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

As a primes-only photographer this was my first zoom lens purchase in years. The last zoom I bought was the Panny 100-300 when I first bought my OM-D EM5 Mark 1 some years ago and I sold it soon afterwards. Back then I was only shooting pictures but now I'm shooting video almost exclusively. I'd done some reading up on zooms for video because I found I was missing out on video opportunities whilst shooting with my wide-angle primes. I realised I needed something to swap over to quickly capture a passing moment in the distance, something that my primes couldn't reach. Living and recording footage on a boat meant I needed a zoom with a good reach and was quiet too. I didn't want to spend too much on my first zoom for video as I'm still uncertain it's the way forward for most of my stuff. I'll continue to shoot with primes in the main, but I've just done some test clips on this lens and I'm impressed. I mean, really impressed. I still can't get over how Olympus can pack in such quality in a lens this cheap. OK, it's all plastic, it doesn't have that pro lens feel, but with the EM5's in-body IS the balance is good. I can zoom in to the 150mm end (300mm equivalent) and get away with handheld footage. The IQ at the 300 end is good enough for me, and I'm quite discerning. For this price it's almost not worth talking about the negatives of the lens but for the sake of this review I'll just comment that the focus ring requires quite a turn if you're focusing manually, which I tend to do with video (if you're on AF, it's quick). It's not a parfocal zoom either so you have to readjust the focus once you've zoomed in, unless you're using C-AF, in which case the auto re-focus's speed is acceptable. Although I would recommend this for video I'd be inclined to recommend this for budget-conscious photographers too. Whilst this might not be up to a Canon L lens, for the price it is incredible. As a fussy photographer who likes to pixel-peep on occasion, I'm impressed. I can't see myself spending all those extra hundreds of notes to go up to a pro zoom any time soon. As someone who used to own a full-frame Canon 5Dii and a load of L lenses, that's saying something.

I already own the highest quality Olympus lenses, including the more expensive counterpart to this lens (the 40-150mm F2.8 Pro) I bought this for a friend who has caught the photography bug hard and has an Olympus EM10 mk II Initial impressions was that someone had forgotten to put the glass in the lens, it is so light that it feels like a cardboard cutout of a lens. I had already started to make excuses to my friend that it was good for learning, until she could afford something better, but at least it's lightweight etc etc. Then I saw the pictures she took with it. Amazed. I would say that there is about 85% of the sharpness of my much more expensive lenses, but still plenty sharp. Colours are great. Did I mention it's small and light !! For the money paid, this is absolutely tremendous. If you are on a budget, and in the market for this range lens, don't hesitate, just buy it.

Like another reviewer here, I was lucky enough to pick this lens up new for £119 (October 2013). Presumably a dealer offloading split kits. To call it a bargain is an understatement. This little lens - and it's in 35mm terms an 80-300mm lens, we should keep that in mind - is a cracker. More than anything, it's the lenses that make MicroFourThirds the success it is. There are the obvious "must-haves" like the Olympus 12mm f2 and 45mm f1.8, the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 and 14-45mm, but you can virtually add this little baby to that list because it's cheap and light and - oh boy! - it punches way above its weight. I checked it out on the EM5 and G5. Wide open it's a tad soft, no surprise there, but take it down a stop or two and you will get crisp useable 20" x 16" pictures. I even shot f16 @ 1/125 hand-held at max. 150mm, with excellent result (though I'd suggest f8 most of the time). Mechanically, it performs well, decently smooth with no "stiction". Manual focus is possible but at full extension I'd suggest leave it to the AF. I long since ditched my bulky, heavy SLR cameras and lenses and don't regret it. So this lens is largely plastic - so what? Unless you plan to take it to a war zone, you'll get years of service from it. Buy this lens and buy into MFT, you will be getting the best tech available today and unlike that hefty SLR you'll always want to have the camera with you. Great lens.

I was very close to giving this lens five stars as it is very good quality for money. Still, when it comes to photography equipment, I would like to reserve the fifth star for things that are both good value as well as outstanding in quality. I have been very disappointed with telezooms ever since I got my first micro four thirds camera. Unlike the Canon 70-200 I used before that peaked at full extension, the Panasonic ones all started getting so fuzzy at the long end the last 50mm of range or so might as well have been digital zoom as opposed to optical. This kept annoying me so much I didn't keep any of them. Eventually, I went for this one that, unlike the Panasonic 45-200mm, for instance, didn't seem to overextend its range at the cost of image quality as much, as well as being light and cheap. Image quality isn't excellent at full extension, nor would I expect it to be, but it is usable. The lens is very light and therefore easy to bring along when your main shooting is done with a standard zoom or prime - as is often the case for me. I know this varies from lens to lens, even from copy to copy sometimes, so I can't generalise too much, but from my experience with it, it does seem to be optimised for infinity rather than close range, which I think is good for a long-reach telezoom as most of my photography done with it would be at mid-to long range and not at the close-focus limit. I ended up selling my M43 kit in the end, including this one, for reasons I won't go into here, but for the last year or so, this was my go-to telezoom, and I think it did a decent job of it. In fact, I think if you want something significantly better, you really have to go with the pro f/2.8 lenses. They cost several times a much, are bigger and heavier, but of course outstanding in image quality. If all you want is a bit longer range at a very affordable price, I don't think you can go wrong with this lens.

This lens performs well and is a truly excellent buy especially at this Amazon price. The black version does looks less plasticky so that is the one I went for though that is not really an issue. With Olympus cameras there is a built in 2x converter which digitally zooms and does give very good results equivalent to a maximum 600mm equivalent focal length. I have a Fuji aps-c camera but for a longer focal length zoom this Olympus lens does give a very light affordable option so I have kept with m43 for the longer reach coupled with the 30mm macro which is also tremendous value for money.

Having used big heavy tele-zooms with my old 35mm OM system in the 80's when you had to keep shutter speeds high when hand-held to avoid camera shake, I'm amazed how good image stabilization is on today's camera/lens combinations. Attached to my PEN E-PL8, the excellent and fast autofocus and stabilization makes it easy to get excellent, sharp images. And with the advantage of compactness that M43 allows, this lens is so small and light compared to my old 35mm zooms. Thoroughly recommended and an excellent value addition to any Olympus M43 camera with kit lens.

i bought this lens after reading the reviews . i was looking for a carry about easy too use lens , a every day go too , and been on a tight budget i settled on this one . wow what a great buy this is , easy to use a great price . i just started taking photography up as a hobby and im very impressed with this lens . im hoping the photos ive uploaded show the quality and the sharpness . im using the olympus o m d 10 mark 1V .

I was disappointed with this lens which is very large on the Pen Camera. It's size makes it very difficult to use as the only way to know what you have in frame is through the camera view screen. The size of the lens makes the camera difficult to hold etc. Optically the lens seems fine and delivers good quality photographs, occasionally with some flare. All in all a useful lens but good have been so much better.