Olympus M.Zuiko 40 mm-150 mm F/4.0-5.6 ED Lens For Four Thirds (Black)

So, let's say you've just purchased an Olympus E system camera (not the PEN version), and you've been using it for about 4 months with the 14-42 kit lens. Excellent, because it's right at 4 months that you realize the limitations of the lens. That's where this 40-150 lens comes into play. If I could, I would convince Olympus to make this the standard lens in kits, and just increase the price of the cameras (by a little). Overall, this is a great lens.

Build quality - as standard as the 14-42 lens. Durable, but don't drop it. The glass is the same quality, as this is in the "Standard" lens category for Olympus. So, it's great for amateurs and entry-level photogs. Advanced users and professionals should look for a higher grade lens (like the 50-200). There are two tubes on full extension, instead of one for the 14-42.

Ease of use - it's as simple as taking off the 14-42 lens and putting on this one. Larger zoom ring makes it easier to not mistake it for the focus ring.

Score (on scale of 10) - Eight. There's one thing to understand: a longer lens means longer auto-focusing times. Get used to it. That is the trade off. Also, longer lens means more use of a tripod. You can handhold this lens if you have plenty of light and can use a faster shutter speed. However, unless you have steady hands of a surgeon, do not handhold this lens under 1/50 sec. You will be disappointed with the result.

I do highly recommend this for overall use. I have yet to put my 14-42 back on my camera (unless I find an awesome landscape and want a panorama). Portraiture, sports, nature: it meets those needs. If you absolutely must have more zoom, invest a little more into the 70-300, or add an extension tube (not recommended for this long a lens; remember slow auto focusing times.)

Having recently purchased an Olympus E-500 camera body, I wanted to get an Olympus digital lens. I am very glad I did.

The photographs were extremely clear, without apparent distortion. I enlarged the images to 400%, and the details were clear whether in the center or corners of the image.

The auto focus system worked quickly and flawlessly with the camera, in AUTO, SCENE, and SPORT modes. It did not matter whether I was taking a stationary, planned shot or a series of rapid shots to cover a group in motion.

The telephoto function worked flawlessly as well, with the above observations holding true at all settings from 40 to 150 mm.

The performance of this lens, with the E-500 camera, enabled me to concentrate on the subjects of my photographs, rather than the mechanics of setting up any given shot.

While not a professional photographer, I have been using SLR cameras for three decades, and consider myself to be a serious and practiced photographer. I would recommend this lens very highly to anyone moving up from amateur. It is well worth the price, and there are good bargains on eBay. (I got mine unused as a "factory sample" for $100 + shipping).

It should be noted that this lens has a four-thirds mount, and will not be compatible with all Digital SLR cameras. Some of the four-thirds adapters do not allow use of the automatic focus feature of this lens. Please do your research.

It needed an adaptor to fit my Olympus Pen EP 1 camera and they are expensive but still it was a good buy off the Ebay seller and well worth the cost.I only gave it an overall rating off three stars as it works best on manual focus, the auto mode can be frustrating at times with this setup on a micro camera body.

Very, very nice new addition to the micro 4/3rd's line of lenses. This optic is extremely lightweight with virtually 100% plastic construction other than the lens optics and electronic connections. I use it with an E-PL1 and it gives very good results, but being as light as it is you need to take precautions as far as using as fast a shutter speed as possible as there's no extra weight there to help keep it steady as you handhold.

I use the 70-300 and 50-200 SWD Zuikos on my Olympus DSLR's and find it necessary to take a little extra precaution when using this lens at the long end due to the non-existant weight, but it sure is a joy to carry compared to those other large lenses!

I have used this lens for outdoor scenics, indoors with my FL50R flash and at a professional hockey game where the made-for-television NHL lighting and fast focus allows you to use this lens wide open at 150mm at f5.6 and, in my case, at ISO 2000 with very respectable results.

The barrell is a little tightly torqued on taking from the box at first but has loosened slightly after quite a bit of use and now "feels" great in use. Build quality is excellent with obviously tight tollerances, optics are first class and gives results making the price more than worth it in my opinion when you consider how much faster it focuses compared to the DSLR version of this lens.

I am not a movie shooter, but the AF action is both fast and silent so should be quite nice for those wanting to use it for that purpose.

I just recently purchased my first Olympus DSLR camera. It came with a standard 14-42mm lens which was ok for short distance photo taking. I purchased a
40-150mm Zuiko lens to see how much of a difference it would make. First off, this lens is faster to auto-focus than the 14-42mm lens. The zoom is much better than I had expected and photo quality is great. Also note that the 40-150mm is slightly (very slightly) bigger than the 14-42mm lens that came with my E-420. Its hard to beleive that you get such a great zoom with such a small lens. The camera stays well balanced in hand and with full zoom the lens is only extended to around 8 or so inches. If you are looking for a good zoom with high quality photo in a compact size for your Olympus camera, look no further! With a 2x mulitplier you can get 80-300 out of this lens and photo quality is excelent.