Olympus Zuiko™ 40-150 mm f/3.5-4.5 Lens

Great Walk around lens, lightweight and priced well. Great addition to the standard kit lens. The most bang for the buck.

Better qualiy (beefier) than the newer version 5.6 that comes with the E-520. however the lens hoods not compatable so, if you by BUY one make sure the hood comes with it.

If you are willing to overlook the size and weight, this is a MUCH better lens than the current f 4.0 kit lens with the same zoom range. It is at least a full stop faster so it works much better for those dawn and twilight wildlife photographs. Razor sharp throughout it's focal range.

This lens is no longer in production but is made in Japan. It has the metal base as opposed to the plastic base of the replacement model. It's a half stop faster at 40mm and a full stop faster at the 150mm end. This is compared to the new, plastic base 40-150mm lens made in China. However, the lens made in Japan is not quite as sharp and is larger but is a stouter lens. I like the feel and looks of the Japanese lens better than the newer one.

Olympus has always been very good with optics and this one is no exception. This lens is a great trade off of performance & price. Where as there are better zoom lenses available with bigger zoom and faster lenses (e.g. f/2.8), they also tend to cost 5-10x the price of this lens & are much bulkier and heavier. And while those premium lenses will perform better, you can bet their performance isn't the same 5-10x better to match the premium price.

The 40-150mm is a very compact lens as well, so will easily fit in your photo gadget bag. Because of this, some people I know with better lenses (e.g. the 50-200mm f/2.8 at about $900) still carry this one when they are going to be out all day and want to travel light. Even a premium lens isn't very good if you often do not want to lug it around. The 40-150mm is very portable so you will always have it ready to go since it travels light.

I purchased the lens because I desired a longer telephoto that I can use for general walkaround/street/portraiture/event photography.
I am happy with my purchase.
She is a beautifully built, robust lens.
I am using it with my Olympus E-Volt 410. It dwarfs the small camera body, but I like the look of it; reminiscent of 1970's 35mm SLRs.
It is a relatively fast (for the price) lens, which is sharp and has good colour rendition. I love the fact that it has a steel mount, which was missing on the kit lens, giving a nice tactile feedback when installing it onto my camera. It feels as though it is built to last; I hope this lens will be in my collection for tens of thousands of pictures to come.

Cheers,
Bob

This is a really good lens for the price. These are going way cheap lately. The 40-150mm f/3.5 is the older, made in Japan version of the lens. It is quite a bit larger and heavier than the newer 40-150mm f/4.0. Many people, including me, do not have a problem with that because this is a better lens. Takes some nice sharp pictures. I believe the newer one is made in China as opposed to the earlier model. This is not a close focusing lens and you should be at least 5 feet away from your subject or you will not be able to bring it into focus. IE - not a good macro lens! Get it while you still can for cheap. I got mine for less than a 100 bucks.. GOOD DEAL.

the lens is very sharp at all focal lengths,better than the newer version. Although the newer version is smaller and lighter the the older version is a stop faster.