Panasonic 100 300mm F4.0-5.6 Zoom Lens for the micro four thirds mount.

[@wcbibb]

I owned the Panasonic 100-300mm, II lens which I used on s G7. It was incredible for birds and wildlife. I bought a G9 and a Panasonic-Leica 100-400mm. That has a bit better reach but is much heavier. The difference on a long hike or the effect on your spine while hanging around your neck with a camera strap becomes apparent quickly. The 100-300mm saves your spine, gets most of the shots at half the weight, and less than half the cost. It takes up much less space in your camera bag. It is sharp and clear in all but the lowest light.

[@nerdMike]

I suggest to try Olympus PRO 40-150 2.8 also, even with tele converter, 1-4x is a monster lens, shorter of course but what a lens.. :D (i used it with G80 IBIS only)

[@Reyfox1]

@@nerdMike interesting choice. What is the total cost of the combination? Dual IS in tele use is a huge benefit when hand holding.

[@nerdMike]

@@Reyfox1 40-140 + TC 2x costs used around the price of Leica 100-400 alone around a 1000 or over, still not 800mm equivalent. No story compared to the good but not perfect 100-300 ii (sharp but lot of CA and not so good micro contrast). But if u want a fast Tele the 40-150 2.8 is a great solution with TC when u need more length. Metal, sharp, internal zoom. Of course dual is doesn't work on Panasonic sadly. In M43 if u can only go cheap buy the 100-300ii, very good under 500€. For premium price u have the 2 solutions above, Leica 100-400, Oly 40-150 plus Tc for more versatility or the new Olympus 100-400 but it's 1300€.

[@Reyfox1]

@@nerdMike I don't shoot wildlife, but there are times when an extra "reach" is good. Cost of those lenses you mentioned is beyond my retirement income, although I would love to have one.

[@nerdMike]

@@Reyfox1 me too, just used for a shot period and they're great, sadly not mine.

[@musicsoundgear]

I recently got this lens and paired it with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II . I am very happy with the quality of the photos. This lens has sturdy constructions, comes WITH the lens hood and pouch! You forgot to mention, that this lens is SPLASHPROOF ands DUSTPROOF, too.

[@kerrytaylor8629]

I have just found your video as I am thinking about buying this lens to go with my G9. I found it really helpful. I was concerned about reports that this lens was not so sharp. However your images, even on KZbin look good and you seem content. Thank you again.

[@AprilClayton]

The Sigma 150-600 strained my neck. I was happy with the LUMIX 100-300 until I thought full frame was so much better. The LUMIX does good enough for me. I had to try the big lens to realize its not worth the weight

[@BirdinginMalaysia]

I have been using this lens for my bird guiding assignments over here in Malaysia and in Sumatra, Indonesia. It's simply amazing. Very lightweight and I only use a simple Benro travel tripod. Sold off all my DSLR setup. But you should not expect the equal quality as DSLR but my consideration is for the weight and size. I have compiled a few videos on my KZbin channel too if you are interested to see if the quality suits your requirement. I am currently using a Panasonic Lumix G7 and Olympus E-M1 Mark II. The image stabilisation on the lens should be switched OFF if using with Olympus camera.

[@AvpStudios]

Thanks for tip, I have recently been using the lens on my Olympus E-M1 mark ii and I love the low weight combo.

[@paulmcwilliams8641]

I bought that combo mainly for the ability to program one of the front buttons to close focus. I often photograph small song birds close up and got totally fed up with the camera defaulting to something else, even when the smallest auto-focus point was on the subject. It is especially good when it comes to dragonflies and similar wee beasties.

[@F56JCW]

Hi mate, appreciate this is a pretty old comment now, and you may not even have the lens anymore! But can I ask how you go about doing this? I also photograph small birds and have this same issue

[@paulmcwilliams8641]

@@F56JCWHi! I still have the lens, but not the camera any more. I made the comment when I owned the Panasonic G9. On the front of that camera there are two buttons, one above the other, that can be operated with your second and third fingers and are programmable. From the options I set the top button to only autofocus on the closest object, ie small birds and the like. Similarily I programmed the lower button to focus on the furthest thing from the camera. The normal shutter button stayed at the default setting. Then I had the autofocus options of nearest, furthest or normal. You don't say what camera you have, but the G9 is the only camera I have come across with this setup. I use the lens currently with a OM1 and in the menu system there are three focus limiting options which you can dial in the autofocus distance limits. I have Opt 1 to 2 - 5 metres, Opt 2 from 6- 10 metres and Opt 3 set at 10 metres to infinity. I am not sure when autofocus limiting options came in on Oly cameras, but I had it on my EM1 mkii and you can buy those for very little nowadays. I still have a Panasonic GX8 and that is absolutely hopeless on small bird photography, with the same problems you have. You can see the subject blurred in the lens and the single point on it, but you have to press the shutter 6, 7 or 8 times for it to lock on to close subjects. I only use it with Pan/Leica 12 - 60 for landscape and general photography now. Let me know what camera and lens you are using, I may be able to suggest something. Good Luck!

[@howardtowler6146]

Great video loads of information

[@shimnaman]

Very useful comments... On the lens and the G9 camera!

[@weekendwanderer5514]

If you turn on the internal teleconverter in the settings on the G9 you can go way beyond 600mm with this lens without any loss of quality!

[@JoeMaranophotography]

Sadly thats just the same result as cropping and you lose the ability to have raw files. It's good if you have it right in camera and can afford to crop but I haven't used that mode for some time now since getting the 100-400.

[@mountaindew267]

Reply is true. I adjusted the quality of my pictures and lost the option for internal teleconverter on my g85. Seems like it was just holding back some resolution or something. Also, I know this comment is a year old, but I just got my g85 out of the closet and bought this lense.

[@tga240]

This is why I'm planning on ditching my full frame for M43. I have the tamron 150-600mm and love it for wildlife, but it is a hefty beast. I worked out that switching my kit I'll end up carrying 1/3 of the weight, which makes hiking with a full kit doable.

[@Reyfox1]

While the bodies and weight of full frame cameras (think Panasonic S5) have come down, the weight of the lenses hasn't that much. I bike ride and carry a G9. When I travel, I take the G9. Yes, weight is something that keeps me in the M43 camp. Yes, there are the commonly talked about short comings.... low light capabilities, Panasonic's auto continuous focus system "hunting", etc.. There has been much talk lately about the future of M43. Olympus has sold the M43 camera division. Panasonic hasn't said anything concrete of their future support of the format. I will continue to use what I have (the Dual IBIS is unbelievable), and hope that lens prices will drop, pick up an extra body when those prices drop and continue to get around with less weight on my back.

[@jeffslade1892]

The extra weight of the PL100-400 is worth it for wildlife, it is a lot lighter than the Tamron. If the Tamron is Canon fit it it can be adapted electronically to MFT, it should stabilise but you won't get Dual-IS. Lenses are expensive which we do not recoup when swapping systems. There's some argument for keeping both systems especially if the lenses can be adapted. Keep the lenses, update the bodies. My two wildlife lenses (G9) are now the PL100-400 and the Mk2 45-200 which is even lighter than the 100-300. When I could hike my camera gear got lighter and lighter. I switched to MFT long ago. I do have a Bigma adapted to MFT, I would so not carry that. I tend to mix landscape with wildlife. So carbon tripod, the wide lenses can be very small, usual suspects 20, 45, 75. And that lot can get into a lightweight courier bag rather than the heavy rucksack. Buy used, the price drops right down to reasonable.

[@SereneBliss]

Great video you've convinced me to get this lens

[@Schelli]

Just stumbled upon this nice review! Lovely guy, great comments, will definitely get this!

[@DigitalEssenceDesign]

Great review, thank you. I'm going to purchase one of these lenses. Yes there's better glass out there but I'd prefer something I can both afford and carry about for a day out in the hills.

[@AvpStudios]

Thats the beauty of micro four thirds, the lenses are very compact. My friend does a lot of hiking and was tired of carting around his Nikon D500, he has moved to Olympus and this lens, amongst other lenses and is taking far more photos than he previously did.

[@DigitalEssenceDesign]

@@AvpStudios Same reasoning here. I also switched from a DJI Phantom to a Mavic Air 2 as the latter fits in my rucksack and I then take it with me.

[@jeffslade1892]

I've had the Mk1 100-300 for a very long time. I always struggled for a bit more length. I found a Sigma 50-500 4/3 fit, The Bigma, the original extra-long zoom, for Olympus, uses a 4/3 to MFT adapter. Gorgeous glass, full frame but no OIS, and so heavy it is tripod only. The AF motors are like a coffee grinder. I cannot remember which camera I had when I got the Bigma - of those I still have G5, GH4, E-M5ii. I do remember I had the GM1 which looked daft on the back of the big lens. Since then the G7 and G9. I got the PL100-400 for the G9, for wildlife and it is a game changer. The Dual2 stabilisation is incredible, the big lens becomes hand-held (as it will with the Mk2 100-300). The lens length is now just right, 400mm is sometimes too long, but 300mm not enough. Stabilisation is important. Especially with extra-long lenses. Olympus have this badly documented "Olympus Dual Stabilisation", which is not Synch-IS but runs both lens OIS and IBIS together with some axes halted. So the E-M5ii can steady the Lumix Mk1 45-200 better than can the GH4, but not so clever with the Mk1 100-300; I think this may be due to the extra mass of the lens. The Mk2 45-200 is another matter, it goes Dual2 on the G9, no change on the E-M5ii. With the PL100-400 the 100-300 is not necessary - the 45-200 is lighter and a better intermediate lens between the PL100-400 and the 35-100 f/2.8. I thought the Mk1 45-200 was a bit of a dog until I put it on the E-M5ii, it's actually a pretty good lens. The Olympus 100-400 will use their "Dual Stabilisation" (not Synch-IS) on Olympus bodies but the lens cannot use the Lumix Dual-IS. I like Olympus cameras but they do like to shoot themself in the foot at times, they do understand the Lumix OIS but chose not to implement a Synch-IS for them. The Olympus bodies will use their "Dual Stabilisation" with most Lumix OIS lenses including the PL100-400. It is not a patch on the Dual-IS and in my experience not effective beyond 200mm. The PL100-400 zoom ring can be sticky. The ring is a bit thin, don't pinch it at the front but turn it at the back near the camera. PL100-400 and Mk2 45-200 :)

[@AoyagiAichou]

I have the 14-140 lens and bought this to extend my range a bit... but even though I really quite new in somewhat serious photography, I couldn't help but wonder if that chromatic aberration and sharpness at full length is acceptable. Still need to do more testing, but I expected more from it. Might be inexperience, I don't know. I was comparing it with the 14-140 and with FZ82.

[@jeffslade1892]

We have have the 14-140 glued to my wife's GX7. It's a good tourist lens but it is a X10 super-zoom. So it doesn't quite have the image quality of the others.It does what it should. There are no poor native MFT lenses. I still use the FZ200. The best zooms are X3, it's a mechanical issue. The longer they are the more they can stretch them but the wide end is for finding the subject, the IQ is usually a bit poor there. The shorter they are, well the 7-14 is X2. Lumix alternatives - 35-100 f/2.8, 45-150, PZ45-175 (tiny), 45-200, 100-300, PL100-400. The bigger the lens the bigger the back wants to be for handling the thing, balance. The light and cheap 45-150 is a better long lens than the 14-140. What camera?

[@AoyagiAichou]

@@jeffslade1892 G90. Since then I managed to get the 100-400 and I have my sights on the 35-100 f/2.8 as well. Also I learned that CA can be mitigated in post fairly easily, at least for stills. Maybe the 45-150 is optically superior, but I doubt it outweighs the versatility of that 14-140, haha. And they didn't make those with Power OIS, did they?

[@jeffslade1892]

@@AoyagiAichou The 14-140 is a very versatile jack of all trades but master of none. My wife likes the lens a lot, it is stuck on her GX7 in iA mode. She could use any of our lenses and cameras but doesn't do much photography and likely to take snapshots on her phone. . The 35-100 is a "world class lens". The Mk1 will Dual-IS. I don't think it worth upgrading to the Mk2 for Dual2. Power-OIS is not a thing until the lenses get longer and like Dual2, Mega-OIS can Dual-IS Whilst the PL100-400 will shoot at 100mm it is not really cooking until 200mm. There's a sort of gap between 100-200. The 45-150 is small, light and cheap, Dual-IS The PZ45-175 is absolutely tiny, Dual-IS but a bit odd - it is a video lens and its character is maybe not as bright as you might expect. The Mk2 45-200 is light, Dual2, and good at 100mm which is not the strong point of the 100-300 nor the PL100-400. Chromatic aberration is not a thing unless you go pixel peeping, you will only see it under certain lighting/contrast conditions. The camera is better at correcting CA than Adobe in post, they do not understand the "Extended-RAW" and do not apply lens corrections as they do for Canikon. Silkypix is better at converting Panasonic raw files but even that is not the same as the camera can do. Problem using the camera as the converter is the monitor is too small to see what you are doing. Whilst Olympus Workspace closely mimics what their cameras can do, it cannot handle Panasonic raw files Download from the G9 for 2022 so far has been over 1800 files - raw, jpeg and a few movie. I am so not post-editing 900 raw files. The firmware engine is very good. If the jpeg is good you don't need to harass the raw. If the jpeg is bad you can bin the jpeg and the raw. I mainly edit to crop. A jpeg can be edited without further compression loss, push the slider to maximum in Photoshop

[@AoyagiAichou]

@@jeffslade1892 I'm aware it's a jack of all trades, master of none, that's why I got it. I'm not upgrading, I'm buying a new (to me) lens. The 35-100 mk2 has significant improvements and I see no reason to get a slightly cheaper lens with dated features (DFD, Dual IS, etc.). No interest in any of those lenses you listed I'm afraid. They all *start* at f/4 and I have those ranges covered. And chromatic aberration absolutely is a thing, especially with tree branches on a cloudy day and scenes like that. It was the case over a year ago and still is now. If the camera applies any CA correction to RAWs, it's not very good. And lol I'm not shooting inflexible jpegs, not to mention Panasonic's compression wreaks havoc with trees and landscape patterns.

[@jeffslade1892]

@@AoyagiAichou Both Olympus and Lumix apply lens correction converting raw to jpeg in the camera - but they do it correctly. Camera Raw does not apply corrections to Panylmpus, they both produce "Extended-RAW" files which Adobe does not understand. Although they say they do, they don't, is is a known issue. Camera Raw produces artefacts that exacerbate aberrations and colour distortions. Trees on a cloudy day is low contrast. I would have to try very hard to get chromatic aberration with the lenses I use. The 14-140 yeah maybe it would, the X10 super-zoom has complicated glass that compromises its performance. The 35-100? What aberration? DFD is done by the camera not the lens, all the AF lenses will use it. Some of the oldest lenses have slower focus motors, but they're still very fast. If they hunt it's because the camera cannot find enough contrast to lock. CD is more accurate than PD but if it can't do it, it won't lock whereas PD can lock out of focus (cf Sony "fuzzy photos") Dual-IS I'd say is good for the shorter lenses, maybe up to 200mm. Above that I need the Dual2, because it is there. My Mk1 12-35 and 35-100 are "only" Dual-IS but that is more than good enough, they were great even without body stabilisation on the GH4. Perhaps sadly, they are far better lenses than the all-in-one 14-140. The 35-100 is a great choice, top quality and fast. It is not possible to make a long zoom very fast. You ill notice that the 35-100 is a X3 zoom. Nor always desirable. The shallow depth of field of a long lens makes a smaller aperture needed. Long fast prime? The Oly 75mm f/1.8. I reckon it's as sharp as the Leica 25mm f/1.4 and sharper than the Oly 45mmf/1.8

[@MzuMzu-nx1em]

What's the max zoom reachable?

[@hiden1980]

Is there any (if there is) possibility to use this (or any 4/3 lens) with Nikon D5600 with the help of some kind of adapter ?

[@AvpStudios]

Unfortunately you cant adapt lenses to fit on a DSLR due to the flange distance and a DSLR has a mirror box which would get in the way of the adaptor.

[@hiden1980]

@@AvpStudios thanks ...

[@quinnvitums5184]

How’s night shots with it?

[@az09az0909az]

io lo uso sia sulla G80 che la G9 abbastanza contento anche se perde definizione dopo il 250.preferisco usare il 45-200 che su tutta la focale non decade in definizione,solo nel caso sula distanza il 45-200 non sia sufficente paso al 100-300,meglio invece nell'ambito video,mi è capitato diusarlo a mano libera un paio di volte quando non ho avuto tempo.e la situazione non mi dava la possibilità di usare il treppiede,il soggeto era abbastanza lontano e molto piccolo anche se era un rapace,un gheppio kzbin.info/www/bejne/o57VlJ2dbM-ieZY non ho avuto tempo x settare la machina,la G9

[@sdrtcacgnrjrc]

5:00 start of review

[@thorstenwesthowe4858]

Schaue mir seit längerem Videos zu dieser Linse an. Aber für mehr als Instagram taugt sie scheinbar selten.Wirklich scharf ist sie nicht. Aber für den Preis geht das in Ordnung

[@spud1252]

Just bagged one for £250 from Currys bargain