Customer Reviews

Olympus 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 ED Zuiko Digital Lens for Olympus Digital SLR Cameras

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When my"therapist" at the local camera store told me he could sell me this lens for $100 I thought, "It's Olympus, how bad could it be?" So I bought it and took some time to set up a few test shots against the superb Olympus 14-54. The 40-150 performed beautifully, it's nice and sharp, and nothing I could do produced any fringing. The edges are plenty sharp enough, I just kept muttering WOW.

Focus and zoom seem on a par with the 14-54: smooth and fast.

Being 4.0-5.6 I guess there's not a whole lot of glass in there so the lens is very light. That can be an advantage when you need an all-purpose, compact, walk-around/travel lens. This is fast becoming mine.

One note: it has a plastic mounting flange, but the general build quality is solid. It doesn't come with a fancy case.

I believe it's the best $100 I ever spent on camera equipment!

Okay, it's inexpensive. The ring where it attaches to the camera is plastic. But, are you going to use this as a hammer? It is that very construction that makes this camera a heavyweight in the lightweight class, and at an affordable price.

Years ago, a lens with this magnification ratio would be unheard of (equivalent of 80mm to 300mm). My old Canon lenses with half that range (and no better optical quality) weight four times as much.

Oh, we are so spoiled in this digital world! Yet, I enjoy being spoiled.

You will not find a better lens anywhere for this price. You may not find a better lens anywhere for twice the price of this little gem. Other manufacturers "kit" lenses (the lenses often sold accompanying the camera body as a kit) are virtually throw-aways, something to get you through until you can buy their more expensive lenses. Not this one. Auto focus is good, color and other aberrations minimal.

Although I own and use some very expensive bodies and lenses, this lens is always in my car with my E-520 and the 14-42 lens. If a photo opportunity comes up, I won't be missing those cameras and lenses at home, because this kit will handle the situation with great aplomb.

I bought this lens from another source in late November. My comment is about pricing, not the lens itself. The actual street prices for this Zuiko 40-150mm f4.0, and also the 25mm f2.8 'pancake' (own it), 70-300mm f4 (don't own it), and some others (own 3 other) is good to excellent via Amazon & it's partners, but you should know that the MSRP's stated here have been inflated/overstated to levels they never were, even when first introduced. I am an Olympus die-hard going back to the OM-2 (currently shooting an E-30), so if anything I know my prices!

The MSRP stated on this page, as well as for a number of other Olympus/Zuiko lenses offered on Amazon (by both 3rd-party vendors and also Amazon itself!) seriously overstate the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP). In this case (the 40-150mm f4.0--5.6), the actual MSRP is $279.99, not $349.99 as given here, per Olympus's own website, as well as a number of prominent camera stores websites & paper catalogs (B&H, Adorama, Ritz, 47th St. Photo, etc.). Moreover, these quoted MSRP's have not changed (or varied a penny between different sources) since at least February of 2009, if ever. Let the buyer beware that he or she is therefore not really getting the discount/deal it at first appears, since the true MSRP is 25% lower. I emailed Amazon on 11/22/10 & 12/6/10 and have received only automated replies so far. Decent lens, good price, but not such a steal as it might appear. . .

This is an excellent zoom lens for the price. If you have a 4/3 body, then this is a must. At this price, size, weight, value and quality, you should just buy this lens. It can produce sharp images.

I recently purchased the 40-150mm to keep on my E-620 as the "everyday" lens. I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I am downright glad I bought this lens. It does not only deliver super sharp images with great detail, it is light and really "unobtrusive" -- you can put it in your cargo pocket and you won't even know it's there. And don't be fooled, this may be a "cheap" lens in dollar terms but it delivers one heck of a job! I shoot JPEG with little post-production fiddling. Between this lens and the minor fiddling (auto contrast, sharpen, saturation) my initial batch of both "test" and regular captures came out five-star. Olympus has a reputation for producing highest quality glass for good reason. This little guy, all-plastic construction, just gets down to work and delivers the goods without any complaints. The duo-cam design, i.e. two inner lens tubes, could be a cause for slight worry sometimes, but this 40-150mm stands unfazed: operation is smooth and could even earn the term "silky." The AF speed may not satisfy wartime photographers rushing to capture the firefight, but for our civilian, peacetime purposes this little guy is ready, willing and able. I have discovered no problems with distortion and vignetting. Minor hitch is depth-of-field (not up to scratch). But, overall, this Zuiko earns my 5 stars hands down. The price is more than right and quality is way above some much more expensive glass I use with other camera systems. Do yourself a favor: go get the 40-150mm now -- if you don't own it already!

I got this lens with my E-510 (14-42mm and 40-150mm).

It's my main lens for now. I don't use the 14-42mm much. it's sharp sometimes. 3 to 5 of 10 photos are excellent, the rest just decent or below. slow auto focus in light and sometime not accurate. I use manual focus mostly to get the best results. I used it with the ex-25 and I got very nice macro shots. but for taking pictures of wild life or birds this is not good and for me it's worthless for these kinds of photography. also not good for macro unless you combine it with the ex-25.

In my opinion, it's better to buy the old 40-150mm f/3.5 if you can find it or just jump to 70-300mm if you have money because you almost will stop using it if you have the 70-300mm. at lease the 70-300mm excellent for macro and reaches further.

Highly recomend this for anyone with a olympus. Used it at a football game and got some great action shots even across the field. This was my first SLR so took a little getting used to it but well worth it.

This lens is great and BEST used outdoor. Don't bother using it inside unless you can provide it with enough light. For under $100, this lens does extremely well.

I bought this lens to complement the stock 14-42 that came with my Olympus e420. I actually paid $101 for it at a local camera store, when Amazon was asking $300 for it (now it is down to $128).

Main reason I bought it was to get some reasonable tele-power for my camera, and the price certainly was right.

While it is a very decent lens for objects 2 meters and out, it lacks macro capabilities. I do mostly nature shots, and find myself constantly switching lenses in places where I would hate to see anything drop to the muddy floor.

At 150, power is pretty good for perspective shots, but not nearly strong enough for shooting birds or wildlife. Looks like I'll be purchasing more glass in the near future, something like a pancake 12-600 tele-macro with automatic IR to UV programmable filtering 8^)

Olympus Evolt E420 10MP Digital SLR Camera with 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Lens

These lens are awesome. i did not know what I was missing until I got it and now I don't think I would like to part with it.