New Micro four thirds long lenses-is there hope?

Panasonic has pre-orders for a new M4/3 100-400  f/4-6.3 lens for $1800, and Olympus has a new 300  f/4 "pro" lens for (gulp) $2500.  For those of us still looking for a relatively lightweight setup for bird photography, these are teasers. Perhaps that's all they are. Where is the M4/3 body that can tip the balance?  I am holding my breath....but not for too long!  Any thought for lightweights in the bird-brained community? 

I will be soon ordering a 100-400ii fir my Canon Dslrs but would not consider the 100-400 for my Panasonic 4/3 for birds. The Canon's superior AF, burst rate, IS, and optical viewfinder is preferred for fast moving birds and flight. I don't like f6.3 either for lower light.

jnadler wrote:I will be soon ordering a 100-400ii fir my Canon Dslrs but would not consider the 100-400 for my Panasonic 4/3 for birds. The Canon's superior AF, burst rate, IS, and optical viewfinder is preferred for fast moving birds and flight. I don't like f6.3 either for lower light.

Yes but 100-400 on the Panasonic is equiv to 200-800 on full frame, so might not need to be used at full length most of the time?!

Forgot about that. For stationary birds in good light, a great option. Also great for wildlife then such as hiking in the National Parks.

jnadler wrote:I will be soon ordering a 100-400ii fir my Canon Dslrs but would not consider the 100-400 for my Panasonic 4/3 for birds. The Canon's superior AF, burst rate, IS, and optical viewfinder is preferred for fast moving birds and flight. I don't like f6.3 either for lower light.

Which Panasonic 4/3 do you have Jeff? I have GH3 and the old 100-300, and it is hopelessly slow. I agree that the Canon set-up is far superior. Just hoping  some sort of M43 might get a little better somehow.

the Oly 300 is on my list and I have saved for the last two years for this lens BUT the Canadian dollar has tanked and now that $2500 US as expected will be much more for me like closer to $3200 CND.

but like all lens they tend to outlast any camera so I look at the cost as a long term cost.

the Oly system matched with the EM1 is very interesting with the "dual IS/IBIS" system they have developed.

will be reading all of the reviews and all the additional internet  "Hype" in the next weeks and make my final decision in time for the spring birds arrival.

...Where is the M4/3 body that can tip the balance?...
Suspect we will get a new EM1 in the next 6 months at upwards of 20-24 MP which in my mind would be the limit for a m4/3 system for image quality. The next feature will be some advancement on Oly's high res shooting they introduced last year.
happy shooting
doug

Do realize that at 24mp the m43 sized sensor is well into diffraction at f/5.6 so you aren't likely to actually record much more discrete information than you did at 16mp.

The new lens looks nice and is the first serious attempt at a high quality super tele for m43. It would give a roughly equivalent field of view (except for the different aspect ratio) and DOF as a 600 f/8 on full frame 135 format.

You be the judge:


Panasonic 100-400


Olympus 300 f4


Olympus 300 f4 review


IMO, whether the m4/3 system is good enough for your purposes should be determined by yourself.

DMcLarty wrote:the Oly 300 is on my list and I have saved for the last two years for this lens BUT the Canadian dollar has tanked and now that $2500 US as expected will be much more for me like closer to $3200 CND.

but like all lens they tend to outlast any camera so I look at the cost as a long term cost.

the Oly system matched with the EM1 is very interesting with the "dual IS/IBIS" system they have developed.

will be reading all of the reviews and all the additional internet  "Hype" in the next weeks and make my final decision in time for the spring birds arrival.

...Where is the M4/3 body that can tip the balance?...
Suspect we will get a new EM1 in the next 6 months at upwards of 20-24 MP which in my mind would be the limit for a m4/3 system for image quality. The next feature will be some advancement on Oly's high res shooting they introduced last year.
happy shooting
doug

I likely would end up with an Olympus that has phase-detect AF in the future. I'm not sure if 24MP is good for m4/3 though. As for between the Panny 100-400 or the Oly 300f4, if the 100-400 is just as good optically, given that it's cheaper, perhaps it may not be a bad thing to get that instead.

Olympus Europe let me test one M.Zuiko 300mmf:4 IS PRO last November for several days, but until now I was not allowed to publish any photos or commentaries about it.
It's a beautiful and portable equivalent to 600mm in FF, and the most incredible was the Sync IS of the two stabilizers working together. I have several handeld shots at 1/8 sec that are amazing.

Also interesting, is the first "oficial brand" lens with Arca Swiss slot on the tripod collar, something that I would like to see in every Nikon or Canon lens foot.

The big problem are the cameras. My E-M1 was unable to follow focus on many birds of flight with C-AF. Is not a problem of the lens, is a problem of the system. Hope a future E-M1 Mark II camera solve this problem.

I wrote a long article about my first impressions on this lens. Is in Spanish, but you can use Google Translator, or look at the pictures. (These are test pictures, not trying to be artistic or amazing in any way, I had the lens for few days).

http://blog.alamany.com/2016/01/test-te ... mm-f4.html

I think we have to be careful about using the work "equivalent" when referring to a 300 f/4 on m43 and 600 f/4 on 135 format.  It is roughly equivalent from a field of view perspective but from a DOF perspective it is equivalent to a 600mm f/8 for a given subject size relative to the frame.  So it is field of view equivalent but not depth of field equivalent.

E.J. Peiker wrote:I think we have to be careful about using the work "equivalent" when referring to a 300 f/4 on m43 and 600 f/4 on 135 format.  It is roughly equivalent from a field of view perspective but from a DOF perspective it is equivalent to a 600mm f/8 for a given subject size relative to the frame.  So it is field of view equivalent but not depth of field equivalent.

Yes, yes, I state this very clearly in my blog article. The Olympus 300mmf:4 is roughly equivalent to a 600mm f:4 for exposure and field of view, but 600mm f:8 for depht of field.

So the much praised 100-400 mm Leica is "equivalent" to a 800 mm f:13 as depth of field is concerned... I do not expect beautiful blurs.

imagenes_vivas wrote:So the much praised 100-400 mm Leica is "equivalent" to a 800 mm f:13 as depth of field is concerned... I do not expect beautiful blurs.

Probably not unless the background is quite a ways from the subject.

some interesting reviews, images, videos being shown around the internet from the Olympus 300.

Oriol's review is very good as well for the short time testing and looking at the lens. thanks

most are touting the hand held abilities but I am from the old school so I ask Oriol in your tests if you may have mounted the lens on a tripod and adjusted the stabilization on camera and or lens ?  I think we may see many comments as users obtain the lens and complaints of sharpness because of poor long lens technic.

I would /will use the lens on at least a monopod setup as I am not that steady and or a tripod sidekick combination.  

doug

Is not possible to choose the lens IS or body IS. When you connect the lens to the body, if you disconnect the lens IS, the body IS shows as disconnected also on the body menu. Also when I connected the lens IS I do not hear anymore the vibration of the body IS. The sample lens from Olympus came without any instructions booklet, so I assume that the lens IS disconnect the body IS.

But on the presentation of the lens this january 6th I read about the Sync IS technology that nodoby at Olympus told me before when I had the lens for test. So it seems that BOTH IS work together.

Without the IS with the lens on tripod I had lots of problems with loss of resolution due to vibration (using the Anti-shock shutter on the menu). Sometimes it was easier for me to have perfect still images handheld, when the Sync IS works incredibly well. (Really around the 6 stops of improvement).

Now I have read from another tester that the least vibration is with the new Silent Shooting included in the new 4.0 firmware. Sorry I not tried this when I had the lens as I find disturbing to not hear any sound when pressing the shutter.

This was in November, so it was not a final lens. Now Olympus is waiting to send me a definitive version to try again.

(As a background info, I am professional photographer with three decades of experience shoting with long teles, mostly my usual 500mm f:4 from Canon).

Thanks for the quick reply Oriol

..Is not possible to choose the lens IS or body IS...

yes I read that a couple times to figure the setup out in the promo from Olympus. The synch IS is advanced for sure.

Over all this sounds like a real winner for those of us that use the Oly m43 system. We have limitations but all systems do have some thing that might be better. For my needs and mode of travel walking, hiking, ATVs and  snowmachines the system works well after years of other SLR systems.

thanks
doug

The Olympus 300 f4 is CAN $3,299 or USD 2,499 apiece:

Olympus US



Olympus Canada


That's like paying for a 600 f4 for your DSLR. A lot of money

These micro non dslr systems are years away from being viable for serious bird photography IMO. Not even close. The AF systems are way way too slow for any kind of action. Years away.

Greg Downing wrote:These micro non dslr systems are years away from being viable for serious bird photography IMO. Not even close. The AF systems are way way too slow for any kind of action. Years away.

You may want to try the a6000 or gh4 Greg (I don't own either) but the tests I've seen show very good continuous AF.