Olympus announces two new m4/3 lenses
Olympus has expanded its range of lenses for the m4/3 system with two M.Zuiko lenses with the zoom ranges 40-150 and 75-300mm. Both lenses are available in both black and silver. A new E-P2 kit has also been announced.
The new M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm is a telephoto lens for short and medium distances. The lens is intended to complement the current 14-42mm kit lens and will also be available as a bundle with an Olympus m4/3 camera. The largest aperture of f/4 is achieved in the wide-angle position, while it is f/5.6 in the telephoto position. The lens has a focusing mechanism whose sound is not picked up when filming.
The 40-150mm lens seems like two drops of water on the current 14-150mm lens. The tighter zoom range isn’t the only difference, though; the lens mount appears to be made of plastic, while that of the 14-150 mm is made of metal. The filter size is 58mm. The 40-150mm lens will be available from the end of October for a suggested retail price of 329.99 euros.
Due to the sensor’s 2x crop factor, the M.Zuiko Digital ED 75-300mm provides a viewing angle equivalent to a 150-600mm zoom range in 35mm format. The lens is 11.6 cm long and has a diameter of 7 cm. As with the 40-150mm lens, the filter size is 58mm and the lens is suitable for video recordings. The 75-300mm lens will be available from December for an amount of 899.99 euros.
Only the 75-300mm lens appeared on the lens roadmap that Olympus posted on its site in November last year, but at the time it was only known that it would be a ‘super telephoto zoom’, due for release in autumn 2011. It is not known whether the other lenses in the pipeline, such as the macro lens, will also be announced earlier.
After the new m4/3 lenses, Olympus has also announced a new E-P2 kit. The E-P2 Special Black Edition comes in two variants; one with a black version of the FL-14 attachment flash and the other with the electronic attachment viewfinder. Both kits come with a black version of the 17mm f/2.8 lens and a retro F-logo lens cap from the original 1960s Pen F camera. The E-P2 Special Black Edition Flash Edition is available for a suggested retail price of EUR 1049.99, while the E-P2 Special Black EVF Edition costs EUR 1079.99. Both kits will be available in limited numbers from October.