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Fun with Panasonic 100-300
- Thread starter biglouis
- Start date
E
Ertos
Guest
JUst came back from a trip to South Africa. I bought the 100-300 for this trip. I really liked the range. Although it can be sharper in some photos, I am happy with the result. I own an OM-D.
JimGoshorn
New member
Have a question about the lens:
In another forum I read that the lens is very sharp at all focal lengths if you are shooting subjects that are fairly close but when you are at distances approaching 200 ft. or more, the details start to get a smeared look especially at the longer focal lengths. Have any of you who own the lens seen this or is it another pixel peeper obsessing?
Thanks!
Jim
In another forum I read that the lens is very sharp at all focal lengths if you are shooting subjects that are fairly close but when you are at distances approaching 200 ft. or more, the details start to get a smeared look especially at the longer focal lengths. Have any of you who own the lens seen this or is it another pixel peeper obsessing?
Thanks!
Jim
Skridlovian
New member
Although I haven't yet got around to testing this systematically (and it needs a day when atmospherics aren't a factor) I would tend to agree with the judgement that at 300mm this lens performs quite a bit better at shorter range: it would be preferable if it was the other way round. And the IBIS certainly can't cope at 300mm even off a monopod. Its size and weight (on an OMD) make it extremely useful but comparing it with stuff shot on my (now sold, unfortunately) Sigma 150-500 on a D700 makes the M4/3 combo look a bit sick.
Roy
Coming at me through the turn. Shot a series of images like this and the focus was good on most using EM-5, single point focus. At 300mm, 7.1, iso 400, 1/640.
Just got GH3 today and first impressions are that the focus is faster and the focus ergonomics are much better. The buttons are much more responsive and definite in their click. The control wheel and set buttons work much better, they are separated enough so that I don't press set when I mean to press a cursor. Positioning focus point with control wheel works well, the EM-5 is skitterish -too fast or too slow, hard to position exactly. Pin point focus seems very nice and handy, a far cry from the overly large focus box of the Em_5. Screens look great to me. Menu is much better but I started with Pana and am probably more used to their style.
Larry
Just got GH3 today and first impressions are that the focus is faster and the focus ergonomics are much better. The buttons are much more responsive and definite in their click. The control wheel and set buttons work much better, they are separated enough so that I don't press set when I mean to press a cursor. Positioning focus point with control wheel works well, the EM-5 is skitterish -too fast or too slow, hard to position exactly. Pin point focus seems very nice and handy, a far cry from the overly large focus box of the Em_5. Screens look great to me. Menu is much better but I started with Pana and am probably more used to their style.
Larry
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Great lens Lois {for the money} just picked one up 
I love extreme lenses which is why I couldn't resist obtaining the new Lumix 100-300 f4-5.6.
Here is my take on the lens. Nicely built in typical Pansonic quality plastic style. Less impressed with the focus throw on my copy which is stiff. Maybe it will loosen up with use (I hope). It is a big lens but not as big as, say, the equivalent focal length or even half the zoom focal length on any other system I know of. In fact, you could say the promise of m4/3rds is finally realised with this sort of lens in terms of size. Comes with a nice reversible lens hood and a soft case and caps.
Obviously, it is a hard lens to get a sharp shot from at maximum. The problem is the inevitable shake and the need for high speed. I really doubt the OIS is much use and in fact the manual even hints that you might want to turn it off at high magnification.
As a result, this means operating at high iso and unfortunately my GF-1 loses a lot of definition above iso800. I can recover some of this because I shoot raw and the raw settings tend to be soft and noisy. However, when shooting birds, for example, this leads to a loss of detail.
In typical Panasonic style the lens is capable of sharp, colourful pictures, though I feel it will take some time and practise to get the best out of this lens. And possibly a GH-2 if the improvements to high iso definition that I've seen in samples really are there.
The full size jpegs are at my Flickr stream if you feel the need to pixel peep. All pictures have minimal to no post processing.
iso640 f7.1 300mm 1/500
iso1250 f5.6 234mm 1/250 - pleasing bokeh?
iso160 f7.1 120mm 1/200
iso200 f5.0 125mm 1/200
iso640 f5.6 300mm 1/800
ripcurl1169M
New member
My OMD with 100-300mm
At 300mm
At 300mm
dhsimmonds
New member
Contrast detection AF is not considered suitable for fast action!
Otters are renowned for being both elusive and very fast movers!
OM-D with Pana 100-300 using IBIS and handheld at 300mm (600mm equiv.)
Otters are renowned for being both elusive and very fast movers!
OM-D with Pana 100-300 using IBIS and handheld at 300mm (600mm equiv.)