The Leica 14-150mm is designed specifically for the Four Thirds mount used by Panasonic and Olympus. Although it’s badged as a Panasonic lens and incorporates Panasonic’s own Mega OIS Image Stabilisation system, it will work on Olympus cameras too: the only difference we found is that the aperture ring on the lens is ignored and the camera body retains control of the aperture.

Four Thirds cameras and lenses have a 2x focal factor, so the Leica’s focal range is equivalent to 28-300mm. That makes it a 10x optical zoom, which covers everything from wide-angle shots to long-range telephoto photography. The Leica’s minimum focusing distance of 0.5m at all focal lengths means that it’s very good at close-up photography, too.

Interestingly, Panasonic has gone for lens-based Mega OIS image stabilisation with its Four Thirds system, while Olympus has chosen a sensor-shift system. Panasonic’s approach means that you potentially have to pay extra for image stabilisation each time you buy a lens, but the advantage of lens-based stabilisation systems is that they steady up the image in the viewfinder as you shoot.

This 14-150mm makes for an interesting comparison with the 14-50mm kit lens usually supplied with the Panasonic L10. It has a much longer focal range, but it’s actually slightly shorter (if fatter). Some superzoom lenses are too big and bulky to carry round with you all day, but this one is fine. It does extend considerably at its maximum focal length, but it never becomes unbalanced.

The aperture ring around the base of the barrel is an interesting feature. This harks back to Panasonic’s first DSLR, the L1, which sought to re-introduce the exterior aperture and shutter speed controls of traditional SLRs. On the L10, you can either leave the aperture ring set to A and let the camera control the aperture, or choose one of the manual click stops. These are ignored in everything other than the A and M modes, though, and the fact that the aperture can also be controlled via the body makes the option seem at best potentially confusing.

That said, this is a great lens to use thanks to the compact dimensions, the balance, the smoothness of the controls and the clear labelling. One of the biggest surprises, though, is the speed and near-silence of the autofocus system. This is the first Leica lens to include the company’s new Extra-Silent Motor (XSM) system, and if you thought the USM and Silent Wave motors from Canon and Nikon were quiet, this lens will blow you away.

At this price, of course, you’re going to expect the best – not just in terms of build quality and AF performance, but image quality too. The Leica’s test results showed that not only is its resolution high, but it’s also exceptionally consistent right through the aperture range, right across the frame from the centre to the edge and even across its range of focal lengths.

The only times when it starts to lose definition are at apertures below f11 (when diffraction is inevitably starting to soften the detail) and at the edges of the frame at maximum focal length (the edge figures have depressed the overall resolution values – in the frame centre it’s still very sharp). Neither of these is surprising, and the fact is that the Leica’s performance ‘envelope’ is much wider than the average superzoom.

All zoom lens designers face a constant battle against distortion and chromatic aberration. It’s not possible to eliminate them, but it is possible to minimise them, albeit at some cost. This is why the Leica incorporates no fewer than four aspheric elements, which is no doubt one of the factors in its price tag. The result is a lens which, while it isn’t completely free of distortion or fringing, has them so well-controlled that it’s at no disadvantage at all compared to even a very good standard zoom. That’s remarkable in a 10x superzoom.

But who’s going to buy it? Panasonic’s L10 DSLR is pitched at the amateur DSLR market, where a £1000 lens is surely never going to sell, while Olympus owners are likely to prefer Olympus-branded lenses. It’s a shame, because this is such a great lens that it deserves to become a classic.

Final Verdict 10x zooms often look good on paper, but disappoint with their performance or handling – the Leica 14-150mm isn’t one of them. For once this is something for Four Thirds fans to gloat about OVERALL

Our lens reviewer, and technical expert, Rod is a veritable photographic encyclopaedia. His illustrious CV has seen him write for many mags, websites and journals.