Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6

Review Date
September 30, 2009

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Reviewed by
Greg McCary , Intermediate

Price Paid
$0.00 at A Gift

Photography Experience
6-10 years , Outdoor

Summary
The 70-300mm lens takes great pictures and with the IS on my E3 I can shoot low shutter speeds with very good results. It is a good lens for street photography or portraits. I wouldn't recommend it for sports due to it's slow focusing, which is worse in low light. It performs very much like the 40-150mm. I actually traded my 40-150mm after getting the 70-300mm. Of the two I prefer the 70-300mm because of the extra reach it has. The 70-300mm also take nice close ups too.

Strengths
Great lens with more reach than the 40-150mm

Weaknesses
Slow focusing. Sometimes I have to shut down my E3 and restart it to get the lens to respond well.

Similar Products Used
40-150mm Zuiko

Review Date
June 4, 2009

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
2.50 of 5, 2 votes

Reviewed by
eharrim , Intermediate

Price Paid
$320.00 at ebay

Photography Experience
6-10 years , Outdoor

Summary
I'm relatively new to dslrs having purchased the E 510 about 3 months ago and the 70 300 two months ago.
My first impression was after using a bridge camera this was rather bulky. However after using it for a couple weeks I found it to be a fairly nice carry around combination.
The 70 300 in reality 140 600 to the 4/3 systems is very compact in comparison to competitors with that same range. The auto focus works very well and continuous auto focus works well to track flying birds or moving wildlife. I say this with the exception of low light conditions. Under low light such as early morning or late evening the auto focus searches in and out of focus to find the subject. This lens needs and thrives on a lot of light to do quality work.
I don't find manual focus to be difficult although the electronics give it a less manual feel than some of the competitors. Since in good light the auto focus to me is quite fast and accurate I have no reason to use the manual focus for my photos.
The quality of this lens is very good in decent light. It doesn't rate with prime or 1000 dollar tele glass but for a 140 to 600 mm lens in the 350 or less range it is very sharp. No competitors give this much for this little. The build is solid,fairly light, and easy to handle .

Strengths
Best bang for the buck. No one sells anything close to this for this money.
Fairly fast in good light.
Sturdy build.
Compact for a 140 600 mm lens.
Very sharp, not great IQ but very good.

Weaknesses
Performs poorly in low light, constantly searching for subject.

Review Date
December 10, 2008

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.59 of 5, 17 votes

Reviewed by
albot976 , Intermediate

Price Paid
$300.00

Photography Experience
2-5 years

Summary
I use this in a wide variety of working distances, close and far. Primarily used for people and wildlife, but also have used it in many other situations when a telephoto is appropriate. Despite not being splash/dustproof, I have taken this on numerous hikes and weeklong backpacking trips and I haven't had a problem (though I am more careful with this than my 12-60, which is sealed).

Well, the basics: Surprisingly good image quality, some chromatic aberration but well controlled, small max aperture, great reach, great price.

It's built well and is quite sturdy. The zoom ring rotates a bit too easily for my taste, but no worries, it won't slip. Focusing is electronically coupled, not my preference but not a big deal. It has an AF/MF switch, which is totally unnecessary and suggests that it is indeed related to the 70-300 Sigma with similar specs. Unfortunately I've never used the Sigma so I can't compare. Nevertheless, the Zuiko performs very well.

So it's a slow lens, that's a fact. Furthermore, the lens performs best when it is stopped down a bit. The difference wasn't very noticeable in normal viewing, but 100% crops showed a noticeable difference across most of the range a couple stops down. If you're cropping your photo significantly, this is important.

The focus speed is good, but not fast. This is a concern for certain types of rapid action events. The focus itself is very accurate. Bokeh is usually quite good.

However, the lens' limits are manageable. The IQ was good and stopped down, it becomes very good. Despite a slow focus speed and slow aperture, shooting moving objects is easy enough but requires good light and some skill/practice. C-AF works reasonably well though, once the subject is acquired. For relatively stationary objects, the lens performs great. It is even capable of some macro work since the min. focus distance is only about a meter.

And finally, the reach. 300mm (600mm 35mm equivalent) in this little package is huge. It is the reason to get it. I actually prefer this lens over the 50-200 during multiday backpacking trips in good weather. However, as with any telephoto, camera shake will be your biggest culprit as you close in on 300mm, and you will have to learn to eliminate it to get all the sharpness the lens can give you. It will take some practice to be able to use this lens to its full potential.

As a budget telephoto though, it is an excellent deal and it will be more than good enough for most applications I'd highly recommend this for those who would like a telephoto option in their bag but don't rely on it much, and don't regularly shoot high speed action photography.

Strengths
great reach and versatile range
small size
price

Weaknesses
small max aperture