I bought a brand new Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 300mm F4.0 IS PRO.
I hesitated for a long time, and it was a very difficult decision, but in the end I took the plunge.
To be honest, the first hurdle was the price, because for the most of us and me it is quite an expensive lens.
The second and no less hurdle is the fact that it is a prime lens, no zoom capability but pure 300mm,
and that makes such a lens a lot less easy to use.
Plus point is that it accepts the Olympus x1.4 and x2.0 converters, this wouldn’t make the lens less sharp – at least according to OM Sytems and their ambassadors.
Assuming this is the case then the lens would be 300mm – 420mm & 600mm respectively – in 35mm Field Of View that would be 600mm – 840mm & 1200mm.
Very powerfull for a lens of 227mm long and 1475gr !
In the end there where two reasons for this purchase, first the fact that my second-hand Panasonic Leica DG 100-400 mm started to give small problems at maximum zoom.
Sometimes the lens makes noise, and I also have the impression that the AF is having a hard time focusing at the very end of its reach.
However, it is not always, and only at its extreme zoom position.
The second is that I also wanted to have more reach, and my Pana 100-400mm is not compatible with tele converters. At first I doubted whether to purchase the much cheaper Olympus 100-400 mm, but then I would actually have two of the same lenses, and it is not so that the Pana is unusable.
Below is a comparison between the Olympus 300mm f4.0 Pro on camera and the Panasonic Leica 100-400mm.
The 300mm is considerably longer than the 100-400mm.
The Leica 100-400mm is 83x171mm, weighs 985gr, filter 72mm
The Olympus 300 is 92.5x227mm, weighs 1270gr excluding tripod mount, filter 77mm -> + 200gr if tripod mount included
Like my Pana Leica lens, the lens is made entirely of metal (except for the lens hood), and I prefer that to the plastic lenses they make these days – they’re probably just as good, but it feels different.
As soon as I have the chance to take pictures, and if possible comparative pictures with the Pana 100-400mm,
I will post a more full review.
The photo gallery of Open Source Photography, Olympus micro 4/3 system, Vintage Lens Photograpy, Film Simulation, PictureFX, HDR – Photographer : Marc R.
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Van harte gefeliciteerd met je nieuwe aanwinst Marc. Uiteraard zijn we nu ook heel benieuwd naar de resultaten, al zullen die ongetwijfeld wel top zijn.
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Bedankt Rudi ! ben wel erg benieuwd hoe het is om met een prime van dat formaat te werken is. Vroeger was dat normaal, maar nu zijn we allemaal de zooms gewend.
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Enjoy! Do me a favour and get some shots of the moon with it 🙏
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Thank you Mark, I will definitely do that !
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Hey Mark!
As requested 🙂
It didn’t work out before, but last night the conditions were finally right.
Have a look at the result and let me know what you think.
I did use a teleconverter 1.4, because otherwise there was too much cropping,
but that gives an even better idea of the sharpness and what is possible.
The photos are in my photo gallery:
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