Olympus EZ-M7530 M.Zuiko Digital 75-300mm 1:4.8-6.7 Lens II, suitable for all MFT cameras (Olympus OM-D & PEN models, Panasonic G series), black

Product Information

Work on your post processing skills, and try different approaches with how you adjust your RAW image files in post. Remember that there are a number of software adjustments in addition to ‘sharpening’ that can impact how we perceive visual acuity with photographs. So, this is a lower-end lens, but as I was mentioning, you don’t need super-telephoto frequently in travel. The main reasons to use it are price, size, and Olympus (or Panasonic) camera’s IBIS. In reality, the difference wrt brightness is less than the f-stop difference would have you think. The 100-300 has more vignetting and poorer transmission so it only gives you about 1/3 stop more in the center and nothing toward the edges/corners when shooting at the long end.

Being able to carry a piece of equipment with you all the time is significant in travel photography.Panasonic 100-300mm f/4-5.6 was significantly sharper than the Olympus 75-300 f/4.8-6.7 II lens throughout the entire aperture range – I did not expect this!!

Here I tell about Micro 4/3 in general. The purpose is to explain what niche of Olympus 75-300mm F/4.8-6.7 II occupies amongst other telephoto lenses. You may skip it and go to the next chapter.

Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 75-300mm 1:4.8-6.7 Sample Photos

In general, I think sharpness is overrated. Most of the modern lenses are sharp enough to produce outstanding results. But the case is a bit different with a super-telephoto. Olympus 75-300mm F/4.8-6.7 II has a lot of limitations, but it does create good value, considering its price. It especially useful when you need a compact super-telephoto. It could be a good tool for someone who doesn’t need 300mm often and therefore doesn’t want to buy an expensive specialized lens.

Distortion is well controlled and consistent throughout the zoom range with Imatest detecting between 0.35% and 0.46% pincushion distortion. This low level shouldn't pose many issues, but if absolutely straight lines are paramount what little distortion there is should be relatively straightforward to correct as it is uniform across the frame. About the 12-50mm Zuiko: It’s maybe not the sharpest lens on the optical bench (but it’s not bad). It’s though a very good all purpose lens. It’s so many factors that decides if a picture is sharp enough. I think that the photographing technique has much more influence on the result than the measured sharpness in the lab. Chromatic aberrations, typically seen as purple or blue fringes along contrasty edges, are a non-issue with this lens. We were hard pressed to find any evidence of CA in the raw files. Mounted on an 18- Mpix Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH-2 the updated lens achieves a DxOMark Lens Score of 10 points and ranks as one of the best performing micro 4:3 mount telephoto-zoom lenses in our database. Pro-capture mode. Half-press the shutter and wait. When the shutter is released, you have shots before and after you press it. Think about wildlife moments, when the timing is unpredictable. Limitations of Olympus 75-300mm F/4.8-6.7 IIHopefully these crops are big enough for you to make up your minds as to which one was the sharper lens. I shot a series of test frames in the "low-silent" (electronic shutter) mode with the two lenses mounted on Olympus E-M5II and E-M1III bodies with the IBIS set to the lens priority mode and the Panasonic's OIS enabled. I then selected the best (sharpest) frame in each series for comparison. The focus ring is located at the end of the lens, an indented plastic ring that's a half-inch wide and features a different raised-rib texture from the zoom ring. The ring is a fly-by-wire design, controlling focus electronically, so there are no hard stops at either the infinity or close-focus ends. It's not the most friendly of manual focus designs, but the 100% magnification on the LCD really helps nail an accurate focus. Given that focus is electronically controlled, you can assign the direction of focus to be either left or right. The front element doesn't turn during focusing operations. We need to remember that it is not easy to use a long telephoto lens with an equivalent field-of-view of 600 mm. It takes some practice and skill. Olympus OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 @ 300 mm, efov 600 mm, f/6.7, 1/1600, ISO-2500, cropped to 3994 pixels on width I got this lens a coupe of weeks ago. I love it, but it's definitely not optically perfect. However I would not want to carry a lens that gets nearer to perfection, let alone afford it, and I like the rendering of this lens and the fact that it is decent at maximum focal length and aperture. My lens is always sharp near the centre but definitely needs to be stopped down to get good edges and corners, particularly at 75 to about 250mm. At 300 it becomes more even across the frame, though contrast lessens a bit. My M.Zuiko 40-150 has more even sharpness, but the 75-300 has more contrast at the focal lengths where they overlap. The Lumix 100-300 ii I used to have was more evenly sharp at 100-200, but I prefer the rendering/look of the Olympus, as well as its handling. I suspect that the Olympus I have is sharper at 300 than the Lumix, but cannot A/B compare them.

I can say that there is significant sample variation of the Olympus mkI - the first one I had was poor at 300mm - not sharp at all beyond about 250mm - and I just assumed that was how the lens was. However when I acquired a second copy it was so much better - really biting sharp at 300mm wide open.

Manual focusing is possible in a focus-by-wire fashion. This should not put you off using it as it feels pretty natural in use, and actually enables the camera to display a magnified view of the subject automatically, i.e. without your having to press a dedicated button or enter the menu. The focus ring is slim but adequate for the job. My 40-150 isn't used much, but I do enjoy the occasional shot with it. My most used lens is my 12-40/2.8 closely followed by my Laowa 7.5/2. is significant because of its zoom on the far end. (Up to 200mm, there are better options on the market)