For the price this is a good choice. It is of course slow at tele and not good in low light, but is very good in bright sun, no matter what.

this is a great lens whether your using the auto or manual focus on this lens the pictures turn out sharp, hand held or on a tripod. even though I'm on a budget i like taking good quality pictures so it was nice to be able to get this lens at a much cheaper price (brand new) than if i were to go to an camera store online or otherwise. i think that i saved about a $140 by buying it here. i got what i wanted in a very timely manor. couldn't be happier with both amazon and this lens

I needed to add a lense and I am extremely happy with my purchase. Now I need to start saving up for Olympus Zuiko 14-54mm.

I used this lens for Birding and Macro by adding the EX-25. For Birding, This lens is good only when you want to take a shot of a bird on a tree but not good for flying birds. because of the very slow auto focus. Also isn't very sharp as many people say. The lens produces a soft image with a visible noise on the shadow areas. Raising the level of noise reduction on the camera to standard, will remove a lot of noise but you'll get a softer image. you can try to turn off the noise reduction if there is an excellent source of light to get a sharp image.

For Macro, this lens is very good specially if you have the Macro extension tube (ex-25). I'm using it intensively for macro and happy by the results but not very satisfied. Don't ever think this lens is enough for Macro or as good as macro lenses. The images aren't good as macro lenses' images at any case. The image will not be very sharp because of this reason:

- Forget the auto focus when you use this lens with the extension tube. you will have to use the Manual focus which is bad and not accurate. the manual ring isn't soft and I think this is the issue of all standard lenses.

I tested the sigma 105mm macro and it was better a lot in everything specially the manual focus which was very soft. but, I didn't buy it because I need a longer focal length. at least the 150mm. I consider the 70-300mm as a temp lens and for learning.

I don't recommend this lens for serious Macro or Birding photographers. The focal length isn't the most important thing. Many people got better results with 50-200mm because they can crop their picture without losing much quality (I'm not comparing the both lenses but I'm talking about cropping).

For temporary and learning, this lens is an excellent bargain; don't miss it. This lens even without the ex-25 has a capability of macro. put in mind that using it in low light areas is a bad idea.

I have 3 Zuiko lenses:

1- Zuiko 14-42mm (the best of the three for indoor shooting).
2- Zuiko 40-150. (stopped using it)
3- Zuiko 70-300mm (better a lot than the 40-150mm outdoor- less noise and sharper)

Finally, this is not a bad lens whatever the price is (I bought mine for $374) but also not for people who have a knowledge in the fields of Macro or Birding. If you are a serious macro shooter, get a macro lens and if you are a serious bird shooter get the 50-200mm/sigma 50-500mm or turn off the noise reduction if you want the 70-300mm(in this case you will work harder using any software to enhance the IQ). Don't expect great results. still this lens is in standard level of Zuiko lenses.

Recommended for starters.

I am using this lens on my E-510 digital camera.This lens is superior than the lenses supplied with the kit.The colors are vibrant and the distant objects are also very clear.On a sunny day this is an excellent lens but the objects in the shadow are not so bright.Some times it takes longer time to focus on the subject in the autofocus mode. I enjoy working with this lens and thanks to Amazon.com for their quality service and the best price on this merchandise.