Lumix 14-140mm or Olympus 14-150mm

They are both great lenses but one is weather proofed and is great as both my E-M5 II and E-M1 II are as well.

Last Edited : Tuesday July 2nd 2024.

I have always been fascinated by the technology used in creating zoom lenses, especially those with a high zoom ratio. My first ever zoom that I could afford to buy at the time was the Vivitar 70-210mm f3.5 Series One with a Macro Function and constant aperture of f3.5 throughout the zoom range. I actually drove from Burlington, Ontario, my hometown at the time to New York (about 80 miles) to purchase it. It was only available at the time at a "Sears" store in New York and it is one of the rare "Brand New" photographic items I have ever purchased. I originally got it to use on my Canon Pelix and It's been on a few digital cameras through the years.

This lens came with me to the UK after coming back to live here and I only decided to re-sell it a few years ago aand here it is on my also sold on "OM-D E-M10":

And a few images created using the combo above:

Taken at 1/125th of a second, f5.6 at ISO 3200 with the lens at it's shortest focal length of 70mm. As usual it was a miserable, weather wise day on the 13th December 2020.

Taken at 1/250th of a second, f5.6 at ISO 250 with the lens at it's middle focal length of around 105mm. The weather was much better in the middle of April 2021. The lens was a great performer throughout it's focal range but was much better in it's middle range around 85-190mm. Once stopped down to f8 though it became even better

Taken at 1/250th second aft f5.6 with ISO set to 250. The focal length was set to 70mm. The way the lens has managed to reproduce the colours is brilliant, the shot next is a 100 percent crop of this image and for a lens that has been around for over 50 years.

The lens itself though is very awkward to use on an M43 because of it's push/pull zoom and rotating focus, slight movement could mean a blurred, soft, unfocused image and it's heavy to hold for a while.

This is a 100 percent crop of the previous image and when I first saw this I was amazed at the resolving power of the lens. These lenses from the past will become redundant as sensor technology improves, a 100 MP Micro Four Thirds sensor would make everything we used to hold dear a forgotten enjoyment. The diffraction alone would make it unusable. Why do we need so many pixels in the sensors they make?

Now back to the original reason for this post about my two favorite zoom lenses, the Lumix 14-140mm and the Olympus 14-150mm .

The Olympus 14-150mm f4-5.6 which was announced in November 2009, on the left and the Lumix 14-140mm f4-5.8 which came out in spring 2009, on the right.

Taken at a different angle the Lumix lens does look the part but looks aren't everything.

According to my Salter Kitchen scales the Olympus weighs in at 318 grams and the Lumix tips the scales at 496 grams, both with end caps and hood attached. The Lumix does have in lens image stabilization though where the Olympus one relies on the camera having built in image stabilization which I think most of today's Olympus M43 cameras do, even quite a few Panasonic cameras do now including non M43 versions..

The filter threads may only differ by 4mm but the Lumix lens looks much larger and feels like a lens from earlier days.

Top image is the Olympus and the Lumix at the bottom showing their weights with caps and hoods added.

For having a camera and a lens attached I feel more at home with the Lumix zoom on the camera than with the Olympus one. It maybe something that is just a throwback from using all those lenses of the past that were mostly made using steel and not plastic, who knows. It's funny really as the reason for adopting the M43 system was because of the weight issues.

I'm lucky where I live as there is an abundance of places to go and all within walking or cycling distances even my front door gives me tremendous imagery depending on the weather. I always remember as a young child staying with my grandmother during the summer holidays, she lived about 3 miles from where I am living now. I always looked forward to traveling on the train from Manchester to her house every year and then when looking out of the front window wondering when the rain was going to stop, it seems nothing changes much at all.

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