The big white one- 150-400 mm Olympus lens

For many years i have been offering photo training courses covering a beginners course and 28 individual subject courses. Like many others i started with a crop frame camera, moved to full frame DSLR, Mirrorless Full frame and now Olympus Om1-2. For some people this may seem like a backward move as a full frame camera seem to offer the best quality.

Rock pipit with 10% crop (ISO12800)

For health reasons i had to find a lighter system and having spoken to several Olympus users, read many reviews before i traded in my Sony A1 and 200-600mm lens and bought the 150-400mm Olympus lens to use with the OM1-2 camera.

More on the camera later, this review will concentrate on the 150-400mm lens, which is expensive but the ultimate quality. I am not getting paid by anyone to do this review and all the photos are my own work, photographing wildlife in Shetland.

Compare to the Sony 200-600mm the Olympus lens seems a lot better balanced, the Sony lens a bit front heavy. It is also lighter and shorter at 1870 g compared to the Sony 2118g and is completely weather sealed carrying a IP53 weather sealed rating, the Sony is not fully weather sealed. 

I used the Sony lens with a 1.4x teleconverter, which gave a reach of 840mm where as the Olympus at 4/3 sensor is working at 300-800mm and has a 1.25x built in teleconverter making it a 1000mm lens, other teleconverters can also be added to increase the reach. No need to having to change the lens/ converter in the field. The IS is the best on the market at 8 stops where the Sony is only 5.5 stops so no need for a tripod. Having used the Nikon 800mm lens which needed a tripod, this lens will give you more freedom, quicker shots and less weight. 

Sharpness is the key to the Olympus Pro lens, considered the best on the market at this range using the lens wide open at a constant f4.5 or f5.6 with the teleconverter. It was F9 on the Sony at 840mm so also better light gathering resulting in a lower ISO.

Auto focus is super fast with the OM1-2 even with the teleconverter. At 1000mm the angle of view is very narrow so it may take time in finding the subject. 

The other advantage is the close focus, it is 1.3m, and  it is 1875g making it lightweight compared to the range. It is 12.4 inches in length 

Canon is 2.6m and is 3100g it is 17 inches long

Nikon 5.8m (has 1.25x converter built in is 4566g)  it is 18.2 inches long

crop photo of a Shetland Starling 

 A further crop of the Shetland Starling from same position 

The quality has been maintained and is very sharp

Over all i am more then happy with the lens and although expensive £5000 it is still cheaper and has more reach than the Canon (£19000 -800mm)  and Nikon (£19000 -800mm) big lenses, although these are not zoom lenses.? 

Out of 5

Build / Quality  4.9

auto focus          4.9

Stabilisation       5.0

Image quality     4.9

Reach                 5.0

Weight                4.9

Close focus         4.9

Weather sealing  5.0

Cost                     4.5

If you want the best you have it here.

These are just my thoughts