Olympus 14-150mm vs Panasonic 14-140mm vs Leica 14-150mm

June 25, 2010
reviews
17 Comments

If you click here (at photofan) and scroll down a little bit you will see a 100% crop image comparison. The Panasonic-Leica lens is still the sharpest lens of all three!

via: Fotoactualidad

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kesztió

The Panasonic 14–140 is still much closer to Leica 14–150 than to Olympus 14–150.

This is somewhat a same for Olympus, despite to its lower price / smaller dimensions.
Tobias

Great Test, thats what I have been waiting for.

But theres still a HUGE difference between the Leica and the Pana.

I’m seriously considering getting one of them. However, does anyone know something about CAs using the Leica, when shooting RAWs? And are there any other issues, where the Leica is worse than the Panasonic. I heard, that there might be some problems with autofocusing?
Torstein

As far as I can see the Leica is in a different class form the Pana and Oly offering, The Pana and Oly looks like they give rather similar results.
Joe

I think the whole Panasonic-Leica FourThirds are outstanding lenses especially the 14-50 2,8-3,5
(i sold mine because of no AF support for my G1), but we all miss a new full size FourThirds camera.
I´m waiting for a follower of the DMC- L1. ;o(
Ranger 9

Yes, now we know that the lens bearing the magic name of Leica (even if Panasonic actually made it) is the sharpest when it comes to making close-up photos of electronic circuit boards!

Since electronic circuit boards are one of the most popular photography subjects (right up there with cats and girls in high heels out in the woods) this test proves that everyone should go out and buy the PanaLeicaSonic lens. Never mind that it is larger, heavier, slower-focusing, and requires a bulky adapter — if you want really sharp electronic-circuit-board photos with your Micro Four Thirds camera and insist on using a 14-150 lens to make them, this is the lens you must have!

And of course since the lens that makes the best pictures of electronic circuit boards also will make the best pictures of everything else, the rest of your photography will benefit as well.

Isn’t anyone going to ask, “How’s the bokeh?”
Steve

Forgetting the subject matter, circuit boards, these were shot at full zoom, ISO 200, 1/15s shutter speed and give a good representation of the detail you would see with other subjects (tree foliage, facial features, etc.). It would be helpful to have it confirmed that all were tripod mounted with IS turned off for a level playing field (GH1 doesn’t have IBIS which the Olympus lens would require otherwise).

I found it a helpful test. Clearly the 4/3’s Leica design trounces the others, and clearly the Pnasonic has superior resolving capabilities to the Olympus. On the flip side, the photo of the GH1 with each lens mounted wwas equally useful in showing what the Olympus is all about: solid performance for a travel zoom with incredibly compact form factor and at a good price. Pick your priorities.

But like Ranger 9, I’d also hope for other comparative photos of more common subjects at full wide, full zoom and at the average common “sweet spot” for all three lenses. It might also be interesting to see this both hand-held with IS on and tripod mounted with IS off.
Zonkie

What I make from this is what I already thought: if you want to use a 10x zoom, you’re better served by buying a Panasonic TZ10 (ZS7) for half the price and half the bulk. Image quality will be similar (better lens the TZ10, better sensor the 4/3s one). OR, if you care about image quality and don’t mind the bulk, buying a DSLR with a good zoom.
Miroslav

I thought Leica was bigger.

Some inconsistencies: all three lenses were wide open, at F5.6 and F5.8, while SLR Gear confirmed that Olympus 14-150 is sharpest at F8. The samples were taken from the edge ( where the lenses are worst at telephoto ), while we were not given samples from the center of the image. I also wonder whether OIS was on or off on Panasonic and Leica. It would be interesting to repeat the test on a PEN with IBIS enabled and lens OIS disabled.

BTW, the one lens missing from comparison is Olympus 4/3 18-180.

I’d still choose Olympus 14-150 because it is light, compact and a steal in E-PL1 kit. For the remaining bucks you can buy Panasonic 20mm F1.7 if you want a sharp lens.
spanky

Is anyone really surprised that a lens that costs twice as much would be sharper? There’s a lot to be said about sharpness, but equally more to be said about other lens characteristics like cost, weight, bulk, AF performance, video performance (if you’re into that), etc. Isolating one aspect of lens performance is certainly informative, and helps us understand the comparison space better, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.
Chris

Am I the only one who actually looked at the pictures? The Oly is way sharper than the other two, especially in the corners.
Ark-kun

>i sold mine because of no AF support for my G1
So th AF doesn’t work even with wired 4/3 adapter from Panasonic? Just why??
Neville

All well and good, but why go m43 if you are going to use such a lens as the Leica. You would also ask if you are going for sharpness why are you trying to do it all with one lens, and with a high f-stop
chris

At least some people here still have common sense and actually take photos : )
Joe

Ark-kun,
i don´t know why the better 14-50 2.8-3.5 will not supported,
but the slower 3.8-5.6…

The offical G1/GH1 lens compatibility list from Pana:

http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/connect/g1.html
oluv

on the second page there is another comparison, and the lumix 14-140 does quite well in the corners, but in the center the leica still beats it.
i still hope for a “real-life” scene instead of brick-walls and such!
Phil

are you kidding. these comparison crops aren’t the same zoom ratio. The first motherboard crops are all different zooms. Of course there are different details. I feel these comparison picture tests are poorly constructed. Sorry, guess that’s why magazines, and websites have extensive lab setups, since it’s difficult to reproduce matching images with different lens.
Brian Siano

I was really tempted to get the Oly as a cheap zoom, but the comparisons of the brick wall showed a lot of chroma aberrations. Any video out there I could see?