Has anybody switched from [Panasonic Leica 100-400mm] to [Olympus 40-150mm Pro + MC20]?

Hello

I recently got 40-150mm pro and what a beautiful lens it is! F2.8 at 150mm is a whole new world. I already own 12-100mm pro and 100-400mm Panasonic Leica so I thought this lens might be redundant, but boy it is not. I'm glad I got this lens.

Now here's my question.
Has anybody compared between Panasonic Leica 100-400mm and Olympus 40-150mm pro + MC20, then choose one over another?

First, I'm sorry if this has been discussed. At least I couldn't find this exact topic. If you know, can you please share the link for me and future inquiries?

As you can imagine, I'm trying to see if it's reasonable to sell 100-400mm and just use 40-150mm with MC20 if needed. On paper, I know I'm losing 300-400mm range but that's what it is.

Thanks in advance for any comments.

I've never been particularly happy with the results using the 1.4 teleconverter.  I can't imagine the 2x TC will given results that are really any better.

My 2 cents anyway - maybe my teleconvertors have been particularly poor quality.

No text.

If you know, can you please share the link for me and future inquiries?

Brian Wadie has written a bit about this comparison: <link>

Elsewhere, he commented that the 40-150mm + MC20 combo has the additional benefit of allowing Pro Capture shooting. Maybe that would be a consideration for you as well?

Danielvr wrote:

If you know, can you please share the link for me and future inquiries?

Brian Wadie has written a bit about this comparison: <link>

Elsewhere, he commented that the 40-150mm + MC20 combo has the additional benefit of allowing Pro Capture shooting. Maybe that would be a consideration for you as well?

thanks for letting me know about this thread, I thought I had posed an update on my experiences which led me to selling the MC-20?

For most uses I stick with what I first wrote, it works exceedingly well with the 40-150 pro and I was happy that it was a good replacement for the 100-400, which although itself a very good lens I was never happy with its build or handling

Now the big BUT, one of my main uses of the MC-20 + 40-150 pro was shooting windsurfing action off our local beaches.

When there was overcast the results were excellent, particularly at the shorter distances from shore.

However when, as is most common, the sun was out or there was a bright sky I ran into problems because its a contre-jour shore for most of the day.

I'm not sure but suspect there may have been internal reflection problems but whatever the cause I was consistently getting weird colour shifts and poor sharpness resolution and the results were unacceptable.

It was a great shame as apart from that I was really enjoying using the combo but I have now taken a slight hit on all round quality by getting the Panasonic 100-300mk2, specifically for this job and it seems to cope with the contre jour OK

The really odd thing is that I have never seen this effect using the 40-150 pro + MC-14

For most it probably wouldn't even surface as a concern and I would still recommend the MC-20 with the 40-150 pro, it just wasn't for me

update

(my memory was right, https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/63162891 )

Minolta_A2 wrote:

Hello

I recently got 40-150mm pro and what a beautiful lens it is! F2.8 at 150mm is a whole new world. I already own 12-100mm pro and 100-400mm Panasonic Leica so I thought this lens might be redundant, but boy it is not. I'm glad I got this lens.

Now here's my question.
Has anybody compared between Panasonic Leica 100-400mm and Olympus 40-150mm pro + MC20, then choose one over another?

First, I'm sorry if this has been discussed. At least I couldn't find this exact topic. If you know, can you please share the link for me and future inquiries?

As you can imagine, I'm trying to see if it's reasonable to sell 100-400mm and just use 40-150mm with MC20 if needed. On paper, I know I'm losing 300-400mm range but that's what it is.

Thanks in advance for any comments.

Thank you all for the comments. I am not in rush so I will keep both lenses and see more reviews.

400mm has been barely long enough for some of my past work so I would not give it up to fall back to 300mm.

However, I don't think I'll be doing that work next year so I may be selling it off for that reason.

I do have an almost-unused 40-150mm 2.8 Pro and the 1.4 TC.  I'll bet I've not made more than a dozen pictures with it.  I've been a fool for keeping it.  My most used lenses are the 12-40mm Pro and the 7-14mm Pro.

I have and use both of those fine lenses.  

DLGW wrote:

I've never been particularly happy with the results using the 1.4 teleconverter. I can't imagine the 2x TC will given results that are really any better.

Same here. Wide open it is soft and needs to be stopped down. The thing is, that lens is softest at the long end and the long end is where you will be zoomed out to if using a TC (else why bother). So I can understand that TC doing much better on a prime.

Many have shown the 2x TC results, and often they seem to show a bit better performance than the 1.4x TC. In the past, on other systems, I have tried three different 2x TC’s and in all cases returned the 2x TC. So I kind of soured to the idea of any 2x TC. I actually would be open to a 1.7x TC, like Nikon does, over a 1.4x or 2x TC. I think that would be a sweet spot for IQ and range. Who knows, maybe that will happen someday 🤔

Not exactly on topic and for the small & light crowd, this won't be very appetizing.  But, consider the original 4/3 300mm f2.8 + 1.4 TC (or 2.0TC).  Those who used these combinations on the older E-series cameras swore by the results and had the images to back them up.   For m4/3 use, it will require an adapter, but these are the combos I would seek if I could afford the tariff.  Even used, they're still pricey.

Skeeterbytes wrote:

Owning the 40-150+MC14 combo, the Lenstip charts verified what I was seeing in my images, which are about what you describe.

Opticallimits Also describes it https://www.opticallimits.com/m43/945_olympus40150f28pro?start=1

Henry Stamm wrote:

Not exactly on topic and for the small & light crowd, this won't be very appetizing. But, consider the original 4/3 300mm f2.8 + 1.4 TC (or 2.0TC). Those who used these combinations on the older E-series cameras swore by the results and had the images to back them up. For m4/3 use, it will require an adapter, but these are the combos I would seek if I could afford the tariff. Even used, they're still pricey.

also very heavy!

Albert Valentino wrote:

Skeeterbytes wrote:

Owning the 40-150+MC14 combo, the Lenstip charts verified what I was seeing in my images, which are about what you describe.

Opticallimits Also describes it https://www.opticallimits.com/m43/945_olympus40150f28pro?start=1

From what I recall it was only a few years ago that lenses which achieved more than 1500 got testers quite excited. I remember some early Sony kit lenses (and other brands) dropping below 800 at their max zoom.

But of course they were for larger sensors, so maybe m43 lenses need to resolve a lot more ?

I did my test exactly because of having the same lenses. I tested my 40-150 Pro with both the MC14 (2 copies) and the MC20 (borrowed from a friend) against my PL100-400.

My results were that in the overlapping focal lengths of 100-150mm, the 40-150 without any teleconverters was a bit sharper. Once either the MC14 or the MC20 were added to the 40-150, the PL100-400 was noticeably sharper. The MC20 had better results than the MC14, but it still lacked the sharpness of the PL100-400.

I paid particular attention to the comparison of the 40-150 at 150mm + the MC20 (300mm, f/5.6) and the Penny at 300mm (f/5.7)..... the Panasonic was sharper.

My tests were using both lenses the way I normally shoot, not a laboratory type test. My subject was a discarded tobacco can, half submerged in some marsh water with the lettering on the side visible above the water, distance about 20 feet. Both lenses were hand held but braced on the top rail of a fence. Aperture value, silent shutter, both auto focus, and manual focus with magnification and peaking employed.

I’m keeping the 40-150 Pro for the time being, but sold the MC14.