Is the Panny 14-140 worth $150 more than the Oly 14-150?

Allan Brown wrote:

Marty4650 wrote:

DxOmark gave this lens a pretty mediocre rating . I also found one user review at SLRgear.

I don't even know why the Tamron lens exists.

Normally, third parties try to fill the gaps, like Sigma did with their three little primes for M4/3 (19mm, 30mm and 60mm).

Tamron introduced this lens when both Panasonic and Olympus had very similar lenses. I suppose it was supposed to be a bargain priced lens, but at $459 (current Amazon price) it is not much of a bargain.

At $299 it might work for some folks. But in my case I'd rather buy a used or refurbished Olympus or Panasonic lens.

But, Marty, the DXO link shows that the Tammy is almost identical to the Oly and has slightly less CA.

http://www.dxomark.com/Reviews/Olympus-M.ZUIKO-DIGITAL-ED-14-150mm-F4.0-5.6-II-lens-review-Promising-all-round-option/Medium-score-and-low-peak-sharpness

Whereas, for the Tammy:

http://www.dxomark.com/Reviews/Tamron-14-150mm-F-3.5-5.8-Di-III-Micro-Four-Thirds-mount-lens-review-Accessibly-priced-addition-to-the-range/Measurements-Good-score-for-this-category

Note the difference in the heading wording - Medium-score-and-low-peak-sharpness for the Oly and Good-score-for-this-category for the Tammy.

Although it is not weather sealed, the Tammy is cheaper - so, a viable option.

Note: I do not have either of these lenses, so no favouritism on my part.

Allan

Good point Allan.

Which might explain why I don't want to own any superzoom lenses. The best ones in that class still aren't very good. This is just due to the compromises that are needed to get to a 10X zoom range.

These superzoom lenses are incredibly useful for people who absolutely hate to swap lenses on their cameras. Which makes me wonder why they don't just buy a superzoom camera, like an FZ1000 or RX10.

But everyone is different, and fortunately there are products that meet everyone's different needs.