Olympus Pen 14-42mm MKI vs 14-42mm MKII

You cant beat a good old newspaper test - performed to compare sharpness and chromatic aberration. You can assess sharpness by looking how the small type of a newspaper resolves. And look towards the edges of the frame at the type to see if it has colour fringing as a result of lens aberrations. Click on any of the small pics to view the full frame version.

Lenses set at 14mm MkI (left) MkII (right)		Lenses set at 42mm MkI (left) MkII (right)
1/30 sec | f/3.5 | 14.0 mm | ISO 100	1/25 sec | f/3.5 | 14.0 mm | ISO 100	1/10 sec | f/5.6 | 42.0 mm | ISO 100	1/8 sec | f/5.6 | 42.0 mm | ISO 100
0.3 sec | f/11.0 | 14.0 mm | ISO 100	0.4 sec | f/11.0 | 14.0 mm | ISO 100	0.4 sec | f/11.0 | 42.0 mm | ISO 100	0.5 sec | f/11.0 | 42.0 mm | ISO 100
1.3 sec | f/22.0 | 14.0 mm | ISO 100	1.6 sec | f/22.0 | 14.0 mm | ISO 100	1.6 sec | f/22.0 | 42.0 mm | ISO 100	2 sec | f/22.0 | 42.0 mm | ISO 100

But it's just not optical performance that's different with these lenses. The main advantage of the MKII is the MSC technology...and in comparison that really does make a difference. If you amplify the sound of the older lens it would be like a train running over sleepers with that familiar da da da dum sound as it adjusts to focus each time you point at a new subject. The MkII is whisper quiet. It's also faster at making a decision too so the whole experience is better.

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