150mm F4 Pro, present a lightweight alternative to the top-end F2.8 lenses favored by sports photographers. In other words, you get the same premium optics and build quality in a lens that weighs half as much. Hi Richard. The “volume of light” argument has been thoroughly discredited! There is no magic going on whereby having a larger lit area provide “better” pixels — which is a measure of pixel size, not sensor size.

But if you’re photographing portraits or landscapes, speed hardly matters. Therefore, you might as well save some money and carry a lighter more compact lens. Bokeh is a word used for the out-of-focus areas of a photograph, and is usually described in qualitative terms, such as smooth / creamy / harsh etc.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.

As for the “equivalency” goofiness regarding aperture, it is indeed a goofy stretch whereby “Fool Frame Fanatics” manage to convince people that you have to double the ƒ ratio of µ4/3rds lenses.

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.