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Re: [OM] 300mm & 400mm Zuiko

Subject: Re: [OM] 300mm & 400mm Zuiko
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:28:06 -0800
Darin wrote:
> I'm thinking about getting a lens in the 300mm to 400mm range and was 
> wondering what you all think of the Zuikos in that range? I know the Great 
> White 350mm is supposed to be a great lens, but that would be way beyond my 
> means. Any thoughts?
>   

I think the 300/4.5 is a great lens. Nice solid optical performance over 
a wide range of apertures. Relatively small and light, yet hefty enough 
and with different balance with the tripod collar, that the vibration 
problems that beset the shorter teles aren't much of a problem.

If you look at Gary's tests, you will see that the 300/4.5 with 1.4x 
teleconverter starts to have vibration issues, but with aperture/mirror 
pre-fire (and/or a 5# bag of lead shot), it is a 420/6.3 roughly 
comparable performance to the 400/6.3. That combo is more flexible than 
either lens alone.

He didn't test the 300 + 2x teleconverter with any sort of vibration 
control. It's a lot better with an OM-4Ti and mirror/aperture pre-fire 
on a CF (vibration resistant) tripod than his test indicates.

If you want zoom flexibility, there's the Tokina 100-300/4 that AG is 
liking a lot. There are also a Tokina 150-500/5.6 and similar Tamron 
200-500/5.6. there's a big penalty of size and weight for those. The 
Tamron is probably easier to find, as it's an Adaptall2, so any one of 
them can be fitted to OM.

For a first class 400, there's the Tamron SP 400/4. Bigger, heavier and 
much faster than the Zuiko and a better performer.

Moose
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