Olympus 100-400 F/5.0-6.3 Lens released!

Olympus 100-400

Olympus announced their new 100-400mm lens!  I think this lens will be a hit with a lot of people.  You can read specs and all the details at Olympus site here.

I know a lot of people have been waiting for this lens.  The Panasonic 100-400 has been the holdover…but people have really wanted a native Olympus version.  This lens going to be very interesting when paired with the 12-100mm pro lens.  Both lenses have amazing close focus, and 12-400mm in total reach with two relatively small lenses really lightens your bag.  No this lens is not the smallest or the lightest…but it is comparatively easy to hand hold and works in many bags far better than other similar lenses.

The arca foot is great!  No need for extra plates.  The focus limiter is great too.  It should really make for snappy focus.  I am actually super interested in getting my hands on this lens.  Most people will never even get to see a 150-400mm Pro lens, much less own one.  I think this lens will become the goto super telephoto for most people in the Olympus system.  It is fully weather sealed and takes a 72mm filter.

I am very skeptical about results using the teleconverters…depending on subject matter.

I am VERY interested to see results in astrophotography.  I know it won’t be perfect, or as good as a short scope…but on the go this might be able to double duty if it is good enough.  Especially if you are traveling to places with dark skies on photo based trips.  Having the reach might make shooting bright star clusters and such quite fun if you have a portable tracker with you.

I haven’t watched any of the review videos, and will hold my thoughts on quality until I really spend time with one.  At $1500…I really might just pick one up for myself.  If this lens can deliver at least as good as the Panasonic, this will be a great lens to have around if you need this focal length.  More on this lens soon!

What are your thoughts?

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3 responses on "Olympus 100-400 F/5.0-6.3 Lens released!"

  1. I am really keen, like you to see what it does to deep sky pictures. I have a portable tracker, so as long as its fast enough to focus, we might have ourselves a winner. Now I use the 2x + the 40-150mm to get to 300mm but would be nice to go a bit further.

    • I don’t think focus will be an issue. With the E-M1.3, starry sky AF works incredibly well and relatively quickly in both modes. This will be far more ideal than visually trying to focus. Even with the bodies, I think using magnification and focusing manually will still be pretty decent on stars. It’s never easy…but I can’t wait to give it a shot.

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