Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-150mm f/4-5.6 Lens Review

Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-150mm f/4-5.6 Performance

At 14mm, sharpness in the centre of the frame is already outstanding at maximum aperture. Peak sharpness across the frame is achieved between f/5.6 and f/8 for this focal length where clarity is excellent towards the edges of the frame, while it remains outstanding in the centre.

With the zoom set to 45mm, sharpness levels are still outstanding in the centre of the frame at maximum aperture and the lens performs excellently towards the edges of the frame. Peak sharpness across the frame is achieved at f/8 for this focal length and sharpness is outstanding from edge to edge.

Finally, at 150mm, there is a slight drop in performance, but sharpness is still excellent in the centre of the frame at maximum aperture and very good towards the edges of the frame.

Resolution @ 14mm

Resolution @ 45mm

Resolution @ 150mm

How to read our charts The blue column represents readings from the centre of the picture frame at the various apertures and the green is from the edges. Averaging them out gives the red weighted column. The scale on the left side is an indication of actual image resolution. The taller the column, the better the lens performance. Simple. For this review, the lens was tested on aPanasonic Lumix G3 using Imatest.

Chromatic aberrations are well controlled at all but the widest end of the zoom when stopped down. At 14mm, fringing starts to exceed one pixel width at f/11 and gets more severe as the aperture is stopped down.

Chromatic aberration @ 14mm

Chromatic aberration @ 45mm

Chromatic aberration @ 150mm

How to read our charts 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. Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc. to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. For this review, the lens was tested on a Panasonic Lumix G3 using Imatest.

Falloff of illumination towards the corners of the frame is constant throughout the zoom range. Corners are one stop darker than the image centre throughout the zoom range at maximum aperture. Visually uniform illumination is achieved with the aperture stopped down by one stop from maximum throughout the zoom range.

Distortion is very well controlled for a superzoom lens. Imatest detected 1.7% barrel distortion at 14mm and a negligible amount of pincushion at 150mm. This low level shouldn't pose many issues, but if absolutely straight lines are needed, you'll be glad to know that it should be relatively straightforward to correct as the distortion pattern is uniform across the frame.

No lens hood is supplied as standard with this lens, which is a shame. However, it is quite resistant to flare so a hood may not be required in many cases.

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