Review New Oly 100-400: Impressions and images

[RAH]

Wow, that's something to watch out for with these lenses. Thanks for the heads-up. But it DOES explain why Olympus took the unusual step of including a lens-hood (that nicely can be inverted) with the lens!

 

[Ross the fiddler]

Started our road trip last night. Woke up to let the gf take the first leg of the day. Grabbed my camera and there was a rattling sound. Stomach sunk. Turning the camera around it was coming from the 100-400mm...

To my (slight) relief, one of those bayonet screws had come out and was captured by the inverted lens hood. Was able to get it back in with my pocket knife but I don't have a glasses repair kit on hand.

Will probably be loctiting that when I get home if I don't lose the screw. See y'all in Yellowstone! Opted to not get a teleconverter as I agree with what you guys say about probably being dissatisfied and/or blaming the tc on lower image quality. Thanks!

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A charity rubber wrist band covers & retains the screws without thinking about screwdrivers & Loctite (I have done that too though) & the hood still reverses as well.
In this case it was promoting our SES (downunder) but can be a 'WWJD' band too. At least I have the number at hand if a tree falls on a neighbouring house or car.

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[Markyboy72]

Hello all, been here for a while looking but first post so please be gentle!!
bought a 100-400 and after a very, very long wait ? it arrived late last week, absolutely love it and insanely sharp but I was wondering if anyone else has noticed the out of focus areas of pics being, hmm, I don’t know how to describe it other than off putting? An example is attached. The focus point was on my sons head which is amazingly sharp but looking at the bush behind him it just looks odd? is this just me or is this a thing? I could be going slightly mad! I find that anything longer and this affect is amplified, not got an example at the moment but will try and post later. Thanks

 

[Steveinslc]

Hello all, been here for a while looking but first post so please be gentle!!
bought a 100-400 and after a very, very long wait ? it arrived late last week, absolutely love it and insanely sharp but I was wondering if anyone else has noticed the out of focus areas of pics being, hmm, I don’t know how to describe it other than off putting? An example is attached. The focus point was on my sons head which is amazingly sharp but looking at the bush behind him it just looks odd? is this just me or is this a thing? I could be going slightly mad! I find that anything longer and this affect is amplified, not got an example at the moment but will try and post later. Thanks

What were your settings for that? Particularly your aperture?
I think what you're seeing is normal depth of field focus effects. The people are sharp and as you get further away in the background, things go out of focus. The reason it looks odd in this particular photo may have to do with the vertical light post. It's creating an optical illusion that objects on the left side of it are more in focus and objects to the right are out. In fact the objects to the right are just further away and it's normal for them to be more out of focus.

 

[Markyboy72]

What were your settings for that? Particularly your aperture?
I think what you're seeing is normal depth of field focus effects. The people are sharp and as you get further away in the background, things go out of focus. The reason it looks odd in this particular photo may have to do with the vertical light post. It's creating an optical illusion that objects on the left side of it are more in focus and objects to the right are out. In fact the objects to the right are just further away and it's normal for them to be more out of focus.

Sorry, I should have said, settings were f5.8 1/640 iso 320.

 

[RAH]

I think what you're seeing is normal depth of field focus effects. The people are sharp and as you get further away in the background, things go out of focus. The reason it looks odd in this particular photo may have to do with the vertical light post. It's creating an optical illusion that objects on the left side of it are more in focus and objects to the right are out. In fact the objects to the right are just further away and it's normal for them to be more out of focus.

@Markyboy72 I agree with @Steveinslc that it is an optical illusion. Specifically, the bush that the woman's pointing finger is just touching in the upper right corner of the bush looks MUCH more out-of-focus than the bush directly above the boys head. But I think that is because the more OOF bush is quite a lot farther away than the bush above the boy's head. It's just funky looking but OK, I think.

 

[Markyboy72]

I agree with @Steveinslc that it is an optical illusion. Specifically, the bush that the woman's pointing finger is just touching in the upper right corner of the bush looks MUCH more out-of-focus than the bush directly above the boys head. But I think that is because the more OOF bush is quite a lot farther away than the bush above the boy's head. It's just funky looking but OK, I think.

Thank you, thought I was going mad ??

 

[Ross the fiddler]

Hello all, been here for a while looking but first post so please be gentle!!
bought a 100-400 and after a very, very long wait ? it arrived late last week, absolutely love it and insanely sharp but I was wondering if anyone else has noticed the out of focus areas of pics being, hmm, I don’t know how to describe it other than off putting? An example is attached. The focus point was on my sons head which is amazingly sharp but looking at the bush behind him it just looks odd? is this just me or is this a thing? I could be going slightly mad! I find that anything longer and this affect is amplified, not got an example at the moment but will try and post later. Thanks

It's called 'bokeh' (depth of field out of focus area), something many desire, but some lenses it can look 'busy' & others beautiful & smooth. The best of the prime lenses may have a 'beautiful & smooth' bokeh. Other telephoto lenses may look less pretty than the 100-400 lens which is reasonably good (in my opinion).

 

[Egregius V]

Very interesting first post, @Markyboy72 ! I agree with what others have said about the optical illusion. Your lens produced a nice image, technically - it's just that the foliage in the background is distracting. I see three reasons: the lamp post, which is a smooth object overlapping a lot of texture; the varied coloring of the bush, which makes it really stand out among the other plants; and the finger pointing right at it, which acts as a leading line.

 

[John King]

Hello all, been here for a while looking but first post so please be gentle!!
bought a 100-400 and after a very, very long wait ? it arrived late last week, absolutely love it and insanely sharp but I was wondering if anyone else has noticed the out of focus areas of pics being, hmm, I don’t know how to describe it other than off putting? An example is attached. The focus point was on my sons head which is amazingly sharp but looking at the bush behind him it just looks odd? is this just me or is this a thing? I could be going slightly mad! I find that anything longer and this affect is amplified, not got an example at the moment but will try and post later. Thanks

A warm to this friendly forum, Marky.

As others have said, the slightly odd background effects are due to peculiarities of this particular photo. When examined as separate parts, the out of focus transitions are really smooth. The bokeh is not 'nervous' in any way.

Lovely puppy.

Glad that you are liking your new lens.

 

[Markyboy72]

Thanks to everyone for your replies and input, I appreciate it.
I continue to love this lens despite its optical illusions! ?

 

[Carbonman]

Thank you, thought I was going mad ??

And why should you be any different than the rest of us that frequent this site?

 

[S-Osolin]

Hello all, been here for a while looking but first post so please be gentle!!

Bokeh looks regular and pleasing. What's not pleasing is your framing, but don't worry, that's only down to skill and practice. It'll come to you eventually.

 

[PeeBee]

I must say, in the short time I've had this lens, I'm loving it. I have more captures than I have time to process, so my only complaint is it's size. It won't comfortably fit where the wife says she's going to put it if I don't get on with the house renovations

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[John King]

I must say, in the short time I've had this lens, I'm loving it. I have more captures than I have time to process, so my only complaint is it's size. I won't comfortably fit where the wife says she's going to put it if I don't get on with the house renovations

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Simply cuteness overload ... .

 

[Avondale87]

Simply cuteness overload ... .

what's cute?
where it wont comfortably fit?

Ah. I see! mm. yes a cute, beautiful little duckling. Very nice PeeBee

Wives - don't you luv 'em ?

 

[PeeBee]

Wives - don't you luv 'em ?

Yes, especially considering that mine bought me the 100-400. And she only wants a new kitchen in return

 

[Avondale87]

Yes, especially considering that mine bought me the 100-400. And she only wants a new kitchen in return

I'm building a new kitchen right now. The precedence has been set.
I'll carefully broach the subject with mine

 

[Markyboy72]

Bokeh looks regular and pleasing. What's not pleasing is your framing, but don't worry, that's only down to skill and practice. It'll come to you eventually.

Ha ha. It was only a quick snap to test the lens, not an earth shattering pic! What is wrong with some people.. ?

 

[RichardC]

Ha ha. It was only a quick snap to test the lens, not an earth shattering pic! What is wrong with some people.. ?

It's definitely out of whack by at least 0.5 deg.