Roll out the barrel
We’re all used to zoom lenses extending in length as you sweep through the zoom range. However, while extension is often minimal with wide-angle and standard zoom lenses, or non-existent with many constant-aperture zoom lenses, superzooms are a different story.
While all of the lenses in this group test are reasonably compact and manageable, to varying extents, they all extend greatly as you zoom from the shortest to the longest available focal length.
As a rule of thumb, you can expect a superzoom lens to double in length at its maximum telephoto setting. Add a lens hood as well (sold separately for the Canon and Nikon lenses on test) and the overall length can be more than you bargained for. (for example 2.0x for Micro Four Thirds cameras instead of 1.5x or 1.6x for APS-C) means that the actual focal length range tends to be smaller. As a case in point, The Canon 18-200mm APS-C format lens and the Olympus 14-150mm MFT lens both give a similar effective zoom range, equating in 35mm terms to 28.8-320mm for the Canon and 28-300mm for the Olympus. However, while the Canon measures 79 x 102mm and weighs 595g, the Olympus is much smaller at 64 x 83mm and less than half the weight at 285g.
There’s been some significant weight loss in APS-C format superzooms over the last few years as well. In our last group test of superzooms ( Digital Camera 141), we featured the Nikon AF-S DX 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, which we criticised for its podgy proportions of 83 x 20mm and hefty weight of 830g. The newer Nikon AF-S DX 18–300mm f/3.5-6.3G ED VR is a third of a stop slower at the long end of its zoom range, but a much more manageable 79 x 99mm and 550g. A further indication is that