Micro Four Thirds Long Telephoto Options

Forkbeard

Forkbeard

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Jim
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I'm after some kind of long telephoto for wildlife and boats at sea when I'm at the coast. Neither is really my primary area so I don't want to spend a fortune and it will likely be a 'holiday lens' only coming out every so often. I've got Panasonic gear (including the 45 -150 which isn't really long enough) but I dont mind mixing and matching and may upgrade to an Olympus body at some point. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
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I have both the 100-300 and 100-400 Panasonic’s . I think the former is a better all rounder and a hell of a lot cheaper
 
Forkbeard said:
I'm after some kind of long telephoto for wildlife and boats at sea when I'm at the coast. Neither is really my primary area so I don't want to spend a fortune and it will likely be a 'holiday lens' only coming out every so often. I've got Panasonic gear (including the 45 -150 which isn't really long enough) but I dont mind mixing and matching and may upgrade to an Olympus body at some point. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Hi Jim,
How imporatnt will AF be for you? Given that cost is a consideration, would you consider adapting an old manual lens for occasional use? It will be manual focus only though.
I currently have a Panasonic 45-175 (good lens for the money) and for the last few years, also a Canon 70-300L. However, I still really enjoy using my Minolta 70-210 F4 even though it's a tad on the heavy side. For the last 2 seasons, I've used my MF lenses for motorsrport.
Both my m43 camera bodies have IBIS (G80 and OMD 10 mkII). I would be less inclined to use old glass without IBIS.
If you check out the Panasonic and Olympus threads, there have been a number of recent images (including birds in flight) taken using old glass.
A new thread has also recently been started "using vintage glass".
If money was no object, then I'd probably opt for the Panasonic/Leica 50-200. But at the moment it simply wouldn't get the use it deserves and I couldn't justify spending £1500 to leave it in a cupboard most of the time.
Hope some of this might help.
Stuart
 
Cheers for thr replies. Stuart, I don't mind using old glass at all, I have two Oly film bodies and lenses so it would be worth getting the adapter for those at some point. My main problem re. longer lenses is I only have a G3 (no IBIS). I'm used to shooting without stabilization on my film bodies and my 25mm on the G3, but obviously longer zooms are totally different.

The 100 - 300 looks a good option at this point; I don't have a massive desire to upgrade the body yet so...O.I.S is a definite plus.
 
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Forkbeard said:
Cheers for thr replies. Stuart, I don't mind using old glass at all, I have two Oly film bodies and lenses so it would be worth getting the adapter for those at some point. My main problem re. longer lenses is I only have a g3 (no IBIS). I'm used to shooting without stabilization on my film bodies and my 25mm, but obviously longer zooms are totally different.

The 100 - 300 looks a good option at this point; I don't have a massive desire to upgrade the body yet so...O.I.S is a definite plus.
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Jim
Monopod or is that too much of a faff?
stuart
 
reading your initial post again I can't see where manual focus legacy lenses will cause you a problem anything in the 200 to 400mm range will be fine I have a vivitar 200mm f3.5 and its superb and has the advantage of the wider aperture to . as your using it at the coast there will be ample opportunities to use railings and fences to prop your lens on for support so no need to faff over tripods or monopods . and I will presume your going to be using it in inclement weather to . .
p.s your 100-300 will only have in lens stabilising so you won't get the same results as those that have i.b.i.s
 
Another option not mentioned before is the Olympus m.Zuiko 75-300 II.

I've had the Panasonic 45-200 MkI (avoid), Panasonic 100-300 MkI (my copy wasn't great - I've seen other people who got much better results than me) and currently have the Olympus 75-300 II as a compact super-telephoto.

However, the 75-300 II does not have in-lens stabilisation, so given that you have a G3 without IBIS, the Panasonic 100-300 or 100-400 is probably a better option.
 
Forkbeard said:
Cheers for thr replies. Stuart, I don't mind using old glass at all, I have two Oly film bodies and lenses so it would be worth getting the adapter for those at some point. My main problem re. longer lenses is I only have a G3 (no IBIS). I'm used to shooting without stabilization on my film bodies and my 25mm on the G3, but obviously longer zooms are totally different.

The 100 - 300 looks a good option at this point; I don't have a massive desire to upgrade the body yet so...O.I.S is a definite plus.
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The 100-300 mk1 is a fine lens, not the fastest AF in the world, but I found the image quality output satisfactory enough, even at 300mm wide opn [f/5.6] - You'd be at no more disadvantage than I was using it on the G80, as even though this camera has IBIS, it doesn't work with this lens as black fox stated earlier. I could only avail of the lens OIS, but found it plenty good enough.

I always end up using cat pics as examples :D But this was indoors, shot at 223mm 1/30th sec, which is about 4 stops below what you'd normally require for that FL without OIS. I know that I could do 1/15th easily enough too, I just don't have any examples on there
Indoor Kitty tester by K G, on Flickr
 
Cagey75 said:
The 100-300 mk1 is a fine lens, not the fastest AF in the world, but I found the image quality output satisfactory enough, even at 300mm wide opn [f/5.6] - You'd be at no more disadvantage than I was using it on the G80, as even though this camera has IBIS, it doesn't work with this lens as black fox stated earlier. I could only avail of the lens OIS, but found it plenty good enough.

I always end up using cat pics as examples :D But this was indoors, shot at 223mm 1/30th sec, which is about 4 stops below what you'd normally require for that FL without OIS. I know that I could do 1/15th easily enough too, I just don't have any examples on there
Indoor Kitty tester by K G, on Flickr
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I'm glad you posted that, because I've just bought one :)
 
I picked up a Samyang 300mm mirror lens in MFT mount for relatively little. It's small enough to live in my bag on the off chance I might need more than the 45-200.
When I want seriously long lenses I usually switch to legacy options my 600mm is too much to handhold on it's own, but with a focal reducer (900mm equivalent FOV) it becomes hand holdable with care. It was that combination that I used for this handheld shot of the moon:
Supermoon pre-eclipse by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr

and for this pidgeon at slightly shorter distance:
Handheld mirror test by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr
 
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The LUMIX 100-300mm is a cracking lens compact enough for 4/3 and can be picked up at a good price used
 
Cagey75 said:
The 100-300 mk1 is a fine lens, not the fastest AF in the world, but I found the image quality output satisfactory enough, even at 300mm wide opn [f/5.6] - You'd be at no more disadvantage than I was using it on the G80, as even though this camera has IBIS, it doesn't work with this lens as black fox stated earlier. I could only avail of the lens OIS, but found it plenty good enough.

r
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err not quite sure what your saying here Keith I have just tested the wifes 100-300 mk1 on the g80 and it does have full image stabilisation . or were you referring to the o.p 's camera
 
the black fox said:
err not quite sure what your saying here Keith I have just tested the wifes 100-300 mk1 on the g80 and it does have full image stabilisation . or were you referring to the o.p 's camera
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You don't get to use IBIS with this lens on the G80, try it, it'll be greyed out. You can use the lens OIS only. Try flicking the OIS switch off, IBIS isn't doing anything. I thought you said this earlier, crossed wires. But do try it. I remember this because I would have preferred to use the IBIS, it's a bit better than the OIS of most lenses. This is why I almost went for the Olympus 75-300, because that lens doesn't have OIS, so allows you to use IBIS on any camera. I opted for the Pany in the end because many reviews suggested it was a tad sharper and it's a stop brighter
 
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Cagey75 said:
You don't get to use IBIS with this lens on the G80, try it, it'll be greyed out. You can use the lens OIS only. Try flicking the OIS switch off, IBIS isn't doing anything. I thought you said this earlier, crossed wires. But do try it. I remember this because I would have preferred to use the IBIS, it's a bit better than the OIS of most lenses. This is why I almost went for the Olympus 75-300, because that lens doesn't have OIS, so allows you to use IBIS on any camera. I opted for the Pany in the end because many reviews suggested it was a tad sharper and it's a stop brighter
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sorry Keith but you do , just tried it again in daylight nothing greys out ibis all working , so its either a firmware upgrade since you had yours ? or possibly you had a either a faulty lens ? or a faulty camera ?
 
the black fox said:
sorry Keith but you do , just tried it again in daylight nothing greys out ibis all working , so its either a firmware upgrade since you had yours ? or possibly you had a either a faulty lens ? or a faulty camera ?
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Odd one that, it definitely didn't work on mine, maybe it was a FW update since? or one I missed, remember I have gotten a new body since. Wouldn't surprise me if the last one had that fault too, along with the others it had. I just left the OIS on in either case. Good to hear IBIS does work with it then, it would be interesting to compare, see which is more effective.
 
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I have no personal experience, but after reading a few reviews there seems to be a few saying that the OIS works better than IBIS on some combinations. I can't remember the bodies in question offhand though.
 
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Forkbeard said:
I have no personal experience, but after reading a few reviews there seems to be a fee saying that the OIS works better than IBIS on some combinations. I can't remember the bodies in question offhand though.
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Usually OIS works better for long lenses & IBIS for short. Best of all of course is combined as OIS can do nothing for rotation around the lens axis.
 
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