Assessing the kit lens: vs Olympus 14-42mm

[cmp]

I'm considering moving from MFT (Olympus e-pl2) to the NEX 7, mainly to get the higher resolution necessary to give me satisfactory (to me) image quality in large (16x20 inch) prints. At that degree of enlargement, the e-pl2 with kit lens (14-42mm II) is just shy of producing results that are satisfactory for many images. While it is sometimes difficult to separate the effects of lens quality from sensor resolution, my tests suggest that the problem is the latter. An issue for the NEX 7 is the quality of the kit lens. I've read very different opinions from "it's only OK" to "it's excellent and underrated." So, I'm wondering whether anyone who has used both the NEX kit lens and the Olympus kit lens might be able to provide me a reference point by comparing impressions of the two. Also, do users feel that the NEX kit lens good enough to take good advantage of the resolution of the NEX 7 in 16x20 prints? Thanks for any input.

 

[serhan]

Wellcome to the forum. I have both systems, but I don't have nex 7 and didn't do a direct comparison between 2 kit lenses. Photozone has reviews that you can check:

Sony E 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 (Sony NEX) - Review / Lens Test Report - Analysis
Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 ED Review / Test Report - Analysis

It looked to me they are similar lenses given the difference between 12MP vs 14MP. 24MP should help to increase the resolution, maybe more on the center then the edges.

 

[Bugleone]

Firstly, the NEX sensors are bigger and there is a coresponding increase in image quality when printing at 20x16,...the NEX 'kit' lens is excellent provided you use with care and research,...personally, I ONLY use it on f8 in 'A' mode or manual (very rarely on f5.6) and, although I'm 'only' using the NEX 3 the quality of 20x16's would please any normal photographer (I was previously a Rolleiflex nedium format film user)

You can see my comments (& 20x16) here; https://www.talkemount.com/f10/want-jump-into-nex-system-832/

It's a good sign that Sony have used the same 'kit' lens for the NEX 7. It IS true that as pixel count increases ANY lenses used are put under considerable strain to perform,...but the 'kit' lens is a very good 'carry' and general optic which should give you good all round facility even for serious work (with care)

Without any wish to be rude or unkind, I think you are making a mistake to try to judge these two very different systems on the basis of the perfromance of their respective kit zooms,...it's not really an issue and could colour your answer.

 

[Poki]

Well, the kit lens gets out resolved by the NEX-7s sensor, so you won't get the most out of the 24MP sensor. But either way, the NEX kit lens is excellent (I mostly shoot primes, but got some exceptionally sharp pictures with the kit-lens on my NEX-5 stopped down).

If you don't need the light gathering ability of the 24mm CZ or the shallow dof of the 50mm 1.8, the kit lens should be a good partner for your NEX-7.