Sharpness is very good on the whole but drops off a bit at the long end. Unsurprisingly, this lens looks and feels a bit like a conventional 70-300mm zoom for bigger cameras, but the MFT format gives it a powerful 600mm effective reach. The f/6.3 aperture rating at the long end of the zoom range is relatively ‘slow’ but quite typical for this class of super-telephoto lens.Īlso consider: Olympus M.ZUIKO ED 75-300mm f/4.8‑6.7 II Image quality is superb, with excellent sharpness right up to the maximum 400mm zoom setting. For added comfort and stability, the lens comes complete with a mounting foot for well-balanced use on a tripod or monopod. Even though the lens weighs nearly a kilogram, it’s still sufficiently lightweight for prolonged periods of handheld shooting. The effective optical image stabilizer is very worthwhile, given the enormous effective focal lengths on tap. Highlights include a locking mechanism for the zoom ring and an autofocus range limiter switch. As we’ve come to expect from Panasonic’s up-market lenses, this one is sturdy, robust and meticulously engineered. Let’s take a look at the best lenses in all of the main shooting categories, along with some top-value alternatives that give impressive performance on a tighter budget.Ī zoom range of 100-400mm gives powerful telephoto reach on a full-frame camera but, in MFT terms, you get a whopping ‘effective’ maximum focal length of 800mm. However, whereas many of Panasonic’s lenses feature optical image stabilization, most of Olympus’s lenses rely on in-camera, sensor-shift stabilization. Both makes of lenses are equally compatible on both makes of camera body. Naturally, Olympus and Panasonic are the two main manufacturers of MFT format lenses. Typically, they have stepping motor autofocus systems which gives rapid and highly accurate performance for stills, as well as delivering virtually silent, smooth focus transitions when shooting movies. Most MFT lenses are impeccably crafted, combining clever design with premium build quality and superb optical qualityĪlthough they tend to be relatively small and lightweight, most MFT lenses are impeccably crafted, combining clever design with premium build quality and superb optical quality. Again, the physical construction of the MFT format lens will be smaller and lighter. For example, a 35-150mm telephoto zoom would give you the same ‘effective’ range as using a 70-300mm lens on a full-frame outfit. Secondly, the actual focal length for any given type of lens is halved. Firstly, the image circle produced by the lens only needs to be a fraction of the size of a full-frame lens, so the optical elements can be made with a relatively small diameter. When it comes to shrinking the physical size of lenses, the advantages are two-fold. At the heart of the MFT system is a comparatively small image sensor that has a 2.0x crop factor, compared with full-frame cameras.

Zuiko digital four thirds system lens