{"id":2251,"date":"2013-08-19T18:24:06","date_gmt":"2013-08-19T23:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=2251"},"modified":"2013-09-30T10:52:37","modified_gmt":"2013-09-30T15:52:37","slug":"review-olympus-m-zuiko-75-300mm-f4-8-6-7-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/review-olympus-m-zuiko-75-300mm-f4-8-6-7-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Olympus M.Zuiko 75-300mm f\/4.8-6.7 II"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Olympus<\/a>
Olympus 75-300mm f\/4.8-6.7 II<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today I take an in-depth look at the refresh of a lens that has been part of the Micro 4\/3 system for a rather long time.\u00a0 Olympus first announced the original 75-300mm lens for Micro 4\/3 in September of 2010.\u00a0 That lens was priced at a rather insane $900, significantly more than the competing Panasonic 100-300mm lens, but without optical stabilization.\u00a0 After a time, Olympus has seen fit to replace the original version with a new version, while reducing the price significantly to $549.\u00a0 Optically, the new M.Zuiko 75-300mm f\/4.8-6.7 II shares the same design as the original lens, though there is some debate as to whether there have been improvements in coatings or refinement in the design.\u00a0 The biggest change is the new exterior, which is a much more pleasing all-black shell with a fine double ridged zoom ring grip that goes quite well with the newer Olympus cameras and lenses and looks particularly good on the OM-D E-M5.\u00a0 Let’s see if this lens is worth the now lower price of entry.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t read my reviews before, I do not generally perform resolution tests or make charts to track quality measures. I take a real world approach to my reviews and evaluate how a lens or camera handles and works in regular use.<\/em><\/p>\n

Around the Lens: Build Quality<\/h3>\n
\"The<\/a>
The Olympus 75-300mm II on the Olympus OM-D E-M5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The new Olympus 75-300mm II is a nice looking lens.\u00a0 I mention this primarily because its predecessor was probably the ugliest lens in the Micro 4\/3 system and looked incredibly cheap.\u00a0 While version II is still predominantly constructed of plastic, the aesthetics lend a much more sophisticated and higher end look to the lens body.\u00a0 Despite having a mostly plastic barrel, the 75-300mm II is a well constructed lens, with tight tolerances, a very smooth zoom action, no wobbles on the extending portion of the lens and a nice (though not very damped) feel on the focus ring.\u00a0 The lens has a metal mount and a metal ring around the end of the non-extending portion of the lens, just above the focus ring.<\/p>\n

While one of the largest lenses for Micro 4\/3, the 75-300 II is actually quite compact and lightweight for a lens with its focal range.\u00a0 Considering the smaller Micro 4\/3 sensor, it’s extremely compact for a lens with its field of view, which is equivalent to a 150-600mm lens on a full-frame camera.\u00a0 This is some serious reach in a relatively small package.<\/p>\n

Like all of Olympus’ lenses, the 75-300mm II doesn’t come with a lens hood, though one is available to purchase separately.\u00a0 As I’ve mentioned in all my Olympus lens reviews, I find this practice of not including lens hoods rather ridiculous, as even many bargain lenses from other manufacturers come with hoods.<\/p>\n

The lens features a standard external zooming mechanism, so the barrel extends while zooming towards the longer end. \u00a0When fully extended, the 75-300mm gains about 2 inches in length.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Olympus 75-300mm II at 75mm (left) and 300mm (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Around the Lens: Handling, Operation and Autofocus<\/h3>\n

Being a larger lens, the 75-300mm II handles best on a camera with some sort of grip, whether that be one of the Panasonic G series cameras or the Olympus OM-D E-M5 with extra grip.\u00a0 When used with one of those cameras, the 75-300mm handles very well.\u00a0 It’s relatively lightweight and the zoom action is very nice and even, without any points that stick or stutter.<\/p>\n

\"75300_1\"<\/a>Since the 75-300mm lacks any sort of optical stabilizer, you will need good light for handholding on a Panasonic body, and I’ve found even with the excellent in-body IS of the E-M5, you need pretty good light even using Olympus bodies.\u00a0 One thing that appears to be an issue with the 75-300mm II is that is succeptible to shutter-shock with the OM-D E-M5.\u00a0 That is, in mid range shutter speeds of 1\/100s to 1\/300s or so with this lens, there is some shake induced upon shutter release.\u00a0 This can be predominantly solved by setting the camera’s ‘anti-shock’ setting to 1\/8 second, which will introduce a minimal delay when shooting (feels like a slower exposure), but eliminates the shake issue with the lens.\u00a0 Otherwise, I found the E-M5’s in-body IS to work quite well with this lens, down as slow as 1\/50 second at 300mm.<\/p>\n

The autofocus of the 75-300mm is essentially silent and very quick.\u00a0 Generally, when shooting at closer subjects, say 10 feet and closer, the autofocus is very accurate.\u00a0 I have noticed that it does struggle for precise autofocus at times on longer range targets, especially of smaller subjects.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s one of the few Micro 4\/3 lenses where I will have a handful of out of focus shots when I offload my card after a shoot.<\/p>\n

Continue: Image Quality<\/a><\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

Image Quality: Sharpness<\/h3>\n
\"Purple<\/a>
Purple and Gold – Olympus 75-300mm f\/4.8-6.7 II @ 300mm, f\/6.7 (click to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Olympus 75-300mm II is limited in maximum aperture, being about a half-stop slower than the typical telephoto zoom lens at f\/4.8-6.7.\u00a0 As such, I think that image sharpness at the widest apertures is rather important, as you won’t want to stop down all that often with this lens, except in the case of some telephoto landscapes.\u00a0 The 75-300mm II does rather well for the most part in sharpness.\u00a0 Wide open, the lens is very sharp from 75mm to about 220mm, where sharpness drops off a bit as you get longer.\u00a0 At 300mm, sharpness is acceptable, and in some cases even quite good, though there is some softening of fine details.\u00a0 However, use of this lens in the 75-200mm range is really exceptional.<\/p>\n

You can get a little extra sharpness at the long end by stopping down a bit, though beyond f\/8, diffraction starts to set in and there’s little benefit to stopping down beyond any needed extra depth of field.<\/p>\n

The image to the right was taken at 300mm and f\/6.7 at 1\/500s handheld with in-body IS on with the OM-D E-M5.\u00a0 A 100% crop is below.\u00a0 Here you can see that the lens is capable of fairly sharp results when you do your job correctly.\u00a0 A super-telephoto view like this requires good technique when shooting handheld, and your results with this lens, even when using a body with built-in IS, will depend quite a lot on your own long-lens shooting skill.<\/p>\n

\"100%<\/a>
100% crop of the image above<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Image Quality: Bokeh<\/h3>\n
\"Flamingo<\/a>
Flamingo – Olympus OM-D E-M5 with Olympus 75-300mm f\/4.8-6.7 II @ 300mm, f\/6.7<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bokeh from the 75-300mm is generally neutral, with even specular highlights and a nice smooth character, though it falls short of being truly ‘creamy.’\u00a0 Overall, I was quite pleased by the out of focus rendering from a relatively slow lens, though at 300mm and f\/6.7 you are still quite capable of blurring out the background nicely.<\/p>\n

Bokeh looks consistent throughout the zoom range as well, with the only real difference being the ability to provide more blur at the longer end of the zoom.\u00a0 Good performance here.<\/p>\n

Image Quality: Color, Contrast, Chromatic Aberration, and Flare<\/h3>\n

The Olympus 75-300mm f\/4.8-6.7 II produces images with medium contrast throughout most of the zoom range, and relatively low microcontrast.\u00a0 As a result, there isn’t that biting crispness that some other lenses can produce.\u00a0 Color is nice, though not anything particularly special.\u00a0 There’s a little less saturation out of the 75-300mm shots compared to some other Olympus Micro 4\/3 lenses, though a lot of this can be corrected in post.\u00a0 While the 75-300mm is quite resistant to flare, it does show a some lateral chromatic aberration, seen as a cyan and magenta highlight along object edges.\u00a0 I have found that Adobe Lightroom’s Chromatic Aberration removal tool is able to quickly eliminate almost all of the lateral CA with a single click, but it’s a step you will want to perform to get the most out of this lens.<\/p>\n

Continue: Conclusion and Image Samples<\/a><\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n

Pros<\/h4>\n