Olympus 300mm f4 Pro - First Thoughts

At last the long awaited Olympus 300mm F4 Pro is available giving an equivalent to a 600mm in terms of reach in full frame terms.  We got ours in the last week of March and have now had a couple of weeks to try it out.

First impression, it is very well built and easy to handle.  Whilst some say it is heavy, they obviously have not used the equivalent Canon or Nikon lens.  The Olympus weighs in at 1.270kg (without the tripod adapter), 1.475kg (with the tripod adapter) compare that to the Canon 600f 4 IS Mk1 I used to use which weighed in at a mammoth 5.36 kg and the Olympus is relatively as light as a feather!

The lens is the first Olympus with inbuilt IS, the lens IS which works in conjunction with the IS in Olympus bodies and is almost unbelievably good.  In the shop where I picked it up I was able to get a sharp handheld shot at 1/15 sec.

The lens is impressively sharp even wide open and the sharpness is also still very good when coupled with the Olympus 1.4x teleconverter.

Here are a few examples, all handheld.



Eurasian Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)  Olympus OM-D-E-M1 300mm f4 PRO 1/100s f4 ISO200

Coal Tit (Periparus ater) Olympus OM-D-E-M1 300mm f4 PRO 1/100s f4 ISO200

Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps girisegena) Olympus OM-D-E-M1 300mm f4 PRO + MC14 1/160s f5.6 ISO200
(Distant shot heavily cropped)

Black Redstart (Western) (Phoenicurus ochruros gibraltariensis) female.  Olympus OM-D-E-M1 300mm f4 PRO + MC14 1/800s f7.1 ISO 320 (Distant shot heavily cropped)

The lens also focuses down to 1.4m, close enough to make it useable for semi-macro photography.

Peacock Butterfly (Inachis io), Olympus OM-D-E-M1 300mm f4 PRO 1/400s f7.1 ISO200

Common Frog with spawn.  Olympus OM-D-E-M1 300mm f4 PRO + MC14 1/125s f5.6 ISO640

One area where the micro 4/3 system still lags behind SLRs is in continuous AF although, as can be seen from the picture below, it is possible to get sharp results of BIF.  Even with the Olympus OM-D-EM1 which is the best Olympus body for CAF the keeper rate is low compared with the best SLR bodies.


First-winter Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) Olympus OM-D-E-M1 300mm f4 PRO 1/1600s f4 ISO200
 

 

Iken, Suffolk

First rarity of the year, the Cattle Egret showed well in a field with around a dozen Little Egrets.

Holland Haven, Essex

Visited Holland Haven to see the Rough-legged Buzzard which showed unbelievably well at close range on prey.  Several Short-eared Owls also present.

Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus) Olympus OM-D-Em1, Olympus 40-150 f2.8 + TC14 @ 210.  ISO 200 f5.6 1/500

Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus) being mobbed by a Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus). Olympus OM-D-Em1, Olympus 40-150 f2.8 + TC14 @ 210 ISO400 f5.0 1/1600

Shetland Trip 2015 - Day 6 Mainland Shetland

Back to Cott for the Arctic Warbler which eventually showed well.

 Arctic Warbler (Phylloscopus borealis) Olympus 40-150 f2.8 @ 210mm.  ISO 800 1/200 f5.6

After having good views of the Arctic Warbler headed south to Hestingott to try for the Blyth's Reed Warbler which unfortunately failed to put in appearance.  Fortunately an extremely obliging Red-breasted Flycatcher was present as were 4 Yellow-browed Warblers.



 Red-breasted Flycatcher (Ficedula parva) Olympus 40-150 f2.8 @ 210mm.  ISO 800 1/80 f5.6

Red-breasted Flycatcher (Ficedula parva) Olympus 40-150 f2.8 @ 210mm.  ISO 800 1/200 f5.6

Red-breasted Flycatcher (Ficedula parva) Olympus 40-150 f2.8 @ 210mm.  ISO 800 1/100 f5.6

 Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) Olympus 40-150 f2.8 @ 210mm.  ISO 800 1/200 f5.6

Shetland Trip 2015 - Day 5 Mainland Shetland

After a smooth overnight crossing from Aberdeen drove straight to Norbury Loch to see the Pechora Pipit.  After an hour or so, with only frustration glimpses of the bird in flight and creeping through long grass, the bird showed very well in the open by a small stream.

 Pechora Pipit (Anthus gustavi)   Olympus 40-150 @ 210mm ISO800 1/640 f5

On to Cott for the Arctic Warbler which showed only briefly and poorly.  An adult winter plumage Little Gull was at Weisdale with a flock of Black-headed Gulls.

Adult winter  Little Gull (Hydrocoloeus minutus) and Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) Olympus 40-150 f2.8 @ 210.  ISO 400 1/500 f5

Shetland Trip 2015 - Day 4 Loch Garten area

Glorious warm weather, lots of  parties of tits mainly Coal but with several Crested amongst them.  No good photo opportunities for birds.

Loch Mallachie Reflections.  Olympus 7-14 f2.8 @ 11mm ISO200 1/1600 f4
 

Shetland Trip 2015 - Day 3 Strathdearn (Findhorn Valley)

Visited Findhorn Valley hoping to see Golden Eagle and was succesful in getting good scope views of an immature bird soaring on the hillside ridge, though too distant for photos.

Sadly this scenic and peaceful valley much loved by birdwatchers is under threat from wind farms and associated cables see http://www.savestrathdearn.com/ for details.

River Findhorn, near Farr.  Olympus 40-150 f2.8 @ 56mm ISO200 1/640 f8