I was particularly interested to see how the Leica DG 50-200mm f2.8-4 compared to the Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 PRO zoom. In terms of sharpness across the frame in my tests, the Olympus visibly out-performed the Leica in the corners between 50 and 100mm at large apertures, while being a tad crisper in the middle too. At 150mm though the Leica pulled ahead a little in the corners, at least until stopped-down, and of course it keeps zooming on to a longer length of 200mm. But if you’re mostly shooting between 50 and 100mm, the Olympus delivered sharper results in my tests, particularly in the corners. A collapsible circular hood is supplied with this lens, which does an excellent job of shading the lens from extraneous light that may cause issues with loss of contrast or flare. Even without the hood in place, this lens is very resistant to flare and contrast levels are retained well when shooting into the light. With the lens attached to an Olympus E-M5 camera body, focusing is incredibly fast. The subject typically pops into focus within the blink of an eye – very impressive. In good light you will even find the C-AF performance respectable, if not quite on a par with a pro SLR. A word of warning though – if you have face detection AF enabled on the E-M5 and you are not focusing on a human subject, the auto focus system becomes slower, less decisive and sometimes downright confused. So make sure to switch face detection off whenever photographing something other than a person. This may only apply to selected camera models though – it is entirely plausible that this problem won't arise when shooting with an OM-D E-M1, for instance.

So for my trip, I kept the 40-150 on the EM1 and the 100-300 in the EM-5 II and never used the TC. I also had my Oly 12-40 on my Pany GX7. Very happy with the results.

I’ve included this second image really just to show the shallowness of the depth of field with a reasonably close subject and the pleasant bokeh produced by the 40-150mm’s circular aperture diaphragm. This time the AF has nailed it with good sharp detail in the face. 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. Along with the new PRO lens, we have come up with the M.Zuiko Digital 1.4x Teleconverter MC-14, which is the world's first rear teleconverter for the Compact System Cameras. Attaching it between the M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f2.8 PRO and the camera body changes the combination into a compact, high-performance telephoto lens with a focal length of 112mm to 420mm (35mm equivalent). Leaving the closest shooting distance unchanged, the maximum shooting magnification is increased to 0.6x (35mm equivalent). As it specifically designed for the Compact System Camera, this teleconverter also minimizes image degradation.

I'm seeing some artifacts and weirdness in places, but it's a pretty interesting result. It's nice to know it's there, but I'm not going to bank on using this very often at all. I can't stomach the storage requirements for something like this. What I'd like to share with everyone is my experience with the new to me Olympus mZD 40-150mm f2.8 Pro + and MC-20 2x converter coming from owning and loving the Olympus ZD 50-200mm f2.8-3.5 ED (non-SWD) + EC-14. It's going to be a lengthy post / rolling review with a few images and may take a couple of days to add some things that I want to share. What I really want to highlight for others is what living with the 40-150 f2.8 is like with the MC-20 and what to expect. I welcome others with this lens + TC to add to my comments and let me know if that's what they have experienced as well. I'm no expert lens reviewer by any imagination and won't be posting shots of newspaper (though I've done that comparison and my real world shooting has confirmed it).

Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO Sample Photos

Compatible with the OM-D E-M10 and OM-D E-M5, its main appeal will lie with OM-D E-M1 users that have a fully weather sealed body, not forgetting Panasonic Lumix GH4 users who also benefit from a body with many seals to protect inclement weather or dust reaching, or potentially damaging, the internals. By contrast, if you ever expect that you will need 200mm, the PL50-200mm will probably give you better results. Not only is it dramatically more convenient to be able to shoot without swapping teleconverters, but the bare PL50-200mm is much sharper than the 40-150mm/f2.8 when it is used with the MC-14 (68 lp/mm vs 47 lp/mm). Of course the caveat, as with any teleconverter on any format, is a reduced maximum aperture of a given lens. A 2x converter results in a 2-stop reduction, meaning that the 40-150mm f/2.8 becomes an 80-300mm f/5.6, and so on. While not technically a macro lens, the Olympus 40-150mm ƒ/2.8 is rather unique for its close-focusing ability. From the end of the front of the lens, photographers can focus down as close as 20 inches (though considering the length of the lens, the true minimum focus distance to the focal plane is 27.6 inches, or 0.7 meters). This provides a magnification ratio of 0.21x (1:4.8) or 0.42x (1:2.4) in 35mm eq. for some great near-macro shooting capabilities.

The M.Zuiko 40-150mm f2.8 Pro is environmentally sealed with 11 separate seals to keep out dust and moisture making it splash-proof and dust-proof as well as freeze-proof. I used the 40-150mm on the Olympus OMD EM1 – a weather-sealed combination – during steady drizzle without complaint from either. Chromatic aberration is the lens' inability to focus on the sensor or film all colours of visible light at the same point. Severe chromatic aberration gives a noticeable fringing or a halo effect around sharp edges within the picture. It can be cured in software.The only other control is a lens function button to which you can assign one of many functions, such as one-shot white balance, focus peaking, and a focus limiter. However, the functions available depend on your camera, not the lens. The M.ZUIKO Digital ED 40-150mm f/2.8 is a particularly pleasing lens to operate. Everything from its smooth zoom ring to push pull AF/MF ring works well. The zoom ring motion is as smooth at its widest focal length as it is at full telephoto and offers a pleasing fluid motion that I found just a fraction stiffer than AF/MF focus ring. As a result, the Olympus 40-150mm F2.8 Pro is a hugely versatile lens. Paired with Olympus 12-40mm F2.8 Pro, you’ll have a 2-lens kit suitable for almost any kind of photography. That’s close enough. Olympus 40-150mm F2.8 Build and ergonomics.