100-300 lens choice: Pana or Oly?

texinwien wrote:

I haven't finished systematically testing my 100-300mm lens yet, but I did put it on a tripod today (for the first time) and shoot a number of test images. I shot at 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300mm once per aperture from widest possible at the particular aperture through f/8.0.

I used ISO 200, 12-second timer, 1/8 second anti-shock, manual focus and activated the shutter via the touch screen. I was pleasantly surprised at the sharpness at every focal length and every aperture I tried. As expected, 300mm was softer, and f/8.0 was generally sharper. All were sharper than I'd expected to see, so it must have been my technique to blame in earlier handheld tests. I've only had this thing a few weeks, and really haven't had the kind of light I'd like to have for handheld shooting. The only other potential thing to check is focusing on something farther away. I was focusing on a sheet of newspaper ~7-10 meters from the camera.

That'll teach me to speak from my gut.

tex

PS most of my exposures were quite long, several well under 1/20, since I was shooting indoors and didn't have the best light. I stayed very still before and during each exposure. I may add a couple of test shots to my gallery and share them in this thread.