Thoughts on Olympus zoom lens grouping

[Michael Meissner]

With the introduction of the Olympus 100-400mm lens today and the 2 lenses teased at, I think we now have a real three tier system for the zoom lenses. I'm going to leave out the primes and the super-zooms, but just in thinking about how I would see the lens tiers:

1. High end pro lenses

• Olympus 7-14mm f/2.8 lens
• Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 lens
• Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 lens
• future Olympus 150-400mm f/4.5 lens

2. Mid range pro lenses

• future Olympus 8-24mm f/4 lens
• Olympus 12-100mm f/4 lens (maybe 12-45mm f/4, but there is no mid-range counter part for 45-100mm)
• today's Olympus 100-400mm f/5-6.3 lens

3. Consumer lenses

• Olympus 9-18mm f/4-5.6
• Olympus 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 either II-R or EZ
• Olympus 40-150mm f/4-5.6
• Olympus 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7

4. Zoom lenses not categorized

• Olympus 12-45mm f/4
• Olympus 14-150mm f/4-5.6
• Olympus 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3

This is similar to what the classic 4/3rds system had with their SHG, HG, and SG lenses. I believe it is similar to what other camera makers offer.

 

[comment23]

Interesting idea. Based on the lenses we might expect from the below roadmap I might put it like this:

0. Exotics

• future 150-400/4.5 IS

1. High end pro zooms (as below + fast fixed aperture, focus clutch, lens Fn button, IS on longer lenses that will benefit from it)

• 7-14/2.8
• 12-40/2.8
• 40-150/2.8
• future ~50-200(/2.8 IS?)*
• 12-100/4 IS

2. Mid range pro zooms (as below + fixed aperture, metal construction)

• 8-24/4
• 12-45/4
• future ~40-150 and/or 50-250(/4?)*

3. Upper tier consumer zooms (as below + more solid construction and WR)

• 14-150/4-5.6 II
• 12-200/3.5-6.3
• 100-400/5-6.3 IS

4. Kit lenses and companion zooms (variable aperture, generally entry level construction)

• 9-18mm f/4-5.6 (surely due an update!)
• 14-42/3.5-5.6 II-R and EZ
• 40-150/4-5.6 R
• 75-300/4.8-6.7 II

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*can’t for the life of me figure out why there would be three new PRO lenses in this space.

 

[994]

12-45 would be mid-range pro, and the 14-150 is a consumer lens. The 12-200, which I've not touched, also looks like their consumer end, judging by its build.

 

[Aristophanes]

On the lens roadmaps, the new 100-400 is missing the *.

 

[Holoholo55]

On the lens roadmaps, the new 100-400 is missing the *.

The * means weather-sealed, and we already know the 100-400 has it.