Olympus vs Panasonic lens in 14-150 range which one

I have the Olympus and like it a lot for what it is. I took it and the 45mm on vacation last year in a very small bag and it worked great. the Panisonic is a 1/2 a stop faster but the Olympus is 10mm longer. For this type lens I would go for the extra length. Neither will be good on low light. That's just my 2 cent worth.

 

It depends - do you have (or ever plan to have) a Panasonic body?

The reviews seem to be similar between the two, but the ~$100-200 price difference (depending on who you're buying from) would be worth it if you think you will need the OIS of the Panasonic. If you are sure that you always going to use an Olympus body with IBIS, save the money and get the Olympus.

 

Olympus has no in body stabilization, is 1/2 stop slower and just a few grams heavier.

Panasonic has (reportedly) a bit more sharpness. (I say reportedly because I've not used one myself).

Olympus has a bit longer range and is on sale (U.S.) right now for $100 off of list:

http://www.amazon.com/Olympus-14-15...qid=1398219383&sr=8-1&keywords=14-150+olympus

I just took delivery of the Olympus a few hours ago so experience is very, very limited. That being said for the money I think I'm going to like the 14-150 Olympus. Being a superzoom it is not the sharpest nor the fastest lens in the kit but for flexibility it's right up there.

The price is what swung me to the Olympus, but if I owned (or planned to own) a Panasonic body I would go with the Panasonic 14-140mm to get the in-the-lens stabilization. Given the ISO range of today's cameras I didn't put a lot of value on the 1/2 stop advantage of the Panasonic; I don't consider either of them to be low light performers. YMMV if you intend to shoot a lot of low light locations - the 1/2 stop might make the difference between getting or missing the shot. I had the Panasonic on my 'wish list' until a couple of days ago when the price of the Olympus dropped.

The older Panasonic 14-140mm is still available and at bargain prices, but carries a considerable weight penalty that I'm not willing to assume.

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-14-...219929&sr=8-1&keywords=14-140+panasonic+f/4.0 Of course it's as slow as the Olympus while not covering as much range.

Regards,

Jim

 

I am tempted to try the new Panny 14-140 II. I owned Oly 14-150 at one time but I never warmed up to its output. Pale colors, prone to flare, mixed results when it comes to sharpness, and most of all subpar build quality (feels way cheaper than it costs). I wonder what is the size of both lenses when fully extended. I recall Oly looked like a tube when in use.

 

I got my wife the Pana 14-140 ii for Christmas. It has been on a 3 week holiday to Vietnam/Cambodia. She reports great happiness, using it on her G3.

For you, if you get the Pana, you can have OIS if you get a Pana body some time. A possible factor.

 

According to this recent head to head by a forum member, the Panasonic. He used version the 14-140 I for the test, the 14-140 II is faster, smaller, and i have read sharper as well.

https://www.mu-43.com/showthread.php?t=52925

 

Panasonic 14-140 mm f/3.5-5.6 unfortunately isn't a mark II because mark I is a f/4-5.8. The f/3.5-5.6 is smaller, lighter and supposedly sharper at the long end than both the Olympus and Panasonic, and has OIS in case you mount it on a Panasonic body. The OIS has been updated from Mega OIS to Power OIS, btw.

In my book that's a win.

PS: I shot with the Olympus 14-150 for a while and loved it.

 

I picked up two new Olympus 40-150 R lenses yesterday on ebay for $169 each to use with our E-M1s. The plan is that we will use them until the 40-150 Pro lenses are released (September at Photokina?). Then we will move to the Pro lenses and can sell the R lenses.

 

Even though I own the 14-150, I only got it because I got a great deal on it 18 months ago (it's a refurb from Olympus Europe). And yes, I like it. However, if I was paying full price today, I'd get the 14-140 II.