Review Panasonic Lumix G Vario 100-300mm F/4.0-5.6 OIS Lens Field Review

Amin · Jun 13, 2011

jlake1234 said:
Question: did you find it a bit heavy for hand-held and how much did the OIS really compensate?

I did not find it too heavy to handhold. It was comfortable to use for an extended period of time. I didn't formally test the OIS, but I was able to get consistent results free of significant handshake blur using auto-ISO (shutter speeds around 1/500s at full tele), so it seemed to be working.

Amin · Jun 13, 2011

blue said:
I have had this lens since it came out and it practically lives on my G1.

But... I am not getting results anywhere near as clear as yours. Is it the GH2, RAW shooting with pp, better light ?

Maybe that to get any sort of speed I am nearly always at f5.6 and high ISO, which is not so good on the G1 ? Focus misses a lot on G1 as well.

All,that said however, I do recommend the lens and maybe will see a difference if I take the plunge with the G3.

All my samples were processed from RAW and given a healthy amount of sharpening. It does take a pretty high ISO sometimes to get enough shutter speed to handhold this lens at full tele, and the G3 will help with results at those high ISOs.

zpierce · Jun 13, 2011

Amin Sabet said:
All my samples were processed from RAW and given a healthy amount of sharpening. It does take a pretty high ISO sometimes to get enough shutter speed to handhold this lens at full tele, and the G3 will help with results at those high ISOs.

I think this would be a tough lens on the G1. As a current owner of the G1 and GH2, I wouldn't put it on my G1 as I'm often at higher ISO's with this lens which the G1 just wasn't very good at.

zpierce · Jun 13, 2011

For those interested, I had the extreme fortune yesterday to witness two male pileated woodpeckers land in my back yard and have a 20 minute territory battle. They were on tree trunks in the shady woods so they were all higher ISO, and I applied quite a bit of sharpening and some noise reduction. They were all at 300mm. I also shot and clipped together a bit of video at 300mm. I shot quite a few duds as well, they were there so long, I had a lot of chances to get decent shots.

Pileated Woodpeckers - a set on Flickr

Also, one thing I've found that helped with birds in flight was to go to the multipoint autofocus, then hit the focus area select button and select the middle. That gives you basically a larger center focus. That seemed to work well for me as I couldn't keep flying birds in the little square, especially at 300mm.

Here's a few herons I shot that way, starting here:
P1080542.jpg | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

If you check out the video, be sure to get the HD version, the default non-HD looks terrible.

[ame=http://vimeo.com/25010125]Pileated Woodpecker Battle on Vimeo[/ame]

GaryAyala · Jun 13, 2011

Nice review Amin ... is that first shot under "Optics" Representative Weiner?

G

Amin · Jun 13, 2011

LOL, there would have been a lot of photographers in the picture if he were.

blue · Jun 20, 2011

All my samples were processed from RAW and given a healthy amount of sharpening. It does take a pretty high ISO sometimes to get enough shutter speed to handhold this lens at full tele, and the G3 will help with results at those high ISOs.

I am hoping for good things from the G3/100-300 combo. Has anyone tried this yet ?

georger · Jun 23, 2011

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ontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> Amin,
Thank you for excellent lens performance summary. Based on this review I purchased the lens and can only comment on good balance with Ep2 and Vf2.
George.

MadCow4 · Jul 1, 2011

Great review and photos Amin. Currently using this lens and loving it. Great for wildlife photos on my G2, especially with the Ex. Opt Zoom feature.

johnbevan · Aug 7, 2011

Good review Amin. Excellent photos, especially the first one. A recent pacemaker fitted and waiting for heart ablation has thwarted my diving so I will be able to spend more time on photography. Best for now, John

Kiwi Paul · Sep 16, 2011

blue said:
All my samples were processed from RAW and given a healthy amount of sharpening. It does take a pretty high ISO sometimes to get enough shutter speed to handhold this lens at full tele, and the G3 will help with results at those high ISOs.

I am hoping for good things from the G3/100-300 combo. Has anyone tried this yet ?

Yes I use that combo and have got great results, there is no issue using ISO3200 if you are just using to keep the shutter speed up.
Focus is quick and accurate usually but I have had problems when photographing individual birds sometimes where the focus is a bit out, I've tried various metering modes but haven't yet worked out a solution, you only really notice it when viewing 100% but it's a pain. It's not out by much, for instance the birds body might be in focus but the head is slight oof.

Here's some that are in focus.

Paul

https://www.mu-43.com/f54/more-ducks-i-must-quackers-15922/

https://www.mu-43.com/f54/ducks-g3-pana-100-300-a-15757/

zpierce · Sep 16, 2011

Kiwi Paul said:
Yes I use that combo and have got great results, there is no issue using ISO3200 if you are just using to keep the shutter speed up.
Focus is quick and accurate usually but I have had problems when photographing individual birds sometimes where the focus is a bit out, I've tried various metering modes but haven't yet worked out a solution, you only really notice it when viewing 100% but it's a pain. It's not out by much, for instance the birds body might be in focus but the head is slight oof.

Here's some that are in focus.

Paul

https://www.mu-43.com/f54/more-ducks-i-must-quackers-15922/

https://www.mu-43.com/f54/ducks-g3-pana-100-300-a-15757/

Could just be dof issue? At 20ft at 300mm f5.6 your dof is about 2 inches. I notice this often with birds. Often I'm at 300 mm trying to get close, wide open for shutter speed and end up with very little dof. Something I'm getting used to with this really long lens.

Shield · Sep 18, 2011

Great review. This lens is sharp as a tack and I am stunned every time I use it. I wish it went all the way wide to 14mm; I may never take it off my camera!

AbsolutKev · Nov 10, 2011

A quick note for all oly users incase its not mentioned yet, if it is, pls excuse this post.

If u hav ur IBIS On and lens OIS off, the ammount of compensations is not as great as IBIS off and lens OIS on. Phew... Thats a mouthfull.

Try it out.

AbsolutKev · Nov 10, 2011

Amount or ammount. Ah, spelling mistake again. Pls (polar) bear (growl!) with me.

AbsolutKev · Nov 10, 2011

Welcome to Flickr!

Jus a shot to share.

BillN · Feb 13, 2012

Thanks Zach - great video - really enjoyed it

kissel · Dec 7, 2012

As an owner of Nikon D3 was looking for a long tele lens, but y'all aware how bad the price tags are even on the cheaper lenses there. Panny 100-300 shocked me with it's perfomance, so I just bought a G3 body and planning on buying 100-300 before spring and use it for wild life photography.

LowTEC · Dec 13, 2012

I too switched from APSC to m4/3 for this lens, the DSLR alternative will cost me four times more to have the same focal length

Lindsay D · Feb 1, 2013

Lovely images Amin! I too have this lens and I really enjoy using it on my OMD. However the first copy I owned wasn't great, very soft over about 230mm. The copy I have now is much better, its tack sharp up to about 260mm, then sharp enough to 280 at which point it does soften noticeably. However a bit of loss at the extreme long end isn't an issue for me.

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