How's the OM Zuiko 75-150mm f/4?

Anon Ymous · Apr 2, 2021

Hello

As the title says, I'd like to know your opinion about the OM Zuiko 75-150 f/4. I didn't find that much so far and I suspect it's not particularly good. I'd appreciate input from those who have, or had it, especially at narrow apertures, I rarely shoot wide open anyway.

Thanks in advance

MattKing · Apr 2, 2021

I've had one for decades.
I like two touch zooms - some don't.
It is light and small and uses the same 49mm filters as many of the rest of the OM line.
It performs well - particularly in portrait situations.
I used to shoot a lot of slides with mine. Then I got an 85mm f/2 lens, and the 75-150mm moved to the bag with the less frequently used lens options.
At one time it was very popular, so there are a lot of them on the used market, at favourable prices.
It is a lens I should use more than I do now.

wiltw · Apr 2, 2021

The OM 75-150 was a 'kit lens' in lieu or 50mm 'normal', which accounts for its numbers. At one time, one-touch zooms were typicall the 'economy zoom' while the two-touch zooms were generally higher quality and price. The OM75-150mm was, IIRC, the very first zoom from Olympus. Keep in mind that computer optics design was not yet done typically, so zooms of the era were generally overally slightly lower performance than single FL lenses, and they also might have pincushoiin/barrel distortion as the shorter end of the FL range -- that is still tru even today!

Early OM 75-150 is a bit of unknown about presence of multicoating (which Pentax brought to the market in 1971), but later lens with 'MC' on the lens ring are clearly multicoated. When I get a chance, I will see if Popular Photography or Modern Photography have objective measurements about performance of this lens.

I never had the urge to get the 75-150mm, but I do still own the high performing OM 35-70mm f/3.6 which I purchased with the OM-1MD body, and that zoom is acknowledged by many to be one of the OM standouts, in addition to the much later OM 35-80mm f/2.8 for the OM-4Ti

eurekaiv · Apr 2, 2021

I really like this lens. Like most lower end longish zooms (or lenses in general really) it suffers from some loss of sharpness and vignetting wide open (which can actually be quite nice depending on the subject) but I think it's fine at 5.6 and up. I can't comment specifically fully closed as I tend to stick to the middle ranges almost all the time and I don't take notes for this stuff. I didn't notice any unpleasant distortion in the roll I shot with mine this year (though you can see some in the bench shot below) and find the size and handling quite nice. For as little as these cost, there's no reason not to have one if the OM system is your thing.

These images probably won't tell you much about the lens specifically but then I'd consider that a good sign really.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eurekaiv/albums/72157718325151757/with/50952238986/

wiltw · Apr 2, 2021

From an OM lens test compilation:

75-150mm f/4 Zuiko (single-coated)
@ 75 mm setting

OM-1 with mirror lockup
Vignetting = B
Distortion = none
Aperture Center Corner
f/4 C B+
f/5.6 C+ B+
f/8 B Af/
11 B+ B
f/16 A- B+
f/22 B B
Notes: Very high resolution at the sake of contrast.

OM-4T with mirror mirror and aperture prefire
Vignetting = B @ f/4, A- @ f/5.6, A from F/8 on
Distortion = slight barrel
Aperture Center Corner
f/4 B Bf/
5.6 B Bf/
8 B+ B
f/11 B+ B+
f/16 A- B+
f/22 B+ B+
Notes: Moderately high contrast at all apertures.

@ 100 mm setting

OM-1 with mirror lockup
Vignetting = none
Distortion = slight pincushion
Aperture Center Corner

f/4 B C+
f/5.6 B Bf/
8 B B
f/11 B B
f/16 B+ B
f/22 B B

OM-4T with mirror mirror and aperture prefire
Vignetting = A- @ f/4, A otherwise
Distortion = slight pincushion
Aperture Center Corner
f/4 B- Bf/
5.6 B B
f/8 B+ B+
f/11 B B
f/16 B+ B
f/22 B- BNotes:
Moderate contrast, except moderately high at f/8 & f/11.

@ 150 mm setting

OM-1 with mirror lockup
Vignetting = none
Distortion = pronounced pincushion
Aperture Center Corner
f/4 C D
f/5.6 C D
f/8 B Cf/
11 A- C
f/16 A- C
f/22 B+ CNotes:
Low contrast

OM-4T with mirror mirror and aperture prefire
Vignetting = A- @ f/4, A otherwise
Distortion = slight pincushion
Aperture Center Corner
f/4 B- Bf/
5.6 B- Bf/
8 B B
f/11 B- Bf/
16 B- Bf/
22 C+ C+
Notes: Moderate contrast, except moderately low at f/22 and (?)moderately
high at f/4. This lens sample was different than the one used for the OM-1
test above.

wiltw · Apr 2, 2021

From Modern Photography, June 1974

75-150/4.0 (6/74 p. 125-126):
75: Actual: 76.7/4.09, Distortion: not provided, Falloff: not provided
150: Actual: 154.4/4.12, Distortion: not provided, Falloff: not provided

f/4 5. 6 8 11 16 22

Resolution (lines/mm) at 75mm at 1:46x

Center: Ex 58 Ex 58 Ex 65 Ex 65 Ex 56 VG 46
Corner: VG 32 Ex 41 VG 41 Ex 46 Ex 46 Ex 41
Contrast (%) at 75mm at 30 lines/mm
Center: Med 49 Hi 76 Hi 66 Hi 64 Hi 76 Med 51
Corner: Low 12 Low 16 Low 26 Med 40 Hi 49 Med 37

Resolution (lines/mm) at 100mm at 1:48x

Center: Ex 54 Ex 60 Ex 60 Ex 60 Ex 60 VG 48
Corner: Ex 34 Ex 38 VG 38 Ex 43 Ex 43 VG 38
Contrast (%) at 100mm at 30 lines/mm
Center: Med 40 Med 48 Med 57 Hi 63 Hi 58 Med 54
Corner: Low 12 Low 17 Low 24 Med 37 Hi 45 Hi 43

Resolution (lines/mm) at 150mm at 1:48x

Center: Ex 48 Ex 54 Ex 60 Ex 60 Ex 54 Ex 48
Corner: Gd 30 Gd 30 VG 38 Ex 43 VG 38 VG 38
Contrast (%) at 150mm at 30 lines/mm
Center: Low 32 Low 41 Low 51 Hi 57 Hi 57 Med 49
Corner: Low 12 Low 12 Low 18 Low 26 Low 29 Low 29

BAC1967 · Apr 2, 2021

I have one but don't use it very much. I think this was shot wide open to get the fastest shutter speed, sorry I don't have an example with a narrow aperture. I get much more use out of the f/4 35-70 zoom if I'm going to use a zoom at all.

Blue Angel by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

MattKing · Apr 2, 2021

And its really cute

(excuse the horrible mixed light source colour).

beemermark · Apr 2, 2021

Handy but mediocre

Vonder · Apr 3, 2021

I recall reading in the OM2n literature that this lens won't meter correctly on the OM2n body. What an odd thing, for an OEM lens!

MattKing · Apr 3, 2021

Vonder said:
I recall reading in the OM2n literature that this lens won't meter correctly on the OM2n body. What an odd thing, for an OEM lens!

News to me - it works fine on my OM-2n, there is nothing in the manual for the OM-2n that indicates this, and there is no reference to this here: http://omesif.moosemystic.net/om-sif/lensgroup/75-150mmf4.htm
There might be a couple of focusing screens that don't respond well to the f/4 maximum aperture.

Anon Ymous · Apr 3, 2021

Once more, thank you all for your input. I guess it's not a stellar performer, but definitely adequate for many applications and a nice addition to anyone's camera gear considering the price. And to put some things in perspective, this thread has a user opinion of this lens on a 42MP A7RII camera. It doesn't perform very well wide open on such a high resolution camera, but once stopped down it becomes a lot better. So, at f/8 to f/16 it gets fairly good I suppose. Things would be better on film with moderate enlargements. Another interesting bit of information comes from @wiltw's post. The test data seems to be from this page and one can see that this lens compares favorably to the 135mm f/3,5, which I own and am pleased with.

MattKing said:
... I like two touch zooms - some don't...

That makes two of us. Actually, I really dislike one touch zooms.

wiltw said:
... I never had the urge to get the 75-150mm, but I do still own the high performing OM 35-70mm f/3.6 which I purchased with the OM-1MD body, and that zoom is acknowledged by many to be one of the OM standouts, in addition to the much later OM 35-80mm f/2.8 for the OM-4Ti

Yes, I too own the 35-70 f/3,6 and it is a good one. Obviously nowhere near as light and small as the prime zuiko lenses, but certainly a fine walk around lens if you only want a single body and lens combination in a small camera bag. I've tested it on my Canon 6D as well and it does pretty well as far as I can tell.

Frank53 · Apr 3, 2021

I had one in the 70’s and 80’s and used it a lot to shoot color slides during my travels and projected the results were just as good as those from the 1.8 50mm and the 3.5 28mm.
Regards,
Frank

beemermark · Apr 4, 2021

Vonder said:
I recall reading in the OM2n literature that this lens won't meter correctly on the OM2n body. What an odd thing, for an OEM lens!

Never heard of that. The lens was introduced with the Om-1 & OM-2N, long before any of the other models came out. Never had any problem metering with mine.

Vonder · Apr 4, 2021

MattKing said:
News to me - it works fine on my OM-2n, there is nothing in the manual for the OM-2n that indicates this, and there is no reference to this here: http://omesif.moosemystic.net/om-sif/lensgroup/75-150mmf4.htm
There might be a couple of focusing screens that don't respond well to the f/4 maximum aperture.

Ah, yep, it's only with one focusing screen. Doesn't say why...

reddesert · Apr 4, 2021

That's only with an unusual focusing screen that has a clear field outside the central microprism spot - in other words it does not have ground glass (matte) surface over the full area. Such focusing screens give a bright image but you can't use the field to focus, because your eye will focus on the aerial image whether or not it is at the correct focal plane. You would need to use the microprism spot to focus. The screen scatters light differently than the usual ground glass and is brighter, so it would throw off the in-prism meter (the off-the-film metering of the OM-2 in Auto would not be affected). If you read the fine print at http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photograph...ympusom1n2/shared/accessory/screens/index.htm it says the meter isn't used with any of the clear screens. Anyway, these screens are a piece of system-camera exotica, most of us will never see one.

Anon Ymous · Apr 25, 2021

So, I finally got my copy of the 75-150 f/4, which I have to say looks very nice, with minimal signs of use. I took some photos with my Canon 6D and it's quite good once you stop it down a stop or two. Wide open it is soft, IMHO only useful for deliberately soft portraits. Overall I was pleased with it considering what I paid, until I realised that this lens won't focus at infinity. At first I thought it had something to do with my OM-EF adapter, but it behaves the same when mounted on my OM-2N, where the large viewfinder with the split image focusing aid makes it blatantly obvious that it won't reach infinity. It maxes out at 35 to 40m. Perhaps this lens has been opened before by someone not particularly good at it... Anyway, would it be terribly difficult to adjust it? Truth be told, I have zero experience in lens repairs, but it is such a cheap lens and sending it for repair doesn't make much sense.

Nicholas Lindan · Apr 25, 2021

The lens should be reasonably sharp wide open (depends a bit of your definition of 'reasonable') - and it should focus at infinity. I second your guess someone took the lens apart, maybe to clean oil off the diaphragm blades, and put it together wrong: element in backwards, spacer on the wrong side of an element, zoom mechanism not synchronized ...

Finding out what just what the problem is may be harder than doing the repair.

At the prices these go for, buying another lens would be cheaper than any repair.

DNH · Apr 25, 2021

Bagged one off ebay for £10 & didn't expect too much from it, but had a pleasant surprise with how sharp it was.

No problems either shooting with an OM2N with it.

reddesert · Apr 25, 2021

Check for something that is loose, like a piece of the lens barrel that wiggles or clunks.

Anon Ymous · Nov 4, 2023

A little update... This lens, like other OM Zuiko lenses has 3 screws under the rubber focusing ring. By unscrewing them, you have a chance to adjust infinity focus. There are actually three holes on the focus ring barrel (per screw) but a single hole under this ring. This gives you some room to adjust infinity focus and still be able to hit the infinity mark on the scale. My lens initially had the screws at the central hole. After my adjustment, I had to use the left hole, but even then I can't quite reach infinity focus at 75mm. It's not far, but can't reach it. At the 150mm end, I can focus at infinity, perhaps a bit past it. The infinity mark seems about right for 90mm or so. I suspect it's usable as is, especially if you stop down, but it irks a bit.

How's the OM Zuiko 75-150mm f/4?

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How's the OM Zuiko 75-150mm f/4?

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