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14-140 sharpness almost as good as 12-35/35-100 f2.8

Started Jan 14, 2016 | Discussions thread
Mark B UK Senior Member • Posts: 1,772
Re: 14-140 sharpness almost as good as 12-35/35-100 f2.8
2

I have the 14-140 f/3.5- and also the 12-35/35-100 f/2.8 pair, so can compare them; previously I owned the original 14-140 so can reference against that.

IMO the current superzoom is massively better than the original, which suffered some barrel distortions at the wideangle end and a very severe falloff in sharpness at the long end, especially but not only in the corners. I find the performance of the new one acceptable throughout the range, excepting that there's SME vignetting at the long end (fixed automatically in LightRoom).

Personally I wouldn't say the 14-140 is as sharp as the separate fast zooms, especially wide open. But it's good enough, which makes it much better than almost any other superzoom I've used, or seen tested.

I tend to use mine in different situations. For landscapes I take the 12-35 and 35-100 because I like the weather sealing and performance edge, plus the Zuiko 60mm macro in case I see close-up opportunities. Cities, I pack the 60mm and two other Zuiko primes (12, 25) because I prefer the micro contrast and colour rendition of these optics, plus the 14-140 as insurance cover for things that can't be shot by the primes (it's so light it's no hardship). For events such as street parties where I might need extremes of focal length in rapid succession and changing lenses is difficult, I use just the 14-140.

 Mark B UK's gear list:Mark B UK's gear list
OM-1 Olympus 12-100mm F4.0 Olympus 25mm F1.2 Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 8-25mm F4 Pro
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