Back in January Tamron announced a new 14-150mm F/3.5-5.8 Di III VC Micro Four Thirds lens. At the time they didn’t unveil neither the release date nor the price. After 9 months(!) Tamron website still doesn’t disclose the release date and price. The lens is listed on BHphoto too but without any useful info.
Some of our readers got any hint about the lens release???
Here are the lens specs:
| Focal length |
| F/3.5-5.8 |
| 17 elements in 13 groups |
| 0.5m (19.7 in.) |
| 1:3.8 (at f=150mm: MFD 0.5m) |
| φ52mm |
| 80.4mm (3.2 in.) |
| 85.24mm (3.4 in.) |
| φ63mm |
| 280g (9.9 oz.) |
| 7 (Circular diaphragm) |
| F/22 |
| Flower-shaped lens hood |
| Micro Four Thirds |
62 Responses
Why there is a lock on the len?
Could it be a possible that Olympus has bought this len to renew its old M.ZD 14150?
most of the tamron lenses hv got the same lock, that locks the zoom ring.
…to avoid zoom creeping.
I emailed Tamron UK in July. They said they had not had any information from head office about a release date or a price. They said to check back with them in a couple months but I haven’t bothered to yet.
After seeing what Tamron has been doing with FF f/2.8 zooms, I was excited to see what they would bring to m4/3. It’s looking more and more like not much.
Just another mediocre, does everything (but really nothing) zoom.
I didn’t mean that this lens would excite me, but rather that it would bring them into the m4/3 world. I was excited to see what would come after that.
I would love to see Sigma make some priority MFT lenses…they could do a nice job…but it appears that that will not be happening…
saw this lens at the tamron booth WPPI earlier this year. was told then it was due for a june release. unlike the folks at the panasonic booth, they wouldn’t let me try out the lens on my gx1. in fact other than the date they didn’t know much about the lens.
Bigger than new Pana 14-140 ,and about the same size and weight of Oly 14-150.
Need to be cheaper than Pana for no ibis M4/3 owners and cheaper than Oly for ibis M4/3 users….Maybe it never come finaly.
I guess ( and hope ) Tamron is having second thoughts and will make the lens a bit longer at the tele end.
Look closely at all the pics out there of this lens. Looks like it’s just the M43 version of the Tamron 18-200mm Di III VC for Sony E-mount. The math lines up (14-150 on m43 is about 18-200 on E mount) and the lens looks almost identical. The E mount version is $739 at Amazon US. So maybe Tamron expected to be selling at that price point and now doesn’t know what to do with the new Lumix 14-140 at $699 and the Oly 14-150 currently at $449…
Well, it has similar styling to the E-Mount 18-200mm, but it is definitely a different lens. The whole narrow section near the mount is not there on this lens.
As for the math, yes, a 14-150mm on m4/3 would give you roughly the same FOV as an 18-200mm on the E-Mount’s APS-C sensor. However, if they simply changed the mount on the 18-200mm, the focal length wouldn’t magically change to the equivalent on the smaller sensor. It would still be an 18-200mm, but would give you a narrower FOV (equivalent to 24-266mm on an APS-C) on m4/3.
Are you blind? They look completely different.
There is very good Panasonic 14-140mm (two versions) and Olympus 14-150mm. There is no place on the market for next 14-150mm. The best idea is to fill the gap in the system:
– fast ultrawide zoom (like 7-14mm f/2.8)
– fast ultrawide primes (7mm, 10mm)
– ultrafast eqivalent 35mm (e.g. 17mm f/1.2)
– longer macro (e.g. 90mm f/2.8 or slower)
– faster tele (100mm f/2.8, 200mm f/2.8, 100-300mm f/4, 400mm f/4)
The Tamron lense would be at least $100 cheaper than Oly, so I guess they would sell quiete a few of these if IQ is decent.
I would have bought one if it would have been available.
I wouldn’t call the Panasonic 14-140 (either version) “very good”, let alone the Olympus 14-150. As of now, I think there are only two decent 10x+ zooms in the whole world, one being the Canon 28-300L, the other the Panasonic “Leica” 14-150 for Four Thirds. So, yes, I think there still *is* room for another MFT superzoom lens, namely a really good one, as there is no such thing yet. I wouldn’t expect the Tamron to be the one, though.
The OP is missing the qualifier for his comment:
For a super-zoom it’s very good.
That gives it a whole ‘nother meaning.
The new Panasonic 14-140mm is supposedly a marked improvement over the original.
I still wish that Oly or Panasonic would release a good quality 12-60mm.
I want a 7-210mm f3.5-f5.6 for 199$. oh, and weather sealed. And IQ matching High Grade 43 lenses. Black. Plus hood. And pouch. (Facepalm)
You forgot to mention the weight: less than 200 g… 😉
and no deeper than 43mm in length.
Admin – I spoke with a Tamron representative a week ago at a Kelby Photography workshop and I asked him about this lens. He said it’s coming, although he did not specify a date. I asked if this lens would be a real competitor to the Oly (which I have and love) and he indicated that we would not be disappointed. He could not say/divulge too much more. But it sounded very promising, and he seemed really excited about it.
Almost a year later and near total silence from Tamron, which seems to me to be a disservice to their customers at the very least.
I find it interesting that there is so much discussion about a lens that hasn’t been released, and that we have not info for: price, performance, release date, etc. People might as well have a lengthy discussion about a magic elephant, for all it’s worth.
And the long discussions about what people wish this lens would be: lighter, cheaper and better than the competition, able to wash dishes, fix my car and make my girlfriend not so angry with me when I fart in bed, . . . etc.
I find it interesting too that people are quoting the Tamron rep, that the lens will be out soon and we won’t be disappointed. I mean, what would you expect him to say:
“I have no idea when the lens will be out,” or when it does come you’ll find that the new Lumix lens performs better,” or “it will be way over-priced for what you’re getting.”? All of which might be closer to the truth as far as we know.
I think the comments are correct about how this zoom range is becoming crowded for mFT lenses and the price point has also become an issue. I don’t know if their lens would have any IQ advantage to give them a wedge opening in the competition in this range.
I’m not saying it would not be a quality lens, I just am not into optical designs enough to tell. History has shown that Tamron can certainly design fine optics 🙂
I just put up a post that had taken considerable thought and wording. Me being a fine upstanding member of the community and not wishing to upset anyone with nasty or rude comments, nae even sarcastic comments. I spent a vast amount of time and effort creating the post.
I posted and got.
“You are posting comments too quickly. Slow down.”
Its my first bl00dy post. Now its gone.
Admin you have a crazy site.
It seems this happens if you dont enter an email address
It seems to be random when I am not logged in.
What a terrible waste… You obviously have too much spare time.
My first post got lost. It was sent to the posting to fast bin???? And will never be seen again. I posted a comment on that getting lost and that has gone to moderation ?????
With a decent browser you could have just clicked back, because they safe the formular data.
My comment on moderation has gone to moderation???
It seems £612.99 in here
http://www.parkcameras.com/Bundle.aspx?BundleID=17324&display=true
Tamron need to do 14-40/2.8 at around $600
Almost everybody want fast normal zoom but not the price of 12-35 or 12-40
Perhaps tamron got cold feet.
They may have been aiming to provide their version of a higher quality super zoom that is similar to Oly’s 14-150 in weight yet vastly lighter and better than Panny’s BUT then the unforseen 14-140mk2 came out and left the guys at Tamron scratching their heads?
In tamrons position, I wouldn’t waste the resources and instead just pull the plug and make something else.
Tamron, please give us a 17 f1.4 or 1.2 af lens that no one wants to give us.
Olys 17 f1.8 is nice and doesn’t weigh much but f1.8 isn’t enough for really low light situations and the nokton f0.95 is beautiful at what it does but it all became clear to me when I was recently just about to purchase it but I couldn’t convince myself that should carry that weight of 540g+ around for a lens I won’t use except for it’s specialised role….low light.
In the case of the upcoming 40-150f2.8 or my HG zuikos these lenses are not single focal lengths, are relatively bright, are stellar at all focal lenths and cover so much. That more than earns them a right to be a little heavier than the usual.
For me M43 primes I want ideally at under 200 grams but I will accept up to 350 grams for a hyper f1.2 AF prime of stellar quality. Now I’ll wait for Scheinder, Panny with a possible Nocticron or even Tamron.
I think you got the right explanation.
With the new Panasonic version of that lens, the 14-140mm went from 460g to 265g, while getting a bigger aperture at both wide and tele end. Amazingly, IQ is also better and price at 700$ is less than the first one at launch (850$). OTOH, on the pricing front, the Oly is hard to beat at 450$.
Whatever Tamron was bringing to the game (better IQ? smaller size/weight? bigger aperture?), I guess the new Lumix made their product irrelevant, and they might just not bring it to the market. And if they want to win by aggressive pricing, then there’s Oly 14-150mm. Not much space left for Tamron.
The Tamron 18-200 for E-mount is only 150€, while oly is almost 500€. So there is pretty much space in price for Tamron.
Though I dont know if a mft version would be more expensive, but you say less glas, less cost…
Hmmm… currently 740$ at amazon.com. Or did I miss something?
Not sure I see the point of this lens, given the Pany and Oly variants. As the Pany and Oly lines get “deeper” the number of gaps in the lineup for Sigma, Tamron, et al, gets smaller. Sigma has the best potential, but I’m not sure they’re much interested. At this point, they’ll all be APS-C lenses, anyway.
Can anyone tell me what’s up with Olympus not ever releasing anything faster than f1.8?
In the days of 43 they refusd to ever give anything faster than f2 and now they stubbornly will not go beyond f1.8!
Don’t get me wrong those f1.8 lenses are absolute gems that are so practical for travel but why not deliver to us one or two hyper primes at f1.4 or f1.2 Oly at no heavier than 350g?
Perhaps Olympus has purposely segmented its lenses into prosumer MFT lenses (1.8 and slower) and its PRO lenses (2.0 and faster). So, whereas the prosumer lenses are slower but also lighter and smaller (and often high quality), the PRO lenses will be faster, sealed, and genuinely high quality glass but potentially bigger and heavier than prosumer grade glass.
f/2.0 is slower than f/1.8
f/2.0 is not what the new PRO lenses are about. They’ll probably be faster than average, just like Olympus’ HQ and SHQ FT lenses tended to be faster than average, but not all will be that fast or even faster. The first PRO lens is already known to be a 12-40/2.8.
Olympus seems to think that f1.8 is a good compromise for a fast lens that can still be relatively small/affordable. I agree with them. m4/3 users that are willing to buy such fast lenses are a niche within a niche. There’s already the 0.95s, the 25mm 1.4 and 42.5 1.2 from Panasonic, so there are choices…
Even the big systems generally only have a handful of lenses 1.4 or faster, and with them, size isn’t such a priority.
Why keeps everyone telling there are lenses available that are years away from release?!
I think you’re wrong. Look at what Fuji has and what’s on their roadmap. It’s what makes their X system so attractive, and even if there are only few lenses there, they’re exactly the right lenses for their purpose. 56/1.2, 35/1.4, 23/1.4, 18/2. MFT would need even faster equivalents to offer the same low-light suitability and the option of similarly shallow DOF, but as it is, the existing lenses aren’t even as fast, except for the 12/2. Olympus has to do something here, if they do not want to lose more and more enthusiast mirrorless customers to Fuji, as the Fuji cameras get better and better with each firmware update.
Just like their retro looking fancy bodies checking a lot of boxes in theory, so do their lenses.
It is too bad reality does rather suggests that checking those boxes will cause some people to pay attention, but doesn’t make for actually good cameras.
Its for people who buy their equipment based on spec sheets and for looking at their equipment in admiration, but not for those who actually want to use said equipment.
AF speed anyone?
Maybe the lens experts can answer this one.
Is it possible to make a zoom lens in two stages. Say a total range of 7-250mm. Having a 7 to 35mm range then flip a switch (reposition a lens?) and have a 30-250mm. Full zooms not the tri focals that Leica made once long ago.
On this post, maybe Tamron has seen the success of the Speedbooster and is holding the 14-140 (which looks like an APSc) to build a speedboosting capability into the back of the lens. Or even joining the current world and starting at 12mm or even 10mm.
@JimD, your idea sounds a lot like the new Canon zoom with a built-in 1.4x multiplier custom built into each lens. You can flip it on and off as you desire. However, as with multipliers, it just bumps the reach — whereas yours multiplies the reach 5+ times. I think your concept is out of reach for current technology, and even if it worked, the f-stop would go up considerably making a very slow lens at the long end.
The multipliers always give up light relative to the native lens. So, barring some serious lens design innovation, I’m guessing your lens would simply have to be designed as a 7-250mm in the first place.
I think I will just have a ‘Virtual Zoom’ must be some one invented one by now we have ‘virtual’ everything else (Oh. Virtual f stops as well!). Or is virtual just code for could not make what they really wanted work when tried but won’t admit defeat.
Bubble lens, say slowly bubble lens. Now that sounds very virtual. virtually all.
why not put up a poll of how many people would be interested in this lens?
when tamron sees the results as no-one, they will resume their course of forgetting about this lens
Missing? No, we don’t miss it, sorry. Tamron, please, make yourself useful.
Well there definitely is a market in this crowded section, but probably not for the next middle of the road lens, since panasonic and olympus allready make those.
however on the high end scale and preferably weather/dust sealed there is most likely a market for all those OM-D’s and the next EM-1 out there which are m43 and weather/dust sealed, but you can not get a lens in this range which is (panaleica is afaik not sealed). And since that audience can shell over 1000 usd for a camera, a lens in that price range would not scare them.
Of course we are not talking pro-use overhere (they would stick to absolute optical quality, which no 10x zoom can do, but they are the ultimate hiking/travel/holiday compromise lens. Which is my main usage and any 1kg combo beats my 3kg E3/12-60/50-200 easy for travel comfort (not for optics, but that is the trade of)
So if anyone makes a sealed Pana Leica D quality alike version 43 or better m43, in 14-150 or better 12-150 (maybe more) i am definitely game, regardless if it will be costing over 1000/1500 usd…
I agree. And regarding optical quality, the existing Panasonic “Leica” 14-150 FT lens actually *is* a match for the ZD 14-54 (and possibly even the 12-60), just not in aperture, something that otherwise only the venerable Canon 28-300L for Full Frame DSLRs achieves.
Uh, in real world use the 14-54 (both mk1 and 2) run circles around the 12-60, and so does the Leica 14-150 when looking at things like distortion and aberrations. There is a lot more to optics then the impression of sharpness.
The 12-60 is convenient and pretty damn good for its range and aperture, but its far from perfect, especially the rather funky distortion at the wide end is simply a bit nasty. Its not a lot of distortion, but its pretty much impossible to correct due to the very complex nature of this distortion. Really, 10% pure barrel distortion is A LOT less problematic then 1% of the kind of ‘mustache’ distortion the 12-60 has when it comes to things like architecture. The first is trivial to correct 100%, the later is impossible to correct 100%.
Some people seem to forget that canon has a 28-200 which is no L but seems to be sealed (acc to dpreview). Again we are not talking fast super high quality zoom, just damn practical. the 28-300L is not that practicall, i hired it for 1 day in my canon days and it simply is toooooo heavy big to walk around. Big respect for those who do on the job, true bodybuilding combo.
Imho it would be a shame of olympus or panasonic if they did not get this, which is a bit nuts since oly has the tough line, wich is nice if you realy want to dunk it, but especially on the long end no option.
Oly builds the XZ2, i have it great camera, would love it more if it was sealed (wintersport, transpiration, etc). Might get the uw housing for those jokes…
But imho there is a relative undisclosed market for the outdoor/travel audience, who are usually weight and size restricted but want to bring something much better as a tough within practical boundaries and can afford it.
Would not mind a sealed bridge camera as long as it performs. My Konica Minolta A2 was a nice camera, very practical, but unfortunately not sealed, and focus was not reliable at all. but for its time it was a small gemm.
But now most practical is to get a sealed 10x zoom and stick it to a om-d (or the em1, unfortunately there is no sealed gx7, which is more flexible due to flash and tilting evf). It will be a over 2000/2500usd kit (but my current set up is close to 4k anyhow, and walk in any outdoor shop to see those gear prices). You would still keep the flexibility of lens change, for those rare occasions you need something much longer or much faster.
There definatly is a market for this lens: We tend to think to much about the top of the line gear.
Panasonic sells its slightly older bodys for bargain prices, coupled with a “cheap” super zoom those will attract a lot of casual shooters buying super zoom cameras now.
I hope they are redesigning it into a much more useful 11-110/4 rather than trying to compete with 3 similar slow superzooms from pana and oly.
a 12-130 approx the size and build quality of a 12-60 would be a real stunner,
11-120 probably a very wet dream(hence the weatherproofing).
Same filter size as the 12-60 72mm (ok saves me for buying new ones).
Smaller lighter is of course beautifull, but i do not mind having 500g of lens if it is nice quality and decently fast (E3+50-200 is 2kg with the 12-60 1,5kg just doable, together not so nice for your back, anything under 1kg total is true comfort), and tough enough that you do not have to think constanly about risking damage….
So please Oly make me want to splash that cash on top of an EM-1
Make it weather sealed and it would be the first super zoom I would buy. Unless of course a weather sealed 12-60 f/4 is made…
It seems that they will have fierce competition with m43 superzoom lens… interesting! Olympus may bring weather sealing on their future superzoom redesign. Perhaps if Tamron would have design the first longest m43 superzoom like their 15X range APS-C version, we may have considered that. But is it practical if it ain’t on FF superzoom?
12-100 would be the best idea imo.
So, it’s been almost a year now, and still no word from Tamron as to when this lens will be available. I email Tamron USA and asked, but they said the home office still hasn’t given them any info. I wrote back that their lack of information is not serving their customers, and many of us are turning towards either the new Panasonic version or the Oly version. I don’t think most of us are going to hold out for this as yet untested lens.