I used the 5x5 focusing grid and was very pleased with how quickly (and accurately) the lens grabbed the little subjects. What we were told, however, is that the lens didn't get the "Pro" moniker likely due to its variable aperture design. Its large capacity allows storage of multiple cameras and interchangeable lenses, while its overall compact size allows you to carry it on board when flying. Although the loons didn't seem to mind my presence I knew that I was adding a bit of stress to their day, so after about 30 minutes I decided to head back to the cottage.

The combination of its comparatively light weight, IPX1 weather-sealing, compatibility with teleconverters, image quality, and short minimum focusing distance make the M. Pay4Later Limited is registered in England and Wales (company number 06447333) and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (register number 728646). According to Olympus, they use hand-selected, high-performance gyro sensors inside the 300mm f/4 lens. The in-built image stabilisation technology ensures that your images will look tack sharp even when shooting hand-held at 400mm. Filter users will find a 72mm thread surrounding the front element, while a deep bowl-shaped plastic hood is supplied in the box.

This is annoying for many reasons: first, because it means I need to be more careful with shutter speed. Feel comfortable when caught short in all-weathers, with classic Olympus weather sealing as seen in the Pro lens line-up for Olympus mirrorless cameras, the ED 100-400mm f/5.

Even though it has a more obvious plastic construction than the 300mm, it still has a very rugged feel to it. On its own with no accessories it weighs 169g more (1120g vs 951g), but if you factor in the caps, hood and tripod mount, the difference in what you’ll actually be carrying around amounts to almost 300g (1405g vs 1114g). Steve Ball is an Olympus Educator residing in the Pacific Northwest, where he found his love of bird photography while working for Olympus as a National Account Executive. aperture is likely introducing a slight bit of diffraction-related softness, as images didn't seem as tack-sharp as they were with the bare lens.Love how it balances in on my hand with the tripod collar: my fingers can easily adjust zoom or manual focus.

Given the super-long focal lengths (not to mention when using the teleconverters) and dim aperture range, you really need some stabilization to properly hand-hold a lens like this and get usable shots. Long telephoto lenses, especially for full-frame cameras, can easily tip the scales at well over five pounds and can approach almost two feet in length with their big lens hoods. There are three control switches on the left side of the barrel and a 'Lock' switch on the right side, which prevents the lens from being extended. That is simply an incredible amount of flexibility and versatile telephoto performance in a surprisingly small form-factor. IS lens may have a lot of plastic parts to help keep the weight down, but the lens mount is, thankfully, made of metal.The new and improved pocket gimbal camera from DJI, Osmo Pocket 3, sports a better 1-inch sensor and 2-inch rotating screen. The list goes on - you can further extend the reach of this lens by adding teleconverters - MC20 or MC14, at the maximum range you can effectively double the reach to a whooping 800mm! Infinity and 6m-Infinity, with the latter speeding up the autofocusing if you don't need to shoot closer than 6m away from your subject. That being said, if you can manage to position yourself so that your subjects is far away from a background, you can get a very pleasingly smooth, blurry background and nice subject isolation. Photographers who capture super telephoto subjects and favour a highly portable lens need look no further than this option which delivers sharp results and weather sealing as standard.