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. When fitted to the OMD EM1, the camera and lens combination is beautifully balanced. It feels just right, not just when carrying it around but when you raise the camera to your eye and shift your left hand from the tripod mount to the zoom ring. This tends to give this outstanding lens a reputation for “busy bokeh,” and I understand that sentiment.

Disconnecting the USB cord during the update is a main reason the firmware can fail, which results in the need to send in the lens or camera for repair. So patience is key! The 1.4 teleconverter will convert the lens to 56-210 mm or 112-420 mm. Hope you are able to correct this.You want a sharp zoom lens? You got it. The Olympus 40-150mm lens is not only stunningly sharp by zoom lens standards, but also sharp by prime lens standards. And this is wide open at ƒ/2.8 at practically every other focal length. So while the 40-150 lens is very sharp wide open at all focal lengths, our graphs indicate an extremely subtle drop in sharpness at 150mm ƒ/2.8. It's so minimal, though, that it will most likely not impact real-world shooting at all. The lens hood, which can make the lens look bigger than it actually is, has a smart mechanism–it retracts without the need to unmount and reverse it like on other lenses. All you need to do is slightly turn the dedicated ring on the hood and retract it. While it is a very sensible mechanism, when you take it out of your bag you might find the hood has extended of its own accord. 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. The OM System 40-150mm f4 Pro is capable of focusing as close as 27 inches from the front of the lens. At 150mm, that’s about a .41x macro on a 35mm equivalent. It gets in pretty close for atelephoto lens. The lens weights about 760g without the tripod mount, which is heavier than the E-M1 or any other MFT camera. I decided to use it with the E-M1 without the HLD-7 battery grip, not only to keep the combo as small as possible but also to see how the extra weight and size would affect the usability of a system known to be more compact than this. After carrying it around every day for my daily work for two weeks, I can say that in the end that the weight and size don’t make a huge difference, as the lens still fits nicely inside my primary camera bag, the Lowerpro Event Messenger 150. Yes, the lens is big but still compact enough for the zoom range it covers.

The lens gives excellent results in terms of sharpness, bokeh and versatility. It is certainly the biggest lens for MFT but don’t be fooled by its appearance. It is actually not that big for what it delivers. Inside the 40-150mm f2.8 Pro there are 16 elements in 10 groups including ED, Super ED, EDA and HD elements. Essentially these technologies are designed to reduce internal light dispersion (ED stands for Extra-low dispersion, EDA is Extra-low Dispersion Aspheric and HD is High refractive index & Dispersion) and improve image quality and contrast. The 40-150mm f2.8 Pro is the first Olympus lens to feature dual VCM auto focus. The idea is that AF performance can be improved by separating the focusing mechanism into two lens groups controlled by individual linear drive voice coil motors. This and the absence of gears, claims Olympus, makes the focussing performance lightning fast and very smooth. Storm clouds and drizzle early in the day looked like the perfect conditions for putting the lens’s weather sealing to the test, but the sun broke through in true British fashion so we’ll just have to wait until our final review sample arrives (hopefully in the next few weeks) before we can subject it to a soaking and see how it performs in this respect.The focusing was swift and quiet, the optical stabilisation achieved up to six stops in my tests, and like all of Panasonic and Leica’s collaborations, the build quality is excellent with smooth mechanics and a weather-sealed body; and once again, that relatively compact barrel means it’ll squeeze into bags or pouches that other telephotos may struggle with. The all-metal construction of the lens oozes strength and rigidity, as you’d expect. Just like the M.ZUIKO Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8, it’s a lens that compliments the build quality of the E-M1 and manages to feel at one with the camera. 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.

When playing the usual "equivalence" game again, the specs translates to a "80-300mm f/5.6" full format lens. Some readers may shout out in agony that a f/2.8 lens remains an f/2.8 lens. That's true, of course, but in terms of depth-of-field - thus the creative potential - the 2x crop factor has to be applied as well (roughly). In this framework, the lens compares to something like a Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 USM L IS. The Olympus lens is more light-weight and compact just as promised by the MFT marketeers but about as expensive despite the smaller image circle. Mirrorless doesn't mean more affordable once more unfortunately. For depth of field, yes, but for light (T Stop), it’s the same as a 2.8 on full frame. Smaller aperture diameter? Yes. But, also a smaller sensor to light. The T stop is photons per second, per square millimeter.The great build becomes especially noticeable when you start using the lens. First of all, the zoom and focus rings are both large, very smooth to turn and very precise to use. They are optimally placed on the lens body so that you can naturally reach one or the other with your hand. The focus ring is also great to use for manual focusing. Thanks to its clutch mechanism, you can instantaneously switch from auto to manual focus (like the 12-40mm f/2,8 and 12mm f/2). This features is very useful for shooting video. With stills, you might not find yourself using manual focus a lot because it can become difficult at the longest focal length, unless you are in an extreme low-light situation or using the lens in macro mode at its shortest focus distance. With video, while the AF works well on both Lumix and Olympus cameras, there are more situations where you might prefer to focus precisely with your hand, and to this end, the focus ring is very pleasant to use. Although not the first M.ZUIKO Pro series lens to feature a dust, splash and freezeproof construction (this goes to the M.ZUIKO Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8), it’s the first telephoto lens in the range that’s been made to withstand the severity of professional use. The focusing system relies on a dual linear voice coil motor design (VCM) to deliver a quiet and fast performance, and with a minimum focus distance of 70cm and an inner zoom mechanism that allows it to be no longer than 160mm, it looks set to be one of the most impressive Micro Four Thirds lenses going, or at least it does on paper. Olympus 40-150mm First Look – The Function Button and Hood