photo:mft14-140mm
8-10x super-zoom lenses for Micro Four Thirds
introduction
most camera systems include a 10x zoom lens for daylight walk-around general purpose photography
by necessity, the aperture tend to be a rather slow f/4-5.8 range and the optical resolution and aberrations cannot be expected to match shorter range zooms let alone prime lenses
the smaller the camera sensor, the smaller the lens can be and the easier it is to make high optical quality results, which means,
Micro Four Thirds system super zooms should give higher quality results
indeed, the image quality from these lenses beats the Canon or Nikon dSLR 10x super zoom versions, whilst being more compact
Olympus mZD 12-100mm f/4.0 OIS lens
Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 Power OIS ASPH HD
model H-FS14140 introduced 2013
internal focus
linear stepping AF motor compatible with the sensor drive at max. 240fps to take maximum advantage of cameras with high-speed AF such as
Panasonic GH-3 and the new DMC-G6
minimum focus to 0.30m = 0.25x max. magnification
14 elements in 12 groups, 3 aspherical elements 2 ED lenses
7 rounded blades
metal lens mount
compared with the previous Panasonic 14-140mm f/4-5.8 lens:
58mm filter instead of 62mm
wider aperture
Power OIS instead of Mega OIS
smaller (67mm diam x 75mm long)
lighter (265g)
cheaper
reviews
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“Its light weight (roughly 200 grams less than the original 14-140mm lens) makes it a better choice for travellers, while the improved stabilisation will deliver a higher percentage of sharp pictures and movie clips in poorly-lit situations”
“this lens is more suitable for snapshooters than serious photographers who are picky about image quality. However, it's a good choice for anyone wanting a quiet and versatile lens that zooms and focuses smoothly for shooting movie clips.”
Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f/4-5.8 Mega OIS ASPH HD
this high quality lens was introduced with the Panasonic GH-1 in 2009 to provide an optimised HD video capability by introducing for the 1st time in any interchangeable lens the following features designed for HD video (hence the HD designation):
in addition, it has the usual Panasonic Mega OIS optical image stabilisation (2-3EV) which also works during HD video
14-140mm focal length = 28-280mm in 35mm terms
f/4.0-5.8 aperture - unfortunately at 50mm widest aperture is f/5.6, and at 140mm, one really needs to stop it down to f/8 for reasonable sharpness
high build quality, with metal mount
internal focusing
17 elements in 13 groups (4 Aspherical lenses, 2 ED lenses)
7 rounded blades
62mm non-rotating filter
closest focus 50cm giving maximum macro 0.2x
high optical quality for a 10x zoom although it does get a touch soft at the long end and does have a lot of barrel distortion at wide end, some CA and significant vignetting although all of these are largely corrected in-camera if you have a Panasonic camera but some Olympus users will not be so lucky and will need to do some post-processing
70mm diam x 84mm long
at 460g, rather heavy for a
Micro Four Thirds system lens but still works well with the larger cameras such as the GH and G series
reviews
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6% barrel distortion at 14mm reducing to 0.5% at 140mm - all corrected in-camera to 1.8% at wide end and practically zero at 140mm
vignetting worst at 140mm f/5.8 (1.9 EV) and 1.3EV at 14mm f/4, although again, this is largely corrected in-camera
reasonably sharp lens given the 10x zoom but very soft corners wide open at telephoto end (stop down to f/8 helps a lot)
reasonable levels of CA for a 10x zoom (1.2px at most focal lengths wide open but 1.8px at 140mm) but in-camera correction further reduces this to 0.4-1.2px
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“Optically, the lens is a good performer, much better than we expected from a 10x zoom. At most focal lengths, you can safely use it wide open or stopped down by one f-stop. Chromatic aberrations can be a bit of an issue at longer focal lengths, but they can usually be dealt with in post processing. Distortions are automatically corrected on both Olympus and Panasonic bodies”
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wide open, it is sharpest in the 18-50mm range with subsequent deterioration in sharpness in the telephoto range, particularly at the edges
“It's more or less on a par with the cream of the current crop of APS-C image-stabilized superzooms such as the Tamron 18-270mm F3.5-5.6 VC, and therefore marginally more consistent than the 18-200mm zooms from Canon and Nikon”.
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Olympus m.ZD 14-150mm f/4-5.6 II
being an Olympus, it does NOT have optical
image stabiliser relying instead upon the in-camera IS system of Olympus cameras
28-300mm range in 35mm terms
very good build quality, metal mount
unlike version I, this version:
is weathersealed
has Olympus's ZERO (ZUIKO Extra-low Reflection Optical) coating on the front element
new optical design: 15 elements in 11 groups inc. one dual-sized aspherical element, one ED glass element, and three HR (High Refractive) elements
adds Olympus's MSC (Movie and Still Compatible) quiet, internal focusing system
7 rounded blades
58mm non-rotating filter
closest focus 50cm giving 0.22x macro
83mm x 63.5mm / 3.27 in. x 2.5 in.
285g / 10.1 oz
optional hood
optional PRF-D58 PRO is a lightweight, thin protective filter, created with double-sided, multi-coating and blackened glass edges to suppress ghosting and lens flare
RRP $US599
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Olympus m.ZD 14-150mm f/4-5.6
being an Olympus, it does NOT have optical
image stabiliser relying instead upon the in-camera IS system of Olympus cameras
28-300mm range in 35mm terms
very good build quality, metal mount
fast, near silent AF
15 elements in 11 groups inc. 3x aspherical glass elements and 1x ED element
7 rounded blades
58mm non-rotating filter
closest focus 50cm giving 0.24x macro
63.5mm diam x 83mm long
280g
optional hood
reviews
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5.7% barrel distortion at 14mm, reducing to 1.2% pincushion at 50mm but corrected in-camera to under 1.3% at 14mm
2EV vignetting at 14mm f/4 but corrected in-camera to 0.9EV
unlike the Panasonic version, vignetting is worst at the wide end not the telephoto end
reasonable sharpness for a 10x zoom but like the Panasonic lens, edge sharpness gets very soft in the telephoto end and you should consider stopping down to f/8 to get sharper results across the frame
mod severe CA wide open at 50-90mm range in particular (2.4-3.4px) and this is uncorrected
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Tamron 14-150mm F/3.5-5.8 Di III VC
photo/mft14-140mm.txt · Last modified: 2019/02/14 02:11 by gary1