It’s hard not to be impressed when a new telephoto lens is released into the market, and in this case, the just announced M.Zuiko ED 300mm f/4 PRO Black Lens from Olympus is cause to be seriously impressed.
Designed for their Micro Four Thirds mount cameras, such as the OM-D E-M5 Mark II or OM-D E-M1 the M.Zuiko ED 300mm offers an angle of view equivalent to a 600mm lens on a 35mm sensor camera at a fraction of the size (and cost).
Ideal for sports and wildlife photography, the Olympus 300mm is small & light (2.8 lbs) and with the Olympus 5-axis sync IS (on the camera body & the lens) in play, taking steady handheld shots without the use of a tripod is a breeze (although you can attach a tripod to the lens if the situation arises).
Elements
The lens is made up of 17 elements arranged in 10 groups, including three extra low dispersion (ED) lenses, three high refractive index (HR) lenses and one extra-high refractive index (E-HR) lenses.
Z Coating Nano Technology
The addition of a new coating technology, Z Coating Nano, significantly reduces ghosts and flares and provides sharp, clear image quality.
Olympus states that the M. Zuiko Digital ED 300mm offers the highest resolution achieved in their imaging history.
Olympus 300mm F/4 PRO Black Lens Key Features:
- World’s most compact, lightweight 300mm (600mm equivalent) f/4.0 super-telephoto lens makes super-telephoto hand-held photography possible
- World’s most powerful 6-steps of compensation synchronized in-lens and in-body I.S.
- 600mm Short-Distance Photography — Closest focusing distance of 1.4m
- Maximum image magnification of 0.48x (35mm equiv.) telemacro photography
- Splash, Dust and Freezeproof Design
- Manual Focus Clutch & Lfn button to instantly switch shooting styles
- Body IS & Lens IS combined to maximize image stabilization (when used with E-M1 or E-M5 Mark II)
- 3 Super ED Lenses suppress color bleeding and chromatic aberrations
- High-precision, large-diameter, thin GKL lenses for fast autofocus
- ZERO & New Nano Coating Z significantly reduces ghosts and flares
- Fast AF speed of 300 ms or less with OM-D E-M1
- Combined with MC-14 Teleconverter, maximum Micro Four Thirds focal length of 840mm (35mm equivalent) is achieved
- OM-D Silent Shutter and 300mm f4.0 PRO Lens allows for discreet telephoto shooting
The Olympus M.Zuiko ED 300mm f/4 PRO Black Lens will be available around the end of February and retail for $3299.00 plus taxes and shipping.
The M.Zuiko ED 300mm f/4 PRO Black Lens is available for pre-order through Vistek now.
