Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO Deal
I'll keep this blog post very short and very, very sweet. I don't usualy do this either, but this deal from Olympus is too good not to share. It's better than anything I saw on Black Friday as well...
Olympus curently have their 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO lens down to just £837 on Amazon.co.uk! That's not bad for a lens that usually retails at £1,200!
This is via the official Olympus Shop on Amazon. It's not a knock-off or grey import either. If you were looking to buy one now seems like a pretty good time to go for it!
Some may still see the 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO as an expensive lens, even at this price, but if you ask me I'd call this a bargain. I purchased mine along with the 1.4 teleconverter back in early 2015 not long after it's release and so far it's been worth every penny (and I paid the full price of over £1,300!). So, this may explain a little why I'm writing a dedicated post to promote the amazing deal currently on offer.
I wrote a full review of the 40-150 right here on the blog (which you can check out here: http://bit.ly/Olympus40-150review) so if you're in any doubt about the pedigree and quality of this lens, please do have a read!
Here are some sample photographs, but there are also some more over in that review as well:
I apologise if you already have this lens and this is spammy. As I say I don't usually share this sort of thing at all, but as I'm sure you'll agree - those who don't own this lens - perhaps because of the price being a barrier - should go and buy this now!
Olympus OM-D E-M1 and Motorsport
Hi All,
Only me! I haven't written for a about a month now due to wedding season being in full flow: Shooting, ordering and designing products, post processing and life in between has been keeping me away from this blog more than I'd have liked, but whilst I was away on a short family holiday I had an email from someone who tried their hand at shooting motor sports with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and wasn't totally pleased with the results.
Gavin Hall subsequently found my post on the subject, right here and got in touch with me via email to ask a few questions. I thought it would be a good idea to reply to Gavin's email here on the blog so you can see my thoughts on this and also for you to add your own comments below as well.
So, this blog post is for everyone, but written in response to Gavin:
In Gavin's email, he wrote:
Hi Michael,
Excellent blog - very well written. Just a quick question; Having come from a Nikon D90 (which bear in mind came out in 2008) I have to say that so far I’ve been rather frustrated with the EM-1’s auto focus when it comes to motor sport and airshows.
I’ve read all the advice I can find and am using what seems to be the recommended technique: Latest firmware, C-AF, 9 point block focus, continuous low speed continuous shooting etc. but the keeper rate is still very low. In many instances I’m getting better results with manual focus and focus peaking.
I’m more than happy to admit that this may be operator error but given a history of success with my old Nikon gear, I’d like to establish a couple of things. The lens I’ve been using for this type of thing is the Olympus 75-300 F4.8-6.7 II. (I have the 12-40 F2.8 Pro but haven’t tried it for action) Do you have any experience with this lens - is it known for being unsuited to fast moving subjects?
I know that you rave about the 40-150 F2.8 Pro - is this significantly better for AF tracking - and also initial lock on speed than other MFT lenses you’ve used? It is a very tempting piece of glass, but as my Dad pointed out the other day, for the same money as that lens alone, you could get a Canon EOS 70D and a 70-200 F4 L which would definitely track Motorsport well.
Another problem I had is whilst trying to focus on a distant aircraft, the lens hunted backwards and forwards, refusing to lock onto anything at all, including the clouds which were effectively at infinity.
I love many aspects of the E-M1 and in other respects have been entirely pleased with it. However, this is a hobby for me so I’m loathe to spend money on the 40-150, only to find that actually the problem lay elsewhere all along.
Any thoughts you could share would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Kind regards
Gavin
Thanks Gavin for getting in touch with your questions. Today I want to try and touch on everything you mention in your email if I can and so I've broken it down to 4 main points:
- Settings
- Lens Choice and Investment
- Intended use with the photographs
- Comparisons to a DSLR and other cameras: In your email you talk about being able to pick up a 70D and a 70-200L f/4 for a cheaper price and that it would likely perform better, so I'm going to touch on some other reasonably priced alternatives too that would handle sports and action shooting.
Unfortunately I can't make any comparison's with Nikon cameras as I've only used a Nikon on two occasions and neither for motor sports. So for the sake of this article I'll write about my experience vs my old Canon equipment where needed.
1. Settings
Having the correct settings dialed in will only get you so far. You of course have to have a good technique as well. It's evident from your website that you've photographed motor sports before with some pretty successful panning photographs in your motor sports gallery. I would say that the images you have in your gallery don't have that critical sharpness that I would look for and that I have been able to achieve with my E-M1, so perhaps consider spending a day at the track panning and consider your shutter speed to perfect your technique. Working out what works for you as well as what doesn't is key. For example friends of mine are able to shoot down at 1/50th and still get sharp motor sports photographs! Mine are best at about 1/125th - 1/160th. I'm sure with some more practise though I'd be able to improve and shoot at 1/80th and maintain sharp photographs.
1/125th - f/10 - ISO100
My settings were simple but also differ from what you have said in your email:
- High Speed Continuous Shooting at 9fps
- Single, Center Focus Point manually selected
- Continuous Auto Focus mode
- Shutter Speed between 1/80th and 1/160th
- Aperture F/10 - f/13
- ISO was as low as I could possibly go with the given light (100 - 200)
- Image Stabilisation set for Horizontal panning
As I mention in my post 'A Day At The Race Track With The Olympus OM-D E-M1' my keeper rate was lower than I would have perhaps achieved with my sports-oriented and much-loved Canon 7D. I'm happy to acknowledge this. The 7D would have perhaps offered me 4 keepers out of a burst of 6 or 7, with the E-M1 only leaving me with 1 or 2 to choose from. But with motor sports (Particularly endurance racing!) The cars will be going around the track many, many times - You'll have plenty of chances to photograph them again. Besides, you only really need 1 keeper of each car, right?
Most importantly for me (and I'll talk about this further in below) is that I am still able to get tac-sharp, crisp, clean images using the E-M1. The keeper rate may matter more if I were a professional motor sports photographer.
The idea of using the center focus point only is not an Olympus-specific technique. This is something I did with my Canon 7D as well. By manually choosing the focus point and instead trying to keep the focus point on the car you're asking the camera to do less. I've found I've had better results with this technique.
One thing that was specific to the Olympus though was a change I had to make to my panning: I now found I could not pan when the car was further away giving me a reduced panning arc. The Olympus Micro Four Thirds System obviously, as I've shown, is able to track subjects moving parallel to you with little change in the distance between you and the subject, however I would agree that tracking subjects' who's distance to the camera changes suddenly is much harder. Football and field & team sports could possibly offer too much of a challenge for the current range of mirrorless cameras available and this is why you'll see any photographer in that arena only using the top DSLR camera bodies and lenses available. Unlike motor sports these other sports aren't as repetitive and so moments will only happen once. Margins are fine and so you need to be ready to capture everything. Rarely, if ever, do you get a second chance.
I've not photographed any aviation with the OM-D E-M1 and my 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO as yet, but I'm relatively confident they'd be fine. I may have to add the 1.4 teleconverter for a little more range, but the 40-150 performs superbly throughout it's entire focal range, as I'll mention in just a moment.
100% cropped screen grab from Lightroom - this is a little soft for me (see the edges of the numbers and decals on the car)
1/80th - f/13 - ISO100
One thing I have certainly learnt over the years though is that if there is that if there is a photographic niche where the margin between a successful photograph and an average photograph - it's sports and wildlife (moving subjects)
Perhaps this is where some of your frustration begins? Having said that however for the best results and to give yourself every chance of success you have to use the best glass on your camera...
2. Lens Choice and Investment
This part could easily warrant a blog post all of it's own...
I learned a long time ago that if you don't buy the top of the range lenses your photographs will only suffer for it (of course there are exceptions to this). Often, I believe that you can get by with a lesser-camera and better glass, but not necessarily the other way round.
I remember purchasing a handful or pre-owned EF-S Canon Lenses (for crop sensor bodies) with variable aperture and inevitably, after much frustration, went out and bought the lenses I should have bought in the first place anyway meaning I bought twice! Now I'm not suggesting that without the 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO you won't be able to get good photographs at all, but it will certainly help your cause, your keeper rate and in the long-run and your finances.
The Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO is a marvel of a lens when it comes to it's ability to resolve detail, even at it's longest focal length of 150mm.
Not since my very early Canon days (during my first foray in to photography) have I used anything less than top end glass and so it's hard for me to honestly quantify and compare how much better the 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO is than the lens you used, the Olympus 75-300 F4.8-6.7 II. My guess though is that the 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO is much, much better. From past experience low and middle-range lenses have issues with softness at the extreme ends of their focus (75 and 300 in this case) and they're also prone to hunting and tracking back and forth trying to achieve that focus. This is because the motors inside those lower-end lenses are constantly trying to arrange and manage the groups of glass (elements) inside the lens to maintain and achieve focus. Logic would dictate that a cheaper lens would use cheaper components and therefore it wouldn't be able to perform to the same standard as higher quality, pro-grade lens.
1/160th - f/11 - ISO100
In addition, the variable aperture nature of the 75-300mm 4.8 - 6.7 - for me at least - is such a hindrance when it comes to shooting sports. I remember that the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 for example was sharper at f/4 than it was at f/2.8, so knowing that the aperture also affects the sharpness and then not being in full control of the aperture as the lens zooms simply doesn't sit well with me.
It used to be (particularly with Canon kit lenses) that they just weren't as sharp as the pro grade lenses. Whilst that isn't' the case necessarily with Olympus Lenses (they're all pretty sharp!) the difference is still that the pro grade lenses are high-performance tools that are sharper and work faster.
I've seen nothing but rave reviews about the 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO elsewhere and in my experience it just doesn't have an issue with keeping up with what the E-M1 asks it to focus on. It is after all a Professional grade lens. Perhaps see if you can get one from Olympus on loan using the 'Test & WOW' service and take it to a track?
Put it this way though - the 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO from Olympus was, in my mind, every bit as good as my old Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM ii - a lens considered by many to be the best in class of lenses in that category available today for a DSLR. I owned them side by side for only a month before i decided to commit and I sold up the Canon gear and moved to Olympus. Not because I'm a fan boy, but because of the performance and experience.
Another thing to mention though, rather than me just saying 'Buy the best lens you can' is that you do have to take into account that a great lens will nearly always out-last any camera body you own.
Look at any sports photographer - they're likely to have a massive prime (such as the Canon 400mm f/2.8 or a 600mm f/4) that they've had for 5 years or more, whereas in that time they've probably had a handful of camera bodies. The same can be said of the Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO: yes it's a relatively expensive lens, but as long as I shoot with Olympus camera's it's a lens I'll own and use owing to it's versatility and it's quality. If you look at the cost of the lens in the same way you view the cost of a body, then often the costs won't stack up or be justifiable; Firstly - a good lens will hold it's value when you come to sell it, whereas a the value of a camera body simply plummets from the moment you own it. Secondly, A lens is easily worth twice as much as you'll often have a good one twice as long, not to mention it will do your images justice. It is after all the glass that makes the difference.
My tools and toys - The Olympus OM-D E-M5 and E-M1 surrounded by my favourite primes and pro zooms.
It is worth noting though that for me I also photograph weddings and portraits too, so my lenses are tools as much as they are toys and therefore I take this in to account when making my purchases. Which neatly leads to the next point from your email:
3. Intended use with the photographs
I make money from my photography and as a result my gear does, in my opinion, have to be of a professional standard. But because I have those requirements I can justify buying the PRO lenses.
If however, I wasn't making any income at all from photography I know that my wife would certainly not be as relaxed as she is about me spending what is (let's be honest) vast amounts of money on a camera for a hobby. If you're photographing motor sports as an enthusiast and for your own personal enjoyment and pleasure then this does put an entirely different light on this subject. Now, the only thing pushing you and motivating you to look at better lenses and equipment is you and your own desire for better photographs - not a client or customer requirement or need.
Be cautious - the internet and all the big name photographers will tell you that every new camera is a great investment and will make your photography infinitely better. My move to Olympus was, on paper at least, a downgrade in performance. Or at least that what's people told me: smaller sensor, not-professional, can't do big prints, can't shoot low light, doesn't track very well blah, blah, blah - that list went on. Which is why I wrote a post called 'Why Olympus'. If I am able to produce the same (or as I like to believe) a better standard of work with an apparently lesser camera, then surely that means I'm a better photographer than I was before, right?
Maybe that is true. But I also believe that the Olympus OM-D E-M1 is a better camera than many realise and it certainly performs well, well above the specs on the adverts.
My move was justified because I proved that the camera could perform in all of the circumstances I needed it too. I acknowledge it's differences and limitations vs my old Canon DLSR (note that keeper rate I mentioned at the start for example) and accepted that. But if you're a professional sports photographer and need a higher keeper rate - perhaps this isn't the camera for you.
For me, it was good enough at everything I did for pleasure and better at what made me money. As such - my requirement for a professional camera was met by the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and so it was a feasible and justifiable move. For you, as a motor sports photographer, this may not be the case.
Don't force yourself to use a camera just because you like it, or want to like it. What matters at the end of the day is the photographs, right? if you're making better images on the Nikon then stick with that. It's whatever works for you, in the same way that the Olympus just works for me.
4. Alternative Camera / Lens Setups
Invariably photographers shoot many things and so my desire for one system of cameras and lenses was neatly fulfilled by the OM-D E-M1 and the M.Zuiko lenses. I can now shoot everything from landscapes, portraits, motor sports, wildlife, weddings, engagement shoots and the kids around the house. I have a lens for all situations. But if you're looking for a setup as a motor sports thoroughbred then you have plenty of options. In fact, I'd probably still point you back towards a DSLR for motor sports:
- Pre-owned Canon 7D - circa £400
- Canon 70D - circa £7,00
- Pre-owned Canon 70-200 f/2.8 (mark 1) - circa £1,000
- Canon 70-200 f/4 - circa £1,000
(Please note that I have no affiliation with MBP Photographic, whose website I have linked to above for the reference pricing, it's just that they sell both new and pre-owned equipment).
For as little as £1,400 you could pick up a Canon Camera and Lens combo that is arguably more suited to motor sports, as per above. I would argue though that for the best images you should look for the best lens. Perhaps a New Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM ii at around £1,500.
I'm sold on Olympus and know what it can do for me. But if you want the best motor sports bang for your buck I won't tell anyone that you absolutely have to go the Olympus route and that it's the best for motor sports. Because it's not. But I prefer it and I enjoy using it more. Yes, there is a huge element of preference involved here - we've not even mentioned Nikon! - but the fact is the Olympus is more than capable of being able to shoot great motor sports photographs; hopefully as I've demonstrated at Silverstone and Le Mans 2015.
But as a rule (not specific to Olympus) go for the best glass possible.
Other Photographers shooting great motor sports photography:
For years a good photographer friend of mine of mine, Neil Graham, shot 'only' on a Canon 60D (a crop-sensor Canon DSLR sporting only 9 focus points and shooting at up to 5 frames per second! The work that Neil was able to produce with that camera absolutely astounded me time after time. (check out Neil's work over at his website). For me Neil is a great example of a photographer who is able to get the most out of a camera through a practiced technique, despite any apparent lack of ability of the camera.
You may also want to check out John Rourke's Work - The Director and Photographer of Adrenal Media - The Official Photographic Agency for the FIA WEC (Le Mans Series Governing Body). John shoots with a number of cameras, but frequently talks about and shares some absolutely amazing photographs made with his Fuji mirrorless cameras! John is proving that these cameras are capable of performing in the professional arena. It's worth noting also that on paper (and it's somewhat acknowledged too) that the Fuji isn't quite as capable as the Olympus when it comes to Auto Focus
Free Motor Sports Desktop Wallpapers
I was fortunate enough to be at Silverstone here in the UK a few weeks back to see (and photograph) the cars from the World Endurance Championship race around the track! I didn't get to photograph the race itself, which was on the Sunday, but I was there alongside the track on Saturday as the cars had free-practise and competed in qualifying for the race the next day.
I was putting the Olympus OM-D E-M1 through it's paces in preparation of the Le Mans 24 Hours in June, which I'll be attending with my good friend Neil Graham!
As is becoming the custom for me I thought I'd make a small selection of these images available as high-res desktop backgrounds. Enjoy!
All of these photographs are available as hi-res downloads in their native format and are 2560 pixels on the longest edge (suitable for most Macs and widescreen laptops and monitors). You can click each image to preview at a larger size, but to download each photograph and ensure you get the highest quality file click the 'Download Here' link beneath each photograph. Alternatively, you can click to enlarge, right click on the image and then choose 'Save As'.
All of these photographs were made using an Olympus OM-D E-M1 Micro Four Thirds Mirrorless Camera and the Olympus M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8 ED PRO Lens
1. Aston Martin Vantage V8
2. Porsche 911 RSR
3. Porsche 911 RSR
4. BMW Z4
5. Ferrari 458 Italia
6. Audi R18 e-tron Quattro
Copyright Notice
Please enjoy these photographs. But be kind: Do not edit these photographs and claim them as your own. Don't sell them without my permission. Do not use commercially without contacting me @ michael@rammellphotography.com
All works are Creative Commons Licensed:
6hrs Silverstone 2015 Desktop Background Series by Michael Rammell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at www.michaelrammell.com.
Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO Review
More and more professional photographers are making the switch to mirrorless cameras than ever before. With cameras such as the Olympus OM-D E-M1 being sturdy and built to take on the rigors of professional assignments, yet considerably smaller and lighter than DSLR's, photographers are reaping the benefits of such systems. However, it's one thing for the camera body itself to be up to the task - but what about the lenses?
One must-have lens in any wedding, event or wildlife photographers' arsenal is a 70-200mm f/2.8, whether it be Canon's 70-200 L Class offering or Nikon's 70-200 f/2.8 Nikkor: These lenses provide us with a convenient focal range and great low-light ability. They're typically built to very high standards, making use of metal bodies and quality optics. They can take a real beating in everyday use and continue to produce excellent images. These are the tools of the pro photographer.
Now, Olympus have introduced their professional-grade, weather sealed, constant f/2.8 aperture telephoto offering, giving professional mirrorless photographers the lens they've been waiting for.
Enter, the Olympus M.Zuiko 40-150mm ED f/2.8 PRO!
Specs & Details
- 40-150mm focal range provides an 80-300mm, 35mm equivalent field of view
- The 40-150 ED f/2.8 PRO is available for around £1,150 on it's own
- Also available with a 1.4 teleconverter for around £1,300 all together
- 9 Blade Aperture for circular bokeh
- 16 elements, 10 Groups
- Splash, Freeze and dust proof the same as the M.Zuiko 12-40 f/2.8 PRO
- Metal construction
- All-metal tripod mount collar included. Removable.
- Intelligently designed extending lens Hood. This is removable, just like a regular hood that you may find on the Canon 70-200, but the mechanism simply allows you to store it on the lens, without having to remove it and reverse mount it for storage. Very clever
- Internal focusing mechanisms (no extending parts, unlike the 12-40 f/2.8 PRO)
Size
The lens weighs in at 880 grams and is 160mm long, making it both shorter and much lighter than Canon's 70-200 (weighing 1490 grams) and even more so than Nikon's (weighing 1540 grams). Considering the Olympus has a field of view up to 300mm, this makes this a pretty impressive feat indeed. If you're reading this and you shoot with a DSLR, it would be a nearer comparison in weight and size to Canon 24-70 f/2.8 (weighing 805 grams, and is 113mm long)
The Olympus M.Zuiko 40-150mm ED f/2.8 PRO towering over the rest of the Olympus lenses
As Micro Four Thirds lenses go, the 40-150 is certainly the largest. In fact, it does somewhat go against the idea of what Micro Four Thirds is all about in that it isn't as small as many of the other lenses, but in a way, on this occasion, it isn't such a bad thing: the size and weight of the 40-150 when mounted to any of the OM-D's, especially when fitted with a grip, feels very neatly balanced. Coupled with the E-M1 it also makes for a serious looking setup too. So, if you're conscious about how you and your gear look on a wedding day, this will probably go some way to compensating for you feeling inadequate. (not that this should matter though). In short it looks the business!
First Impressions
When you pick the lens up you'll immediately be pleasantly surprised by how dense the lens feels. The quality of the build and the materials is instantly apparent. The focus and zoom rings aren't too loose or too tight, they're just about right. These also have a metallic, textured feel to them so you can both find them without having to take your eye away from the EVF and also to allow you to get a good grip when you've been working with the lens for long periods and may be a bit sweaty. Although having said that - I do feel that rubber zoom and focus rings would have been a better option (I'll expand on this in my criticisms below)
If you remove the tripod mount collar you instantly shed a fair amount of weight from the lens. So for those of us that will use this for weddings and portraits we can instantly make the lens lighter. I've personally no need to mount this lens to a tripod during a wedding, so mine usually ends up in the back of the car. The collar itself keeps up with the excellent build quality and feels like a very solid, chunky piece of metal. Which is reassuring when that is the part that will keep your precious gear sitting atop a tripod!
Remove the lens hood completely and the lens becomes even more compact.
Image Quality
When it comes to lenses a good one will often outlast the cameras you own. I'd say this is the case with the 40-150. It's incredibly sharp both at 40mm and at 150mm, which isn't common in a lens with this range of zoom. Here are some real-world photographs I've made with the 40-150 over the past few months. These photographs were all made in a variety of surroundings too: an engagement shoot, a model shoot in a studio environment and of course street photography:
As you can see from these photographs a good shallow Depth of Field is present thanks to the useful focal length and f/2.8 aperture. The photographs are all superbly sharp as well. The 40-150 in combination with the E-M5 and E-M1 really makes this lens come to life.
Who is this lens for?
The 40-150 is a must have for any MFT photographer shooting professional assignments or for any serious enthusiast shooting sports or wildlife. To be honest the lens is so versatile that it's going to be useful to a variety of photography niches.
The lens is designed to be able to continue to work in adverse conditions, so you're investing in a lens that can really do a professional job. It will certainly be around for many years and in my opinion, it's set to be a lens that many look back on as one of the great telephoto lenses of this generation: sealed, sturdy and up for the task, yet lighter and smaller than a DSLR equivalent. This lens is perfect for those who shoot portraits, weddings, wildlife or sports.
If you are in the Panasonic side of the MFT camp, then this lens may not be of as much interest to you owing to the fact it doesn't have stabilisation built into the lens (of course, when you shoot with Olympus the stabilisation is in-body and all lenses are stabilised). However, a Panasonic shooter will still find their stabilisation in their lenses, instead of the body. Effectively, this isn't stabilised when used on Panasonic cameras.
Criticisms
It wouldn't be fair to review this lens without at least pointing out something negative about it. Much like my review of the Olympus OM-D E-M5 when I first bought that last year, I really do have to be picky to find faults with this lens. I can't fault the build quality. I can't criticise the optical performance and the size is a positive. I guess If I had one thing to say, it would would be about the aforementioned zoom and focus rings (I would emphasise I am being hypocritical here):
Canon and Nikon's DSLR and Lens systems are very mature and have been around for a while, so naturally, as they have iterated they've made small, but useful enhancements and adjustments to their equipment that just adds to an overall feel. Things that we don't even realise as useful, because, well they've been that way forever. It's only when you move to a different system, such as the E-M1 and Olympus M.Zuiko lenses that you realise certain things about the other systems. Such as rubber zoom and focus rings on their lenses.
Olympus have opted to use plastic or metal on a majority of their lenses for these components. Whilst on smaller primes and even the 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro this isn't an issue, the larger circumference of the 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro perhaps warrants a different material for the rings on the barrel of the lens.
Again, this is me trying to find a fault. Sometimes, in a bid to be different and do things their own way, Olympus opt for a design or a method that perhaps is just that - different, but not better. Having said that though the PRO line of Olympus M.Zuiko lense have a theme to them; all black, metallic finish, professional feel. If they updated or adjusted the way one lens from that range looked, you'd have to update the others too. As a lens lineup, they look stellar.
I would also point out some chromatic aberration when you shoot into strong light as well. I've only had CA on a couple of photographs I've made using this lens and fortunately it's not apparent in some of the more common CA-causing scenarios (such as portraits with a strong and contrasting rimlight, or a cool, blue window light), but if you shoot a branch with the sky as the background, or if you photograph a building, looking upward, you may spot some aberration along the edges. Now, I know what you're thinking: "CA is easily removed in Lightroom" - and you're right. But this does have to be mentioned. So, this does become less of an issue, but I still wanted to point it out.
Now, I have probably gone on too long about the rings on the lens and through fear of risk of me sounding like you can't operate this lenses zoom and focus rings (you can, with ease), I would simply say that rubber would have perhaps been a better option. That's all.
So, those two very picky things aside, we have an absolute marvel of a lens here.
Conclusion
Quite simply, if you were ever hesitant to switch to Olympus, or Micro Four Thirds because of a lack of a constant aperture professional grade telephoto, you've now got it and there shouldn't be much to hold you back at all.
This is the lens that could push any photographer at war with themselves whether to switch to mirrorless, to switch. If you're having a dilemma and worry about lens selection when moving to Olympus - you shouldn't be concerned. This lens adequately replaces the 70-200 offerings on the table from Nikon and Canon. Whilst doing so it offers a greater focal range in a smaller package with apparent better edge-to-edge sharpness.
As a previous DSLR shooter with a heavy investment in Canon, I was reluctant to sell my Canon gear purely because I didn't believe there was an equal and equivalent lens to my Canon 70-200mm L f/2.8 IS USM ii. It was a lens that cost a good amount of money and worked excellently when paired up with the Canon 1.4 EX ii as well. Sure, the lens stopped down to f/4 when used with the adaptor, but it was built like a space rocket and was amazingly responsive. The resulting image quality from that lens was also unmatched by any other lens I had in my bag at the time.
My own migration to Olympus hinged on this very lens being as good as it is. Without a quality Olympus 70-200 challenger I wasn't prepared to move. My Canon 70-200L f/2.8 was the jewel of my kit bag. It was the one thing I'd save from my house if it were on fire (photographically speaking that is). After testing this lens at the Olympus Image Space last year I had seen enough to convince me it was capable. When I bought it and used it for an engagement shoot and some portraits, the Canon 70-200 was sold immediately.
The Olympus 40-150 is a feat of optical engineering and an incredibly well-considered design. The lens hood, the size, the very near minimum focussing distance of 70cm which is maintained throughout the entire zoom range make this a must-have tool for any Olympus photographer. The fact is goes to 300mm is a very welcome bonus indeed!
It's not as expensive as Canon or Nikon's 70-200's, but it's every bit as good a lens and one I would recommend without hesitation.