Olympus 300mm f4 Pro Vs Canon EF 300mm F4 L
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- čas přidán 26. 10. 2019
- Side by side Comparison between these two similar lenses but designed for different sensors. Both regarded as sharp and professional quality. Can you use the Canon on a micro 4/3 sensor with an adaptor and save money??
Olympus quality is amazing, m43 is better than I thought.
Ofcourse ;)
I have been looking for unbiased reviews on the Olympus lens and have struggled to find any until i can across your channel, so thanks for that and keep up the good work.
Thanks for the comment, appreciate it 👍
Thank you for photographing in bad weather. It's very helpful to see her perform in real world conditions
Thank you. This is exactly the comparison I was looking for. Excellent.
I have both the Canon 300mm L F4 with IS and the one without. The one without IS is a little sharper, a bit like the 400mm L 5.6, perhaps even sharper It is noticeable on m4/3 and if youre camera has IBIS it is the one to get.
Great comparison! For anyone evaluating these two lenses for wildlife, in particular fast-moving subjects like birds in flight: one major consideration is that no adapters/focal reducers will offer continuous autofocus at speeds anywhere close to a lens made to the MFT standard. Most of them support single AF only, and may sometimes appear to permit C-AF. However, my experience is that C-AF is unreliable beyond the first few frames, if it’s even actually performing continuous autofocus.
Even with mostly still subjects like perched birds or standing animals, S-AF may result in missed focus due to slight movement on the part of the subject or photographer, especially at very long distances. And, some higher-performance shooting modes may be locked out due to AF incompatibility. Lastly I’ll mention that Olympus sensors and lenses are designed with a different UV filtering range, meaning that some adapted lenses may result in increased chromatic aberration when used with Olympus bodies. This can be mitigated through the use of specific UV filters that aren’t often easy to find. It is for all of the above that I abandoned the use of adapted lenses for my own MFT wildlife kit. For more contemplative shooting, adapted lenses can be a fun and economical way to achieve terrific results.
Thanks for the real-world test.
A very and thourough review, well done! I definitely will buy the Olympus lens then.
you can disable the manual focus clutch in the camera settings
Great comparison thank you
Great comparison, I'll probably be getting the canon 300 soon
Did you happen to try it with electronic shutter to see if it's not shutter shock causing that glowy look? I use a 300/2.8 that for some reason looks glowy on my m43 but perfect on my fuji xt2, it's weird that my canon 70-300 IS apparently is sharper than what you showed on the 300 here, that looked similar to the glow I get with the 2.8
Interesting, I tested it with lots of different shutter speeds and also electric shutter and the loss of IQ is still there. But it is a usable system.
The adapter cost £154. For the EFM2 the one with the focal reducer. Or about £90 for the EfM1.
Olympus is impressive wide open, very good!
Wouldve like to have seen some stepped down image comparisons at f5.6, f8, f11 to see. I believe the Canon wouldve shown its strengths there at the expense of some speed.
Intersting comparison, but all images are about relatively stable motifs, wildlife 7s m6ch about moving animals and so the autofocus, the co-working of OIS and IBIS gives the Olympus a big advantage. And does the the finegrained focus delimiter on the Olympus camera work with the Canon? Especially with birds in flight this is very helpful.
The canon AF with the adapter will not be able to keep up with birds in flight.
What does the adapter cost?
What version firmware update do you have on the Viltrox EF-M1? I do have a Canon 300mm f4. I just installed the V3.4 update and it doesn't communicate with my Olympus E-M1 ii. Might be that I have to step over to the Olympus 300mm f4. I think a good combination for shooting birds in flight and still be able to stroll.
Hi I haven’t updated my firmware for a while but it was on the most up to date version when the video was uploaded to CZcams if this helps. Double check the AF setting you have on the camera, as this can make a difference and make sure the connections are clean, give the lens a little twist to see if the adapter is in place correctly. To be honest the 300 F4 oly is s good lens, however check out my other video on the best m4/3 lens for wildlife you may be surprised!!
The video is a comparison against these two lenses only and there are many other long telephoto lenses out there. But to answer your question the Micro 4/3 crop factor means the 300mm f4 will act like a 600mm focal range with the exposure of still only F4. But the depth of field will be equivalent of only a 300mm lens and not 600mm. Or as you have suggested the depth of field will be similar to a 600mm lens at F8.
whatever iso will be 2x more noisy. 3200 iso is unusable on MFT.
I agree, ISO performance is poor on micro 4/3, so good denoise software is essential, topaz denoise is great and can make a massive difference and mean a 1600 iso is usable 3200 would still be pushing it! But it depends on you personal taste. Thanks for the comment.
Nice review! I had the canon lens Some time and it was A great lens, I thought the Canon was sharp but the Oly Seems A lot sharper! Made the switch to m43 A long time ago. Now I have the GH5Ii and my Longest lens is A 200 2,8 Panasonic, would be nice with extender to compare against the Olympus 300
The manual focus clutch can be disabled in the camera menu if desired.
Yes, I have found out that this can be disabled. This does make it better but you will then loose the ability of manual focus unless you go back in the menu. This is a bit of a shame as when using this type of lens I often need manual focus when shooting through tree branches ect. It’s a shame they can’t have some type of physical lock on the manual focus clutch. Still a great lens though.
@@altphotostore5933 You can then set up a button to toggle manual focus on and off, without having to dive back into the menu.
Interesting video, thanks for the effort. Wonder if you could have got an extra stop of light by shooting 1/320th but still freeze the deer. Times like that with poor light, I'll happily drop the shutter to ~1/80th, use burst mode and rely on the IBIS. Usually works.
Thanks for the comment, yes I could have pushed the IBIS more on the Olympus. Great advice👍
It would be a better comparison between the Oly & the Canon 400 5.6! I have both, the 400mm 5.6 on my 7d2 & also I have the Olympus EM 1X & 300mm f4 pro. When comparing a target at distance between the two they are much closer together than the 300mm canon. The canon 300mm isn’t long enough for a fair comparison. I have tested them together side by side and if you move away from the target say 15-20 metres there’s nothing in it for sharpness. But very Close to a target they are both razor sharp. Bear in mind to that the Canon 400. 5.6 is a fairly old lens now and the 7d2 is getting on to!
Tony c. Thanks for your comment I used to own the canon 400mm f5.6 and it is a supper lens but a bit slow at F5.6 and no IS, but very sharp. However, I was comparing both lenses on a Micro 4/3 camera so they are exactly the same focal range of 300mm (600mm with crop) and both F4. The 400mm F5.6 on a micro 4/3 camera would be 800mm F5.6 and on your Canon 7d with a 1.6 x crop is 640mm F5.6. My comparison was to see the difference between these two lenses as they are exactly the same on paper but with a big price difference. You are correct the Canon 7d and the 400mm lens is a good alternative to the Micro 4/3 and the Olympus 300mm but you would lose IS and at F5.6 this would make a big difference in shutter speeds and therefore ISO. On a nice bright day I suspect the Canon option would work great. Thanks again for the comment👍
OK Vergleich mal ein bild mit 300 beider Kameras oder verwendest du einen Telefonverkehr 2x bei Canon?
and with Nikon?
I like the moment, in background 6:20 when it shakes of the all the rain
Just curious what body you used.
Ben: It was the Olympus E‑M5 Mark II
Wouldn't part of the issue be that the Canon lens is designed to be put in front of a larger sensor? When put on a smaller sensor than the lens is designed for there will naturally be a degradation in image quality? I shoot MFT so hardly rushing to defend canon but I'm sure that's a thing....
You have a point, some say that when you use a smaller sensor on a full frame lens you only use the centre part of the lens which generally is better quality, however with a 2x crop it is pushing it probably too far, and may show some degradation in image quality.
You can turn off the focusing clutch
Randy Dunphy
Yes, that is an option but unfortunately then you will not have Manual focus override. I have turned it off but it’s a shame to do so.
But Tony and Chelsea say the Olympus zoom lenses are soft so you couldn’t have been using a Olympus lens, lol!
Trust me this lens is not soft, it’s a very sharp lens. But I wouldn’t dream to argue against the mighty Tony and Chelsea.😂
@@altphotostore5933 You pinpoint the problem. I have seen and read a lot of reviews of the Olympus 300mm. Mr Northrup's channel is the only one I have found that have said it it not sharp. It is very clear his not a MFT fan..... I am a happy GH5 shooter, pity that Olympus and Panasonic can't cooperate on the lens stabilization.
You mean the 300mm lens, not zoom?
Hi Rudolf. I totally agree I also have Panasonic cameras and the duel IS is a great feature but it’s a shame it is not compatible with both Olympus and Panasonic. I can recommend the Panasonic 200mm F2.8 which comes with a dedicated 1.4 teleconverter which makes it a 560mm f4 and has duel IS, very sharp and the advantage of also using it as a 400mm f2.8. I have this lens and it is comparable to the Oly 300mm.
Its not a zoom lens
Why didn't you try to cut the diaphragm down to 7 8 or even 11 on a Canon lens?
As it is an adapter, the drop point of the vertical moves away...
Thanks for your comment, I’m sure if I did I may have got a sharper image but ISO would have been to high for me. It was a dull day and with The IS not as good on the canon I needed my shutter speed. On a brighter day then this would me a possibility.
The Canon would have effectively shallower depth of field at the same aperture as the Olympus. Have you ruled that out as adding to sharpness difference?
Both lenses are 300mm F4 on the same camera so depth of field should be very similar.
Thanks!
Subbed!
Is Olympus 300 f4 equivalent of full frame 600 f8 ? If so isn’t Sony 200-600 + a7 mk3 a better option? Or maybe Fuji xt3 with 100-400 for almost the same price
With this kind of tele reach there is no lack of DoF. It's an f4 lens. Sony isn't a better option, because of the unreliable weather sealing, don't know about Fuji. Both Sony and Fuji lack Sync IS. For tele reach MFT is a great option.
MN Nourzay. The best (affordable - ish) option for wildlife, as far as I'm concerned, is a Sony A7R4 + 200 - 600mm. I am fortunate to own both, but I also own an Olympus EM1X. Prior to that, I owned an Olympus EM1 mark II + Oly 300mm f4 + MC14. I no longer require an Oly 300 because I have the Sony 200 - 600mm, but I can tell you that the Oly 300mm is superb. I tested it out against my Nikon D500 + Nikkor 300mm f4 PF ED VR, both with and without their respective 1.4 teleconverters. I used a particularly hairy cuddly toy at a distance of 15 metres. I could not tell the difference in quality between the two - despite the larger sensor of the D500. I have never found depth of field an issue. I try to use my long lenses to fill the frame, rather than at exteme distances (except for BIF), so depth of field is reduced. In order to assess which camera/lens combination is best for you, you need to assess your style of photography and manage your expectations. I am under no illusion as to the possible drawbacks of the M43 format, or the depth of field of lenses with an aperture slower than f4.
pete draper
Thanks Pete , very good advice I have got a Fujifilm xt2 hopefully they will come with a better telephoto lens this year
@@MohamedNaeem39. I considered an XT2 some time ago, but settled on the D500. The Fuji 200mm is reportedly a very good lens and comes with a 1.4 TC, I believe.
pete draper
££££££ 200mm ££££££ 😂 outside my budget
At 2:49 you are telling us that the image stabilization is really good. True. Unfortunately you've paired that commentary with shots of a rather sedentary elk/deer at 1/640th iso 1000. So you aren't even using the image stabilization in those demo photos; I would have tried iso 100 and seen what the image stabilization can actually do.
Graham Floyd
Thanks for your comment. I completely agree the Olympus is capable of lower shutter speeds and I could have pushed the shutter speed lower to then get a cleaner image. However I didn’t want to push it too much as it would then become a test on how good I can hold the lens still and not a direct comparison of the two lenses. But you are correct, I should have done a little extra on the capabilities and maximum low shutter speeds on both lenses. I guess we already know which one would be the winner!
Kind of late to the party but this entire test is pointless since you used an E-M5ii for the test. The metabones adapters don't really AF reliably with CDAF cameras, only the E-M1 series or possibly the latest E-M5iii give any kind of reliable results. Except for maybe the mushrooms shots, the softness of the Canon in all your examples is just user error. No doubt the Olympus lens is sharper though, it's just that this test doesn't really mean anything.
Thanks for your comment, however, I have carried out extensive testing with these adapters, which are the Viltrox adapter and not the Metabones as you have mentioned. The AF works well and the main difference between PD and CD AF will be speed, not Accuracy. I have tested many lenses and often test using manual focus, and can 100% say that the softness in the images is not due to the AF or ( User error ) It is caused because the canon lens was designed for a full-frame sensor. The AF is accurate, it is slower and occasionally will hunt and sometimes miss focus totally, but this is to be expected when using an adapter. The two lenses on paper are the same spec, both 300mm F4 lenses both have a reputation of being sharp and of professional quality but a massive price difference. The point of the test was to show the difference between them, and if it would be worth saving money buying the Canon and a lens adapter.
You are comparing a full frame 300 mm lens to a 600 mm equivalent on micro 4/3. How on earth are you getting pictures of almost the identical size using these lenses? When you are comparing photos in Lightroom, the images are almost identical sizes… Which should not happen according to the laws of physics that I’m familiar.
Thanks for your comment but both the lenses are 300mm and as they are both being used on the same M4/3 camera then they both have the equivalent view of 600mm.
@@altphotostore5933 That actually makes perfectly good sense now that I really think about it. I must have had a neuron misfire. LOL
But the focal lengths are completely different.
No the focal length is exactly the same both 300mm.
Adapters suck
I don't understand why the Olympus 300 f4 is the same size as the Canon 300 f4 when the Canon is built to cover a sensor 4x the size. Olympus could have made this lens an f2.8 at the same size I would think. Or, maybe a smaller size in f4.
Shaun: I know what you mean, and this is one of the reasons I did this video as the two lenses on paper are very similar but the price and how you use them are very different. However the F stop of a lens is a ratio between the focal length and diameter, as they are both 300mm and F4 they are therefore going to me similar size, regardless of sensor. The smaller sensor makes the Olympus have a focal range of 600mm F4, which is therefore much smaller than a Canon 600mm F4, shame you don’t have the same shallow depth of field as the canon! but I totally agree with you that the size of micro 4/3 lenses seems to be very large when you compare them against full frame lenses.
Ehm... Why are you comparing a 600mm vs a 300mm? 🤔 But yeah, nice way to try and defend canon 🤣😂🤦♂️
Thanks for your comment but both lenses are 300mm and both are F4. This was the point of the comparison? If you use a M4/3 2x crop sensor on these lenses then both will give you the same field of view as a 600mm. 👍