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[3 of 3 customers found this review helpful]
from Clinton, MS. on 2/5/2007
Comments about Olympus Olympus Zuiko 40mm - 150mm f/3.5-4.5 EZ Digital Zoom Lens for the E Digital SLR System.:
I have used the lens for portraitures, landscapes, action in all ranges of the zoom. The photos have been sharp.
[9 of 9 customers found this review helpful]
from Berkeley, CA on 10/8/2006
Comments about Olympus Olympus Zuiko 40mm - 150mm f/3.5-4.5 EZ Digital Zoom Lens for the E Digital SLR System.:
Got this in the kit with the E-500, one of the best value kits around, because...
This lens is great! Of course it's not perfect, with some green CA in areas that are *slightly* out of focus, and not tack sharp wide open (though still very usable), but what do you expect from a lens in this price range? The truth is, despite its small deficiencies, it performs great and produces wonderfully clear and bright images.
Stopped down even a little, sharpness goes up. Bokeh is silky smooth and looks superb. Close-up performance is great with good out-of-focus from the long focal length. Portraits are beautiful from this lens, you can use anywhere in its range and get close enough/far enough to get the scene/background you need. For sports and other action, it's great in good light and decent in low-light if you bump the ISO (not pleasant as we Oly users know, but still manageable). A couple more stops would be useful, but you can get that with the 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 or 150mm f/2 if you absolutely need it. For the money, this lens can't be beat, it's on my camera for nearly 2/3 of the time during football games and on the street. The 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 is an excellent companion for the wide end, and the [E-500 or E-300] kit with both is an outstanding value. I can't recommend it more.
For those comparing, this is much better all around than the Sigma 55-200. Get this instead. If you need the 200mm reach, save up and get the 50-200, the Sigma's unusable past 150mm anyway.
Also, I believe this lens is going to be replaced with a smaller version, a 40-150 f/4-5.6. No one yet knows if this is better or worse (other than the clear aperture disadvantage), but it has one ED element and a spherical aperture diaphragm that should help it. We'll see.