David, I thought this might be coming. About 4 months ago, I was waffling between buying the 40-150 f/2.8 or the 40-150mm f/4 and I finally settled on the latter. I knew I was giving up a stop of light gathering and the ability to use teleconverters (as well as the function button) but I felt the trade off in weight and dimensions was well worth it. So far, it's proven to be a great lens. Optically as sharp as the f2.8 Pro in my experience. Paired up with my 12-45mm f4 Pro, the combo covers most of my shooting needs.

Cheers pal..... been in a quandary about moving BACK to Olympus from Fuji - you've made my mind up!!

Your review is so practical. Love it!

The 12-45 F4 is equally good....and very small and light - together they may a fantastic set up for travel with the Om-1 or (even better for travel with the em5 mark 3 🙂

Always interesting to get an insight into the thought process behind your choice of equipment and compositions David, thank you for your excellent content.

The shots you've shown are superb quality, can't wait to see more!

I recently bought the same lens, to pair with my 12-45 F4 Pro lens, and used with the em5 Mk3, One thing I do like, is that once it's extended, it's all internal zooming. Nice to hear your thoughts on it, and enjoy your channel here. 👍

I completely agree. Just spent my last walk with this lens which I have added to my 12-45 f4 pro and 20 f1.4 pro. These are my new holy trinity! As for the complaints, I agree with you! Haters gonna hate I guess.

At one time I had all three of the F/2.8 Pro lenses. They were all great lenses but I no longer have any of them for much the same reason that you are selling your 40-150, weight and bulk. Plus I really don’t like having to change lenses in the field. I also rarely shoot below f/5.6 so I really don’t miss the faster lenses. I currently have the 12-100 f/4 on an EM-1 MKIII body which I feel is a really good compromise, however at my age (78) I’m even finding that combination to be heavy to lug around. I’m seriously considering selling those as well and using my EM-5 MKIII with the 14-150mm lens as my primary system. Both camera and lens are weather sealed, maybe not to the same extent as the pro lenses but neither am I. I find that combination to be much smaller and lighter. Over the last year or two I find myself carrying that combination much more than the pro gear. I personally don’t see any big difference in the image quality, if any at all. That could be because my eyes are also not what they used to be. I really do think one of the advantages of the micro four thirds system is that you have so many great choices to fit almost any individuals needs. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the 40-150 f/4 lens I look forward to seeing more of your photos taken with it in the future.

Very interesting Dave, clearly a very good lens and I guess the F4 is a tad cheaper too, so rather more affordable to many.. Not for me as I'm in a different ecosystem, but very useful to plenty.

Thanks for this practical review. I too have relied primarily on the 12-100 f4 for most of my photography, but sometimes miss having the longer reach. I’ve toyed with getting the 40-150 f2.8, but it’s as bulky and heavy as my 100-400 f5-6.3. I need a compact, lighter combination for travel, and you’ve convinced me to getting the 40-150 f4. This will be a perfect companion lens to my primes and the 8-25 f4. 👍

It’s a great lens. This, alongside my 12-40 2.8 covers the range I like. A perfect combo in a PD Sling 6L. Having 12-150 (24-300) in two lenses at this quality is amazing for me. Sure, the focus clutch and Fn button would’ve been nice, to keep continuity with my settings but it wasn’t a decider, when purchasing the lens.

I'm sold!!!! I have the 12-42mm F4 Pro, the 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II, so, with the 40-150mm F4 Pro I am covered from 12-300mm which is good enough for me. The 75-300mm is mainly for birds or wildlife. The 12-42mm can be used for street photography and the 40-150mm can be my general purpose on my E-M2 III. I'll probably keep the 12-42mm on my E-M10 IV. I can now sell my E-M1 and PEN E-P5 or put them on the shelf. Thanks for sharing your review. Can't wait to use my new lens later this week.

Great Choice! I keep the f2.8 because I need to use it also for sports. Normally for trekking in the mountains I tend to bring the 8-25mm f4, the 40-150mm f2.8 + TCS and the Olympus 30mm f3.5 Macro. Perfect range for almost everything.

It is my new favorite lens. Perfect companion to the 12-45 f4 Pro

It's been my favorite lens ever since the release last year. Together with the 12-45 f4 they weight about the same as the 12-100 f4 but you get a larger range.

I understand why others have issues with the lens, and I understand that not everyone needs those features. I too tend to gavitate to lighter, smaller gear. Glad this is working out for you.

Thanks David, congrats on the new lens and I am sure it will serve you well for many years.

had the 40-150 f4 for while now very sharp great on long walks combined with the 12-45 f4 fitted to the em 5 mk 3

Ahh the never-ending pursuit of the perfect lens. Been there, got the T-shirt, washed it and ironed it and put it back in drawer!. Looks like a great choice David - enjoy. I shoot Fujifilm XT-1 and started with the XF 18-135 lens which was quite heavy and bulky, so sold it and bought the XC 16-50 and XC 50-230 instead. The two together weigh about the same as the XF 18-135, and they cover (in 35mm terms) everything from 24mm to 350mm. Very happy with them, and I find them just as sharp as the XF lens.

Sounds like an excellent purchase Dave. I look forward to seeing more of your adventures in the hills and around beautiful Anglesey. Very best regards - Robin

Spot-on reasoning. After a bunch of testing, I found I preferred the Panasonic G9 to Olympus and am waiting for my Panasonic Leica 50-200 to show up. The move from 35mm format to MFT has been awesome. I enjoy your channel and photos. You have inspired some changes in the way I shoot that have greatly improved my photography.

I am primarily a Fuji X shooter, but I also use m4/3s for specific cases. I got the OM system 40-150 f4 Pro for a trip later this year to Ireland, specially for shots along the western and NW coast on a Panasonic GH5 II body. The small size, light weight, portability , WR and excellent reviews of this lens for the telephoto end attracted me towards getting it. However, for the wide angle and normal shots, I plan to use the X-T3 with Fuji prime lenses.

Love your straight talking mini reviews saying how it is with no fluff 😂

I've been thinking about this as a complement to my 12-45 f4 lens. Currently I use a Lumix 45-175 which is sharp, light and compact but made of plastic and not weather sealed. If only this lens took the OM teleconverters I'd already have bought it (to also replace my longer zoom) but I'm still swithering at the moment, I'll look forward to seeing some of your work with it. I totally agree on the perceived "downsides" none of which are significant to me; I use the front "DoF" button to switch to manual focus and certainly don't need any more buttons to customize. BTW I hadn't noticed you had switched to primes! I must have missed a video somewhere...

Hi DG, Thanks for the mini review.... can I say that after watching the vids you do I totally brought into the four thirds system purely for the fact of loosing weight... so many photographers have lost interest in taking photos because of the added weight that decent glass adds to the bag and therefore loathe trekking up a mountainside... so the four thirds is the way to go... this looks as if it could be the next companion for the 12/40 f2.8 pro 2 that I brought, which for me is the "use all day" lens, I wonder... if the shots you took are SOOC or have they have the DG "Tickle" applied to them.... as with the 12/40 I have used...so far I adore the SOOC image... Thanks...Yoki... oh and thanks for helping to make my mind up to give four thirds a go... should of done it years ago mind... Yoki..

I have done same as you , replaced it with 40-150 f4 pro , and I love it so lightweight 😄

Completely agree with all you have said. I have had a number of different systems over the years and always went for the 70-200 f4, lighter and the image quality has always been exceptional. I have recently switched to Olympus and will in due course go for this lens i mean why not

What a sensible and thoughtful review! I love how you debunked those frivolous complaints about the lens. I just received the OM-5 and 12-45mm f4 lens kit yesterday (these also have been flippantly criticized). There was a 10% discount plus savings of about ¥30,000 for the kit along with a rebate in vouchers of ¥20,000 for the spring campaign here in Japan. This is a bargain and some. I love the form factor of this camera and the new f4 lenses. My next purchase will be the 40-150mm f4 lens after I sell some of my f2.8 lenses and one of my em1m2s. I’m keeping the other for video because I can rig it out for video. I’m a travel photographer so this system is fantastic. I have all the fast primes so I can also bring along a couple of them for night shooting or when I need to get a shallow depth of view. This combination is what makes the micro four-thirds systems so compelling over the larger sensor systems.

Nice review. I've bought this lens for travel, and am very pleased so far...

My favourite lens: so sharp!

Nice little review mate and it makes perfect sense to switch 👍

I tend to agree that the 3 mentioned drawbacks are of only minor inconvenience. Yet, my major concern with this lens is seemingly lack of compatibility with mc14/20. It does limit the potential reach of this lens. Personally, i dun think 150mm and 100mm is that big of a different in reach...i am happy to keep my 12-100 and use 100-400 pl if i need some reach.

I think i want one but I'd have to keep my 40-150 f/2.8 as well - I do use f/2.8 and the MF clutch and the TCs. Funny how the f/2.8 is regarded as a big lens when it's only about the same size & weight as my Canon 70-200 f/4 that I took everywhere for years.

The 40-150 F4 looks like an excellent option as a supplement to shorter primes, but to me who use the 12-100mm F4 it's just not enough extra reach. I also use the 40-150 F2.8, not too often, but the F2.8-version cover a different use case for me - lowish light/indoor and/or more fast-moving subjects and it can be used with a TC for even more reach. Not sure what I would have bought today though if starting from scratch. Maybe the Panasonic 50-200 F2.8-F4 which provide an interesting compromise between speed and reach.

Had a similar problem with the 12-100 but decided to go with the 40-150 f2.8 combined with a x2 tele converter. Although it was heavier the weather sealing and sheer image quality with added lens stabilisation more than made up for the weight gain

I could tell my story but I won't because it's similar to yours. As long as it does what you want it to all is well, glad you got it sorted! Take care..

Glad you like using a tele in the landscape it is good fun, and the cons that people come up with are just not worth listening to. And it seems to be working well for you David.

Yeah, those 3 complaints are rubbish. Love that lens, also mainly shoot at f/5.6 or f/8. Nice bokeh in close-up shots at f/4.

Had a look at the Olympus/OMD stand at my local WEX event yesterday, the new 40-150 f4 is certainly a lot smaller/lighter than the f2.8.

Yes, frivolous complaints about the lens. I mostly shoot between f/4 to f/8 with my MFT lenses... and also use S-AF+M. It is amazing close focus lens also.

Yep big fan of f/4 lenses, whether that be for my main DSLR system or for the EM1X I own. I own the 12-45mm f/4 pro and the 40-150mm f/4 Pro and the duo is far and away the best balance of IQ, size/weight, quality of construction, features (weather sealing, fast focusing, close focusing) of the entire lineup as far as I'm concerned. I would love for OM to make a 14-150mm f/4 PRO as well. It's too bad the 12-200mm doesn't have the build quality of these f/4 pro lenses, or the constant aperture. A 12-200mm f/5.6 PRO would totally be doable and would have been a better choice from a lineup standpoint than the current iteration.

I own the 40-150 F4 Pro and the lack of the focus clutch and function button is also a complaint of mine. Without them, the lens is missing a quick manual focus override because the lens does not always lock autofocus correctly. And for me, the function button has the focus peeking feature assigned to help MF. I understand not everybody likes those features, like if you are a landscape photographer you have all the time in the world to get it right. Some of us though shoot subject that (can) move so we need to nail it more quickly. Those features can be turned off (on Olympus cameras anyway). I'd say it's better to have those features with the option to turn them off than not have them at all.

Olympus came up with great Pro line lenses in the start of OM-D. 12-40 40-150 7-14 That was the holy trinity. All were f/2.8. You really didn't need more as you were 7-150 mm with it, and 210 mm if using TC-14. Then they came with other great additions. like 12-100 and 8-25mm. And then lastly 12-45 and 40-150. All in f/4 category. IMHO Olympus went little off the rails with f/1.2 pro primes. They had f/1.8 premium category already. 12mm f/2 17mm f/1.8 25mm f/1.8 45mm f/1.8 75mm f/1.8 Does someone need more? Yes, I would have liked to see two lenses: 6mm f/4 100mm f/1.8 But what really killed Olympus, was their thrive to larger and larger bodies. E-M1 was excellent. E-M10 Mk2 was amazing. E-M5 Mk2 was just bigger. But then they took E-M1 Mk2 and all went bad. E-M1X arrived, and then E-M1 Mk3 and everything was lost. The lenses were great, but bodies became too big. E-M10 Mk2 but with features from E-M1 Mk3 and then keep E-M1 as in exact form but with all features like from OM-1 Mk2. That thing would be exactly what m4/3 was about. Get a 12-100 f/4 or this 40-150 f/4 with a E-M10 and it would be crazy good. It is nice that there is the f/4 Pro lens series, lightweight and all, but I don't take it to replace f/2.8 series. A good bag and the holy trinity comes with you. It is easy and nice. I see the attraction in f/4 models, and it is great that it exist. And same reason I would have liked to see Olympus refresh their prime line up for cheap f/2.8 models. 10/12/17/25/45/75 and all with f/2.8, build like the plastic 45mm f/1.8 lens. And most importantly, push the price as low as possible heavily, like 250-300 per lens. Those would be f/2.8 after all. But now you would have a average consumer affording to buy few primes.

Seems to be an excellent lens for landscape photography - especially on hiking tours when every gramme of equipment counts. I am still a Nikon full frame photographer, but I rarely take my Z 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 S lens with me on hiking tours in the Alps, because it weights 1450 gramms!! So I am restricted to my Z 24-120 F4 S lens, which delivers excellent image quality, but sometimes is too short. What I would miss by going to mFT is the opportunity to produce nice sunstars - I don't know a mFT lens which creates well looking sunstars.

Never mind, people just like to complain, even about the weather. What's wrong with the weather, we photographers go out in all sorts of weather.

My only beef with this lens is it not taking a teleconverter. Also it does have a rather cheap feel to it compared with the other Pro lenses but there is absolutely no disputing the image quality it produces.

Can I suggest a topic for a future video …… can you show us what you can do with your 12mm f/2? I just got a second hand one. No reason to suspect that it is faulty, but I do not really see how it can be used for landscape work as it is not very sharp and mine does not resolve detail very well at distance (I don’t think focus stacking would help. It is possible that I may be expecting to much when pixel peeping). Diolch 😀

I thought you were using the cheap 40-150. Anyhow, i had it and i was glad to get rid of it, i will not use cheap lenses again. I'm building a travel kit with my EP7 and this might be my next lens, till now i have the panasonic-leica 12-60 and oly 12mm. This camera could use some small lenses but i also want the convenience of zoom and 62mm diameter is the max i will go, luckily this is 62. I used once 3 lenses in a snow storm and it was a disaster, especially that kit lens.

Hiya Dave, yep I'm still lugging that 12-100mm f/4 Pro around along with the 8-25mm f/4 Pro and I noticed that your test images don't exceed 100mm focal length. Based on your experience is the image quality of the 12-100mm lens less than the 40-150mm f/4 Pro when zoomed to 100mm? Just curious.

thanks for your video. completely agree with almost everything you said. may i ask how you think about it half a year later? still happy with your decision to switch to the f4 version? thanks a lot. appreciate it.

Right DG when are you reviewing the Laowa 6mm, more gear than MPB 😂

Just ordered this lens today with the 1.4 teleconverter.

Hello and thank you to good videos. What prime you use with this lens to landscape photos?

Olympus produced 12-100mm F4.0: it's a superb lens, not only because of the optics, but because it has IS. Being able to hand hold it down to very slow speeds makes it hugely flexible. And it has the manual clutch and function button for those who need it. Then OM Systems produced the 40-150mm F4.0: NOT stabilised, no manual clutch or function button either. Absence of clutch & button don't bother me, but why does a 12-100mm F4.0 lens need IS, while a 50-150mm F4.0 doesn't? What's the logic, other than stripping out value while still maintaining relatively high price? An F4.0 with IS would still have saved most of the weight, while being far more usable. IMO, a very poor decision by OM Systems.

Hi Dave - any thoughts on the 12-200 its not much bigger and has a wider range - I am in the process of getting that to test the OM1 I am buying - any thoughts on the OM1 compared to the older OMD-E1 M1,2,3 would be appreciated. Like you large kits is starting to drag me down literally ;-) so looking for M34 to try to achieve this.

Hiya buddy, what focus settings do you have set up for this lens on your om1 please.

You forgot to mention two other points. The lens needs to be unlocked before allowing you to take photos. One wasted second can be crucial in certain scenarios. But the most important to me is not having image stabilization. Would you not rather have dual system stabilization? I believe you would.