biglouis
Well-known member
Very good indeed. I really think this lens shines on the GH-2 where both the resolution of the sensor and the extra stops in sensitivity bring out the best.
LouisB
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Fun with Panasonic 100-300
- Thread starter biglouis
- Start date
LouisB
Mark.......so sharp......great capture. I am still surprised with the pleasant bokeh.
R
Jorgen Udvang
Subscriber Member
Louis, these look very hood. Is the second one, the one with the boats, as sharp as it seems? Would it be possible to post a 100% crop?
biglouis
Well-known member
Jorgen, they have all benefited from some sharpening in pp. I use Nik Sharpener in CS3 to sharpen and lift the contrast. I can't really attest to the sharpness of the lens as I think you could only really test it on a tripod at full zoom. These were handheld.
LouisB
biglouis
Well-known member
I am getting to like this lens, very much
I am getting to like this lens very much. A bit of an afterthought, I threw it with my GF-1 into the top of my backpack when I went out to photograph fields today not expecting much from its performance. I was really surprised to find the number of keepers I captured with this lens. These are two of them.
iso200 108mm f5.6 1/200 - LR3.3>B&W>CS3>Lab Space>Soft Light>Nik Sharpener>Resize
iso200 100mm f5.6 1/250 - LR>levels>CS3>Lab Space>Soft Light>Nik Sharpener>Resize
I am getting to like this lens very much. A bit of an afterthought, I threw it with my GF-1 into the top of my backpack when I went out to photograph fields today not expecting much from its performance. I was really surprised to find the number of keepers I captured with this lens. These are two of them.
iso200 108mm f5.6 1/200 - LR3.3>B&W>CS3>Lab Space>Soft Light>Nik Sharpener>Resize
iso200 100mm f5.6 1/250 - LR>levels>CS3>Lab Space>Soft Light>Nik Sharpener>Resize
Jorgen Udvang
Subscriber Member
Beautiful photos, Louis. This lens looks like an increasingly viable option.The camera shop was sold out last time I visited (and I ended up buying the 7-14 instead) but it's now on my list.
kdphotography
Well-known member
Uwe, You're an enabler in your own right. You've got me looking at the 100-300...
ken
ken
biglouis
Well-known member
Here in the UK the price seems to have dropped. When I first started looking only only one source had it below GBP 500, now everyone has it on or about GBP450. Good luck finding one - I hope the price has also reduced in your country too.
LouisB
So I finally got my GH2 and had some time to compare the GH2/100-300mm to my Canon 1DsII with 100-400mm L. The results were very surprising to me. The Panasonic GH2/100-300mm combo was stunningly good, and absolutely held its own to the Canon Combo.
Test conditions:
Everything on a tripod (Gitzo 3 series) using remote release, Image stabilization off, and mirror lockup for the 1DsII. Auto focus was used for both, but the focus point was set for the same flower (the one shown in the images below). Images shot indoors with natural light at about a distance of 15-20 feet. Images captured in Raw formats, opened with Lightroom 3 with no sharpening or noise reduction applied. They both sharpen up a lot with some small local contrast addition using Dfine, but that is subjective so I left that out. Here are some crops from shots taken at about 200mm on the Panasonic and 400mm on the Canon. I took shots at f/5.6, but the canon images were ever so slightly blurred. I am guessing I was too fast with the shutter release after mirror lockup, so I do not think that shot was indicative of the lens/camera combo. So I used the f8.0 shots taken below. My first reaction was wow, the Panasonic really had equal or even slightly better detail. The panasonic enjoys a slightly greater depth of field which we would expect. The color renderings were really different and surprised me with both cameras being on auto and the lighting did not change in the few minutes between shooting with each setup. The canon is much warmer. The one area which will be hard to see in these is the shadows. The Canon has some banding, while the Panasonic is, to my eye, cleaner. I will have to see if I can show that later. Overall, I am very impressed with the GH2 and the 100-300mm.
Full image from GH2/100-300mm:
Crop from GH2/100-300mm at 200mm f/8.0
Crop from 1DsII/100-400mm at 400mm f/8.0
Test conditions:
Everything on a tripod (Gitzo 3 series) using remote release, Image stabilization off, and mirror lockup for the 1DsII. Auto focus was used for both, but the focus point was set for the same flower (the one shown in the images below). Images shot indoors with natural light at about a distance of 15-20 feet. Images captured in Raw formats, opened with Lightroom 3 with no sharpening or noise reduction applied. They both sharpen up a lot with some small local contrast addition using Dfine, but that is subjective so I left that out. Here are some crops from shots taken at about 200mm on the Panasonic and 400mm on the Canon. I took shots at f/5.6, but the canon images were ever so slightly blurred. I am guessing I was too fast with the shutter release after mirror lockup, so I do not think that shot was indicative of the lens/camera combo. So I used the f8.0 shots taken below. My first reaction was wow, the Panasonic really had equal or even slightly better detail. The panasonic enjoys a slightly greater depth of field which we would expect. The color renderings were really different and surprised me with both cameras being on auto and the lighting did not change in the few minutes between shooting with each setup. The canon is much warmer. The one area which will be hard to see in these is the shadows. The Canon has some banding, while the Panasonic is, to my eye, cleaner. I will have to see if I can show that later. Overall, I am very impressed with the GH2 and the 100-300mm.
Full image from GH2/100-300mm:
Crop from GH2/100-300mm at 200mm f/8.0
Crop from 1DsII/100-400mm at 400mm f/8.0
Last edited:
slau
New member
I have been shooting my G1/GH1 side-by-side with my Canon 1DMk3/1DsMk3 on photo trips for almost a year now. My results (prints up to 17X22) have proved that the Panasonic M4/3 can be very good when compared to a system costing almost 10X. That was mainly for outdoor shooting, landscape type of shots with tripod and decent lighting.
For any fast actions photography that demands critical AF, I still fall back to my Canon system to be sure to have high % of keepers. The AF performance of the GH2 improves a it over g1/GH1 but it is not there yet.
The Panasonic GH2/200mm will have quite a bit more DOF than the Canon 1DsMk2/400mm. Assuming everything else being enough, it is no surprises that the Panasonic shots appears to be 'sharper'. I still have not been able to get my own 100-300 lens yet. My copy of Canon 100-400 is probably the worst performers, especially shooting wide open, among my other Canon super tele lenses.
$ for $, the Panasonic is the best for me today. I am finally committed to the M4/3 system. Can't wait to get my order of the Panasonic 100-300 and the Voigtlander 25f0.95 !!
For any fast actions photography that demands critical AF, I still fall back to my Canon system to be sure to have high % of keepers. The AF performance of the GH2 improves a it over g1/GH1 but it is not there yet.
The Panasonic GH2/200mm will have quite a bit more DOF than the Canon 1DsMk2/400mm. Assuming everything else being enough, it is no surprises that the Panasonic shots appears to be 'sharper'. I still have not been able to get my own 100-300 lens yet. My copy of Canon 100-400 is probably the worst performers, especially shooting wide open, among my other Canon super tele lenses.
$ for $, the Panasonic is the best for me today. I am finally committed to the M4/3 system. Can't wait to get my order of the Panasonic 100-300 and the Voigtlander 25f0.95 !!
biglouis
Well-known member
'Cp' that is a very interesting comparison. Quite surprising really. I bought the 100-300 because, what they hey, it is fun to have such a large telephoto which is so portable and compact but I am beginning, like you, to be very impressed. Especially since using it as a landscape lens.
LouisB
LouisB
ptomsu
Workshop Member
I am very impressed too by these comparisons!
I am still arguing for myself to further go with M43 or NEX. The NEX hight still have a certain advantage at higher ISO, but if I compare the complete "package" I can get today with the GH2 and the much broader selection of lenses, then the M43 seems to become the winner.
I am still arguing for myself to further go with M43 or NEX. The NEX hight still have a certain advantage at higher ISO, but if I compare the complete "package" I can get today with the GH2 and the much broader selection of lenses, then the M43 seems to become the winner.
Stephen,
I agree with most of the comments, but the the increase in DOF is not as much as has been made out to be on the web. I have looked at that carefully here and I do not believe that the difference in detail and sharpness are a function of the DOF in this case. The advantage I have is a whole series of images with different F stops to compare. My take was they were very similar. Given some other comments on the 100-300 in this thread, one would not expect this lens to hold up at all to an L lens selling for over $1000. But it did.
The big surprise for me was the shadows. There is banding in the 1DsII's shadows, and none in the GH2. Given the comments on the lower ability to recover highlights in the GH2, I suspect that the Panasonic biased their data to allow for more shadow recovery and less highlight recovery than Canon.
AF is definitely improved with the GH2. It is night and day different. Not as good as the best out there, but I do not shoot sports or birds in flight that much, so I can give that up at this point.
Overall, on a tripod, this is quite a combination. I will have to work on handheld technique with it a bit more, but that is looking good as well. I already enjoy the low weight/compact aspects of the system, and now it is growing in capability. I agree with being eager to get my Voigtlander 25mm f0.95!
Cliff
slau
New member
I was nicely surprised of the images from my borrowed 100-300 lens. Even with the GH1, it retains so much details and it is more than I expected. With the GH2's new sensor, the new lens definitely shines even better. Yes, it is a keeper for sure. Shooting at the 300mm focal length takes some more practice to show the full potential of the lens.