Olympus 300mm F4 Pro Lens

[ayewing]

There are rumours that the long awaited 300mm Pro lens will be released on 6th January. While I am not holding my breath I will be interested to look out for it tomorrow.

http://www.lens-rumors.com/category/olympus-lens/

[Mdb2]

[Alpha1]

[ayewing]

Re: Olympus 300mm F4 Pro Lens

Thanks Mike,
as you say February has also been rumoured as the release date. I am quite interested in longer focal length lenses and it does look as if we are going to have a choice between the Olympus 300mm and the Panasonic 100-400 zoom due in March. It would be nice to see both detailed specs and firm UK prices for both. It looks as if the Panasonic will be cheaper and as a zoom may be more vesatile. Time will tell.

Archie

[DavyG]

Re: Olympus 300mm F4 Pro Lens

Thanks Mike,
as you say February has also been rumoured as the release date. I am quite interested in longer focal length lenses and it does look as if we are going to have a choice between the Olympus 300mm and the Panasonic 100-400 zoom due in March. It would be nice to see both detailed specs and firm UK prices for both. It looks as if the Panasonic will be cheaper and as a zoom may be more vesatile. Time will tell.

Archie

[ayewing]

Re: Olympus 300mm F4 Pro Lens

In the field with Panasonic's new 100-400mm zoom - YouTube

Thanks Dave,
I have already seen this video which makes the Panasonic zoom seem most appealing. Ideally before investing in an expensive long FL lens it would be nice to be able to compare detailed specs and prices of both Olymus and Panasonic offerings.

I quite like my 75-300mm Olympus lens which has the great advantage of being pretty small and light for its FL. I put it to good use on my Australian trips where the aperture of only 6.7 at the long end was not much of a limitation in the Australian summer sunshine. I agree that the Panasonic zoom would be more versatile than a 300mm prime lens. It might make a good upgrade from the Olympus 75-100.

Archie

[ayewing]

Re: Olympus 300mm F4 Pro Lens

Thanks Dave. It looks as if the Panasonic will be more appealing in view of its longer FL and greater vesatility not to mention the considerable price advantage.

Archie

[MargaretR]

Re: Olympus 300mm F4 Pro Lens

Panasonic press release on 100-400 lens

Olympus press release on 300 lens


Personally, I think it's all probably a classic example of this....

[DavyG]

Re: Olympus 300mm F4 Pro Lens

Thanks Dave,
I have already seen this video which makes the Panasonic zoom seem most appealing. Ideally before investing in an expensive long FL lens it would be nice to be able to compare detailed specs and prices of both Olymus and Panasonic offerings.

I quite like my 75-300mm Olympus lens which has the great advantage of being pretty small and light for its FL. I put it to good use on my Australian trips where the aperture of only 6.7 at the long end was not much of a limitation in the Australian summer sunshine. I agree that the Panasonic zoom would be more versatile than a 300mm prime lens. It might make a good upgrade from the Olympus 75-100.

Archie

You're welcome Archie,

It's interesting that both of these lenses have been released at the same time.

If I understand correctly, the Panasonic at 400mm will be an aperture of f6.3, the Olympus 300mm with the MC-14 attached will give a focal length of 420mm with an aperture of, I think, f5.6.

This isn't a huge difference in aperture however, I think a lot will depend on the final image quality.

I haven't used my Oly 75-300 since I bought the 40-150 2.8 and the MC-14 as I found I was getting better images with the 40-150, MC-14 combo however, my wife prefers to use her 75-300 on her E-M10 and still produces good images.

It will be a difficult decision, I think the prime should deliver better images than the zoom will but with the loss of flexibility that the zoom provides.

I'll find it expensive if my wife decides that she would like the Panny 100-400 as I would also like the Oly 300mm, both purchases would depend on good reviews and performance of course.

Dave

[drmarkf]

Re: Olympus 300mm F4 Pro Lens

That's a nice video. Thanks.
This would potentially make a good, light and flexible game drive pairing with a 40-150 Pro on 2 E-M1 bodies (or a GX8 and an E-M1).

[ayewing]

Re: Olympus 300mm F4 Pro Lens

You're welcome Archie,

It's interesting that both of these lenses have been released at the same time.

If I understand correctly, the Panasonic at 400mm will be an aperture of f6.3, the Olympus 300mm with the MC-14 attached will give a focal length of 420mm with an aperture of, I think, f5.6.

This isn't a huge difference in aperture however, I think a lot will depend on the final image quality.

I haven't used my Oly 75-300 since I bought the 40-150 2.8 and the MC-14 as I found I was getting better images with the 40-150, MC-14 combo however, my wife prefers to use her 75-300 on her E-M10 and still produces good images.

It will be a difficult decision, I think the prime should deliver better images than the zoom will but with the loss of flexibility that the zoom provides.

I'll find it expensive if my wife decides that she would like the Panny 100-400 as I would also like the Oly 300mm, both purchases would depend on good reviews and performance of course.

Dave

Like you I have the 40-150 Olymps lens + MC14 and it is a considerable advance on the 75-300.
The other interesting point in the specifications is that the Olympus now has in lens stabilisation which can be used with the sensor stabilisation in the camera body. It looks as if Olympus and Panasonic have agreed a new protocol for the simultaneous use of both stabilisation methods.

Let us hope that there will be some early reviews to help in our decisions - finances permitting of course!

Archie

[Alpha1]

Re: Olympus 300mm F4 Pro Lens

Archie

The dual image lens stabilisation systems is really interesting. I suspect that at FL's above 300(600) the lens stabilisation will be more effective than IBIS.
At least we will have the choice between both systems. The video in my post tends to suggest that he used both systems together and the camera sorted it out? If that is what he meant then I can't quite get my head around that!

Perhaps yet another firmware update for the E-M1?

[ayewing]

Re: Olympus 300mm F4 Pro Lens

Archie

The dual image lens stabilisation systems is really interesting. I suspect that at FL's above 300(600) the lens stabilisation will be more effective than IBIS.
At least we will have the choice between both systems. The video in my post tends to suggest that he used both systems together and the camera sorted it out? If that is what he meant then I can't quite get my head around that!

Perhaps yet another firmware update for the E-M1?

According to Olympus the dual stabilisation requires firmware 4.0 which is the current most recent release. I had hoped that Olympus and Panasonic would agree a common dual stabilisation standard but according to Richard Butler's preliminary report on DPReview this is not the case. So it appears that to get the full benfit of dual stabilisation you have to use this new lens on either the Olympus E-M1 or the E-M5 mk2. This makes the new Panasonic 100-400 a little less appealing if you stick to Olympus bodies.

Archie

[MargaretR]

Re: Olympus 300mm F4 Pro Lens

So having just had the email from Olympus about this lens, that starts off "With the new telemacro lens from Olympus...."

I'm being a bit thick, I know, but how can a 600mm equiv lens possibly be a 'macro' anything? Surely this is one whose whole purpose is being far away from your subject and bringing it (a lot) closer? Or what am I not understanding about the terminology? The email certainly doesn't make it clear what they mean.

[Olybirder]

Re: Olympus 300mm F4 Pro Lens

I am not sure if this review has already been posted here (apologies if it has) but they are extremely impressed with the 300mm f4.

Ron