Olympus 40 – 150 mm Lens vs. Fuji 55 – 200 mm Lens

I took some comparison pictures between the Olympus E-PL5 with the Olympus 40 – 150 mm, M. Zuiko F4 – 5.6 R lens, and the Fujifilm X-E1 with the Fujifilm XF 55 – 200 mm, F3.5 – 4.8 lens.  The above images were made at the extreme long end of both lenses which is an effective 300 mm focal length.  I then cropped both images down to what you see above which is not quite down to 100%.  Both images were taken in the program setting and were handheld.  They both were at f/8 and ISO of 200.  The WB, exposures, and the black and white points were slightly different so I adjusted then to make them similar.  The Fuji camera has an APS size sensor with no filter.  The Olympus is a micro 4/3 sensor (smaller) with a filter.  Both images were taken in raw format and processed in LR5.

The Olympus combination weights 535 gm and costs (22 May 2014) $698.  The Fuji combination weighs 950 gm and costs (22 May 2014) $1268 and is much larger in size.  The difference in just the lenses is even more extreme.  The Olympus lens cost $199 vs. the Fuji cost of $699.  The image qualities are different but I will let you decide whether it is worth the difference in cost and weight.  To be fair you have to realize that this comparison was made under ideal conditions.  I will also have to compare them under low lighting conditions.  Under that situation I expect the differences to be more pronounced.

4 comments

  1. John from Boston

    I didn’t know the video link was going to embed itself in the page. I hope that’s okay. 🙂

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  2. John from Boston

    I tried to guess which image was from which camera before I jumped into the details of the post. The Fuji might be doing a hair better in shadow detail in the leaves, but that’s all I can see for differences. Also, I’m cheating a bit because I already know the areas where an APSC sensor is going to perform slightly better than an m4/3 sensor.

    I came across a thoughtful video about the micro 4/3 system last night and thought I’d share. It reminded me of some of the conclusions you’ve been reaching:

    Why I Use Micro Four Thirds Cameras

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