RESOLVED. Olympus Stylus 1 or 14-50mm Lens? Has anyone experience with both?

[Fmrvette]

EDIT: Having spent a fair amount of time balancing the pros and cons I've decided on the new Panasonic 14-140mm lens over the Olympus 14-150mm or the Stylus 1 superzoom camera. The Panasonic lens appears to be a bit sharper and a tad lighter than the Olympus (albeit at a $100 premium over the Olympus). Although I continue to be intrigued by the constant f/2.8 of the Stylus 1 I feel the larger sensor of my E-M5 and my familiarity with the controls of the E-M5 compensate for the slower Panasonic lens.

A big THANK YOU!!! to everyone who responded. I've no great familiarity with m/43 zoom lenses and your advice and comments have proven invaluable.

EDIT #2: Ummm...not so much on the Panaonic; I found the Olympus (new) for $200 U.S. less than the Panasonic and that has proven too large a discount to overlook. I've ordered in the Olympus, should arrive Tuesday.


ORIGINAL POST:

O.K., gang, I've looked at reviews, seen example shots, watched You Tube videos until I can't stand anymore.

In a couple of months we (The Princess of the Exchequer and I) will be going to a friend's child's birthday party, as we did last year. I take a camera along to give me something to do while the Princess socializes. It has been pointed out to me that taking a tablet along with a few hundred e-books will not be tolerated .

The party setting is a bit in the country and will be (mostly) outdoors, weather permitting. (Hey, we still had snow on the ground here yesterday, I'm not taking anything for granted this year).

Last year it was mostly sunny, with the ubiquitous picnic tables and coolers set up under a few shade trees. There is an in-ground outdoor pool for the rugrats to play in (the pool is in the sun, no nearby trees) and a large play area with swings and such under some shade trees. There will be (based on last year's turnout) perhaps 40 adults with a corresponding number of sticky, grimy, whining children (thus I use lens filters to protect my camera lens and a cut-down broomstick to protect everything else ). So the lighting will be mixed and the crowd will (sometimes) prevent me from moving about to "get THE shot".

Last year I took the 20mm for indoor shots and the 12-50mm lens for outdoors, mounted on an E-M5.

I was (mostly) dissatisfied with the 12-50mm, mainly because (a) it's slow and (b) the 50mm long end wasn't long enough. Also changing lenses is a challenge; with cake, ice cream, sugary drinks mixed in with sparrows flying overhead there are not a lot of clean, non-sticky places to rest one's gear.

This year I'm thinking of changing things around and taking a single super zoom (which I do not yet own) and I'm torn between the Olympus 12-150mm lens for my E-M5 or ponying up for a one-size-fits all Olympus Stylus 1. No bag, just extra batteries, cards, and a Lens Pen.

The advantage of the lens is obvious - it's a hundred bucks cheaper than the Stylus 1 and allows me to switch to other lenses if desired (assuming that I can find a spot where either the birds or the children haven't been). It allows me to use the E-M5 sensor but has a variable aperture. Also I already have extra batteries for the E-M5 whereas with the Stylus I would have to purchase one or two spares.

The advantage of the Stylus 1 is that it has a constant f/2.8 zoom range (albeit with a smaller sensor) and there's no mucking about changing lenses.

Note that photo image quality is not paramount here (otherwise I would take a selection of primes and a good set of shoes and "sneaker zoom" as required). I'll be cutting a DVD with the photos and send to our hosts but they do not make prints, they share online or wherever younger folks stash what would formerly have been a shoebox full of 3x5 prints.

Has anyone in the forum had real world experience with both the 14-150mm Olympus lens and the Olympus Stylus 1 super zoom camera?

Thanks!

Regards,

Jim

 

[GFFPhoto]

I don't have any experience with either, but someone recently posted a head to head with the two super zooms and the Panasonic is quite a bit better, so I would look at the stylus or the 14-140

 

[Fmrvette]

I don't have any experience with either, but someone recently posted a head to head with the two super zooms and the Panasonic is quite a bit better, so I would look at the stylus or the 14-140

Thanks, I'll check it out.

Regards,

Jim

 

[Jak Crow]

My partner has used the 14-150mm as his regular lens and he's been happy with it.

Check out my photo project at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/underwater-photography-project
Check out my photo gallery at http://gallery.mom-is-a-terrorist.com

 

[dhazeghi]

Thanks, I'll check it out.

Note that there are two versions of the Panasonic 14-140. The older is larger and slightly slower (f/4.0-5.8), while the newer is smaller and faster (f/3.5-5.6). The newer one seems to be a good bit sharper, but it also costs more.

Personally, I'd opt for the lens over the body. Even if they were equally good, you have the advantage of already being familiar with your OM-D and all its controls. If you're concerned that the urge to change lenses is too strong, just leave all your other lenses at home!

 

[Fmrvette]

Note that there are two versions of the Panasonic 14-140. The older is larger and slightly slower (f/4.0-5.8), while the newer is smaller and faster (f/3.5-5.6). The newer one seems to be a good bit sharper, but it also costs more.

Yep, the story of my life, Dara . Start out with a decision between two items and it immediately blossoms into three...

Personally, I'd opt for the lens over the body...If you're concerned that the urge to change lenses is too strong, just leave all your other lenses at home!

Yep, for prime shooters a (temporary) move to zooms can be traumatic . Of course "I left my other lens at home!" might be just the excuse I need to bug out of the soiree early (children's parties are not on my list of "A" activities).

The familiarity argument is a valid point.

I'm really leaning towards the Olympus 14-150 which comes in a hundred bucks under the new Panasonic** and Stylus 1 but since I have the time I figure to do due diligence before "investing" in more gear. ("Investing" is an accepted euphemism for "emptying my wallet with little chance to recoup my cash").

This isn't G.A.S. so much as it is E.T.C. ("Escape The Children").



Regards,

Jim

Edit: Forgot to mention, the new Panasonic is considerably heavier than the Olympus and that will...um...weigh into my decision .

 

[dhazeghi]

I'm really leaning towards the Olympus 14-150 which comes in a hundred bucks under the new Panasonic** and Stylus 1 but since I have the time I figure to do due diligence before "investing" in more gear. ("Investing" is an accepted euphemism for "emptying my wallet with little chance to recoup my cash").

If you buy refurbished, the Olympus is definitely the bargain of the bunch.

Edit: Forgot to mention, the new Panasonic is considerably heavier than the Olympus and that will...um...weigh into my decision .

I think you're talking about the old Panasonic. The new one is both smaller and lighter.

 

[Fmrvette]

If you buy refurbished, the Olympus is definitely the bargain of the bunch...I think you're talking about the old Panasonic.

Yep, I was comparing on the 'lens size' website http://j.mp/QJjgtI . New Panasonic is 265 grams but it isn't on that site. The old Panasonic comes in at 460 grams.. Olympus shows up at 280 grams. Of course the added 100 dollar bill of the new Panasonic lightens my wallet by a gram so that helps .

Olympus site is currently 'out of stock' on refurbs but once I make a decision I can really start to shop.

Regards,

Jim

 

[GFFPhoto]

Here is the head to head with the 14-140 MkI and the 14-150. I haven't used it, but read that the new version of the Panasonic will be faster and sharper.
https://www.mu-43.com/showthread.php?t=52925

 

[Fmrvette]

GFFPhoto - thanks a bunch for digging that up for me!!!

Regards,

Jim

 

[Luckypenguin]

Here is the head to head with the 14-140 MkI and the 14-150. I haven't used it, but read that the new version of the Panasonic will be faster and sharper.
https://www.mu-43.com/showthread.php?t=52925

I did get some good results with the Olympus 14-150mm lens in that test but despite the smaller size I couldn't ignore the differences between it and the 14-140mm as seen in that thread.

Note that there are two versions of the Panasonic 14-140. The older is larger and slightly slower (f/4.0-5.8), while the newer is smaller and faster (f/3.5-5.6). The newer one seems to be a good bit sharper, but it also costs more.

I don't recall ever seeing a head-to-head comparison between the new and the old 14-140mm lenses that showed whether the improvements went any further beyond the (very impressive) reduction in size. Not that it really matters for me now since I decided to go nuclear with my superzoom lens and replace my 14-140mm Mki with this lens below. Now this is a fine piece of glass although it should given what it would have cost it's first owner to buy. There were occasional inconsistencies in the performance of the 14-140mm, it did have soft corners at 14mm and I never liked the heavy vignetting in the telephoto half of the range. So far the PanaLeica has shown to not suffer from those issues.

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[WasOM3user]

Just to be perhaps "alternative" I did a similar event with just a 45mm without major issues.

If you don"t need the wide end why not just use a 40-150? ( it would also provide another reason for not having to get "close"). You could take something wider/faster for indoors "just in case" - this could be a lower cost option.

 

[Fmrvette]

Just to be perhaps "alternative" I did a similar event with just a 45mm without major issues.

If you don"t need the wide end why not just use a 40-150? ( it would also provide another reason for not having to get "close"). You could take something wider/faster for indoors "just in case" - this could be a lower cost option.

I've got the 45 but it's too short for this gig. The 40-150 won't allow the wider shots.

The 12-50 was O.K. at that end but I ran out of room at the telephoto end.

If I don't get a superzoom solution I'll most likely take the 40-150, the 20, and the 12-50 and just swap the kit out as needed.

I'm just searching too see if there's a viable alternative to that since I'll be using zooms either way.

Sort of a tourist "one size fits all" approach.

(My usual kit is the 14, 20, and 45 prime set but this soiree calls for a different setup).

Regards,

Jim



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[juangrande]

What about a 2nd body instead? EPL-5?

 

[Fmrvette]

What about a 2nd body instead? EPL-5?

I have an E-PL1 as well as the E-M5, but am trying to limit to one camera, one lens, no flash, no bag.

I just don't have any experience with the Stylus 1 or the superzooms and need to decide which is the better option.

Regards,

Jim


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