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Olympus 300mm f/2.8 Field Review, by Douglas Brown
INTRODUCTION - by Alan and Mario
Douglas Brown has been producing award-winning photography in the commercial photography field for over twenty years. In his early years in the business, he photographed for many Toronto publications including NOW Magazine, Toronto Life, Chatelaine and Canadian Business. As well, his work on CD covers and promotional material in the music business received national and international attention, appearing around the world in various publications.
Doug currently heads up www.torontowide.com. Torontowide is a site dedicated to exploring and documenting the city of Toronto, Canada at the turn of the new century through the technique of digital panoramas. Torontowide archives an extensive record of life in one of the most vibrant and diverse cities for transmission on the world's most far-reaching medium of communication - the internet.
REVIEW - by Douglas Brown
When Alan and Mario contacted me about taking a test spin with the Olympus 300mm f2.8 lens I couldn't help but immediately agree. Although the bulk of my work is done with Canon equipment these days I still use the very capable Olympus E-10 for the occasional assignment, and have been keeping my eye on the E system as a possible future upgrade path and I was excited about the opportunity to use this relatively rare, top-end lens.
Originally the idea was to shoot a Raptors NBA game, but when that fell through I offered to use it during an assignment to shoot the Canadian Opera Company's production of Tancredi, which was already booked. The opera shoot would really test the 300mm in a different way than a lit-for-TV arena photo op. The arena would be mainly a test of the camera's follow focus abilities, but opera shoots can sometimes be a lighting nightmare. Here, the ability of the lens to render shadow detail and capture the entire tonal range, plus it's low light focusing performance would be on show. To test it under proper circumstances all images will be shot in SHQ JPEG as would probably be the case in a fast-paced media environment. Alan and I met at the artists’ entrance on the night of the performance to do the handover, and off I go with the 300mm slung over my shoulder.
As is to be expected of this class of lens, it's a bit of a behemoth, and having used the equivalent lenses in both the Canon and Nikon systems, I can say that a few things are a given with this type of telephoto. Robustly built with huge front elements, the high-speed 300mm telephoto is usually the toast of every manufacturers lens system. This focal length/aperture combination is a spare-no-expense showcase for every makers design expertise. They know that it will be more widely used than the exotic longer focal lengths, and it will be used to record some very high profile circumstances (fashion shows, sporting events, journalism) The results this lens produces must allow photographers to meet the highest client expectations, and over the course of it's useful lifespan it is going to go through some serious abuse. So they all feature tank-like build quality, are frequently weather resistant, with eye-popping MTF specs.
In comparison to its competition the Olympus 300mm f2.8 telephoto doesn't disappoint.
Pulling the lens out, you're going to want to put this on a solid, supportive tripod right away. At 7.2 lbs. (3.3 kg.) the Oly 300mm is slightly heavier than it's Canon equivalent. It's also slightly longer, but they are basically in the same ballpark as far as heft and size is concerned. The lens mounts via a mounting ring, which features two sockets on the bottom. One is just below the central upright support; the other is further along the L of the bracket. I don't know whether this is to accommodate different shooting styles, or whether one is the larger size socket for large format tripods. With only 15 minutes to setup both the Olympus camera/lens combo plus my usual Canon setup before the performance began I didn't really have time to delve into this. I used the socket right below the upright part of the L as it looked to offer the most support. There is a thumbscrew lock on the side of the mounting collar. Loosened off it allows you to switch from vertical to horizontal with a quick twist of the wrist. There's also a 3 way distance limiting switch which will limit the auto-focus to three zones of distance. This way if you miss focus the lens doesn't spend an eternity zooming from infinity to minimum focus and back. I used the middle setting which gave me a range of focus that covered from infinity to the nearest distance I anticipated needing to capture the action.
With only a few moments before the performance began, I tried to familiarize myself with the E300's control layout, then, as the lights went down, settled in with the Canon D60 w/ Sigma 18-50mm 2.8 EX on a monopod in front, and the Olympus E300 w/ 300mm 2.8 on the tripod within reach on my right side. Because our site shoots in a wider panoramic format I find the range of the Sigma ideal (it's also a really sharp lens wide open). So the game plan is to shoot each scene wide and then snipe with the 300mm's ultra narrow POV whenever there's close interaction between the performers.
Well the first look through the lens is a bit of a shock because from 10 rows away a 600mm equiv. lens gives you a pretty startling close-up look at the action. In fact it's too much lens for most scenes (however that hot little 150mm f2 would be ideal), but after a while you get the hang of it, moving quickly to the 300mm and back as the performance flows along.
At the intermission Michael Cooper, one of Canada's premiere live performance photographers and the resident photographer to the Canadian Opera Company, came by to check out my new 'toy'. The lens got approving comments as he focused around the theatre on audience members and staff. He uses a very sophisticated Nikon setup and is also familiar with the 300mm class of lens, he knows what to expect and I think the Olympus met with his approval.
Neither of us were very taken with the E300 however. On first impression it's kind of a homely, dorky looking thing to my eye. Shaving off of the pentaprism doesn't seem to have gained much, as it's still a large-ish camera. I also found the in-camera info display through the viewfinder took up a distracting amount of space to the right of the image, and the lack of a status display on the outside of the camera was not very helpful in the dark (I know, there's an Info button, but finding it in a hurry while unfamiliar with the controls was difficult). But as we shall see, first impressions aren't always lasting impressions.
In action this lens is a complete joy to use. Focus is unerring and USM-like swift. Opera isn't the most action-packed shooting there is - every so often the King will stride manfully across the stage, a maiden will collapse in grief, or if you're really lucky, a sword fight will break out - but following what action there was onstage was just a matter of a couple quick half presses of the shutter release and the lens would lock onto the subject immediately. Switching between focus points made little difference. Response with all three was amazingly fast. No matter what the light levels were, and in the Hummingbird Centre they can really get quite low and murky, this lens would focus really quickly.
The view through the lens was, as is to be expected when follow focusing with such a long focal length, a little jerky and hectic. But when the actors stood still and let you really line the shot up, the thin depth of field allows you isolate them beautifully against a blurred background.
The camera came with a 256 MB card installed, which worked out to about 40 photos. Having lost my largest CF card at Toronto Fashion Week several days previous to the shoot, I had no extra storage space available to use after looking after Torontowide's needs. To make things worse, I couldn't figure out in the dark how to delete images. So really all that was available were the 40 images, several of which were deliberately wasted experimenting to find the right exposure. This is far fewer than I would normally shoot. It is however enough to get an idea of lens performance.
Considering the lighting conditions it had to cope with, ranging from generally under lit to extreme highlight to shadow ratios, this camera/lens combo did an excellent job producing crisp images of beautiful tonal length and clarity. The 3 ED glass elements helped to render very good contrast and sharpness throughout, even though all of the images were shot wide open at f2.8. Localized highlights produced no flare problems. It performs at a level consistent with this class of lens and it would be interesting to see a direct comparison of the Canon/Nikon offerings of the same focal length with the Olympus 300mm f2.8.
I think the increased depth of field the smaller 4/3's sensor provides is actually an advantage in real world use. The wide open depth of field of competing 300 f2.8's, at least on a full frame film camera, can sometimes be a bit too thin depending on distance to subject. My impression is that the Oly 300mm seems to offer a slightly deeper zone of focus while still maintaining the ability to blur away distracting backgrounds. When covering subjects in motion, as in a sporting event, that extra bit of depth of field could make a critical difference.
Lastly, that E300 camera I wasn't really warming up to in the beginning actually turned into a pretty good performance. Metering and focus were spot on. I grew to like the feel of the camera. Even though I had to conserve CF card space and could only do forty final shots, I focussed and composed with the E300 a lot more than that and the ergonomics of the camera (it had the optional battery pack attached) grew on me. The white balance performance of the camera was good. It was set to 3600K as the majority of lights the COC uses are tungsten balanced, however they like to throw a little curve at the photographers by bringing daylight balanced HMI's from both sides of the stage for certain effects. This is somehting I'm usually prepared for but unfamiliarity with the E300's button layout left me unable to rapidly switch the WB setting. A couple of images have a predominant blue cast as a result.
Discuss the article in the Lenses forum.
NOTE: All images in this review are used with permission and copyrighted by Douglas Brown.
Douglas Brown has been producing award-winning photography in the commercial photography field for over twenty years. In his early years in the business, he photographed for many Toronto publications including NOW Magazine, Toronto Life, Chatelaine and Canadian Business. As well, his work on CD covers and promotional material in the music business received national and international attention, appearing around the world in various publications.
Doug currently heads up www.torontowide.com. Torontowide is a site dedicated to exploring and documenting the city of Toronto, Canada at the turn of the new century through the technique of digital panoramas. Torontowide archives an extensive record of life in one of the most vibrant and diverse cities for transmission on the world's most far-reaching medium of communication - the internet.
REVIEW - by Douglas Brown
When Alan and Mario contacted me about taking a test spin with the Olympus 300mm f2.8 lens I couldn't help but immediately agree. Although the bulk of my work is done with Canon equipment these days I still use the very capable Olympus E-10 for the occasional assignment, and have been keeping my eye on the E system as a possible future upgrade path and I was excited about the opportunity to use this relatively rare, top-end lens.
Originally the idea was to shoot a Raptors NBA game, but when that fell through I offered to use it during an assignment to shoot the Canadian Opera Company's production of Tancredi, which was already booked. The opera shoot would really test the 300mm in a different way than a lit-for-TV arena photo op. The arena would be mainly a test of the camera's follow focus abilities, but opera shoots can sometimes be a lighting nightmare. Here, the ability of the lens to render shadow detail and capture the entire tonal range, plus it's low light focusing performance would be on show. To test it under proper circumstances all images will be shot in SHQ JPEG as would probably be the case in a fast-paced media environment. Alan and I met at the artists’ entrance on the night of the performance to do the handover, and off I go with the 300mm slung over my shoulder.
As is to be expected of this class of lens, it's a bit of a behemoth, and having used the equivalent lenses in both the Canon and Nikon systems, I can say that a few things are a given with this type of telephoto. Robustly built with huge front elements, the high-speed 300mm telephoto is usually the toast of every manufacturers lens system. This focal length/aperture combination is a spare-no-expense showcase for every makers design expertise. They know that it will be more widely used than the exotic longer focal lengths, and it will be used to record some very high profile circumstances (fashion shows, sporting events, journalism) The results this lens produces must allow photographers to meet the highest client expectations, and over the course of it's useful lifespan it is going to go through some serious abuse. So they all feature tank-like build quality, are frequently weather resistant, with eye-popping MTF specs.
In comparison to its competition the Olympus 300mm f2.8 telephoto doesn't disappoint.
Pulling the lens out, you're going to want to put this on a solid, supportive tripod right away. At 7.2 lbs. (3.3 kg.) the Oly 300mm is slightly heavier than it's Canon equivalent. It's also slightly longer, but they are basically in the same ballpark as far as heft and size is concerned. The lens mounts via a mounting ring, which features two sockets on the bottom. One is just below the central upright support; the other is further along the L of the bracket. I don't know whether this is to accommodate different shooting styles, or whether one is the larger size socket for large format tripods. With only 15 minutes to setup both the Olympus camera/lens combo plus my usual Canon setup before the performance began I didn't really have time to delve into this. I used the socket right below the upright part of the L as it looked to offer the most support. There is a thumbscrew lock on the side of the mounting collar. Loosened off it allows you to switch from vertical to horizontal with a quick twist of the wrist. There's also a 3 way distance limiting switch which will limit the auto-focus to three zones of distance. This way if you miss focus the lens doesn't spend an eternity zooming from infinity to minimum focus and back. I used the middle setting which gave me a range of focus that covered from infinity to the nearest distance I anticipated needing to capture the action.
With only a few moments before the performance began, I tried to familiarize myself with the E300's control layout, then, as the lights went down, settled in with the Canon D60 w/ Sigma 18-50mm 2.8 EX on a monopod in front, and the Olympus E300 w/ 300mm 2.8 on the tripod within reach on my right side. Because our site shoots in a wider panoramic format I find the range of the Sigma ideal (it's also a really sharp lens wide open). So the game plan is to shoot each scene wide and then snipe with the 300mm's ultra narrow POV whenever there's close interaction between the performers.
Well the first look through the lens is a bit of a shock because from 10 rows away a 600mm equiv. lens gives you a pretty startling close-up look at the action. In fact it's too much lens for most scenes (however that hot little 150mm f2 would be ideal), but after a while you get the hang of it, moving quickly to the 300mm and back as the performance flows along.
At the intermission Michael Cooper, one of Canada's premiere live performance photographers and the resident photographer to the Canadian Opera Company, came by to check out my new 'toy'. The lens got approving comments as he focused around the theatre on audience members and staff. He uses a very sophisticated Nikon setup and is also familiar with the 300mm class of lens, he knows what to expect and I think the Olympus met with his approval.
Neither of us were very taken with the E300 however. On first impression it's kind of a homely, dorky looking thing to my eye. Shaving off of the pentaprism doesn't seem to have gained much, as it's still a large-ish camera. I also found the in-camera info display through the viewfinder took up a distracting amount of space to the right of the image, and the lack of a status display on the outside of the camera was not very helpful in the dark (I know, there's an Info button, but finding it in a hurry while unfamiliar with the controls was difficult). But as we shall see, first impressions aren't always lasting impressions.
In action this lens is a complete joy to use. Focus is unerring and USM-like swift. Opera isn't the most action-packed shooting there is - every so often the King will stride manfully across the stage, a maiden will collapse in grief, or if you're really lucky, a sword fight will break out - but following what action there was onstage was just a matter of a couple quick half presses of the shutter release and the lens would lock onto the subject immediately. Switching between focus points made little difference. Response with all three was amazingly fast. No matter what the light levels were, and in the Hummingbird Centre they can really get quite low and murky, this lens would focus really quickly.
The view through the lens was, as is to be expected when follow focusing with such a long focal length, a little jerky and hectic. But when the actors stood still and let you really line the shot up, the thin depth of field allows you isolate them beautifully against a blurred background.
The camera came with a 256 MB card installed, which worked out to about 40 photos. Having lost my largest CF card at Toronto Fashion Week several days previous to the shoot, I had no extra storage space available to use after looking after Torontowide's needs. To make things worse, I couldn't figure out in the dark how to delete images. So really all that was available were the 40 images, several of which were deliberately wasted experimenting to find the right exposure. This is far fewer than I would normally shoot. It is however enough to get an idea of lens performance.
Considering the lighting conditions it had to cope with, ranging from generally under lit to extreme highlight to shadow ratios, this camera/lens combo did an excellent job producing crisp images of beautiful tonal length and clarity. The 3 ED glass elements helped to render very good contrast and sharpness throughout, even though all of the images were shot wide open at f2.8. Localized highlights produced no flare problems. It performs at a level consistent with this class of lens and it would be interesting to see a direct comparison of the Canon/Nikon offerings of the same focal length with the Olympus 300mm f2.8.
I think the increased depth of field the smaller 4/3's sensor provides is actually an advantage in real world use. The wide open depth of field of competing 300 f2.8's, at least on a full frame film camera, can sometimes be a bit too thin depending on distance to subject. My impression is that the Oly 300mm seems to offer a slightly deeper zone of focus while still maintaining the ability to blur away distracting backgrounds. When covering subjects in motion, as in a sporting event, that extra bit of depth of field could make a critical difference.
Lastly, that E300 camera I wasn't really warming up to in the beginning actually turned into a pretty good performance. Metering and focus were spot on. I grew to like the feel of the camera. Even though I had to conserve CF card space and could only do forty final shots, I focussed and composed with the E300 a lot more than that and the ergonomics of the camera (it had the optional battery pack attached) grew on me. The white balance performance of the camera was good. It was set to 3600K as the majority of lights the COC uses are tungsten balanced, however they like to throw a little curve at the photographers by bringing daylight balanced HMI's from both sides of the stage for certain effects. This is somehting I'm usually prepared for but unfamiliarity with the E300's button layout left me unable to rapidly switch the WB setting. A couple of images have a predominant blue cast as a result.
Discuss the article in the Lenses forum.
NOTE: All images in this review are used with permission and copyrighted by Douglas Brown.
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| MFT Time 11:51 Jul 30 2010 |