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Lens HELP!

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123val

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Hi,

I have the Olympus E-PL1 and am looking for a lens to take on safari.

I've seen the Panasonic H-FS100300E Lumix G Telezoom Lens (100-300 mm, F4-5.6 O.I.S, which is £400 and obviously fits with my camera

But, I've also seen these lenses, and am wondering whether, with an adaptor, they will still work as well as the Panasonic. Will a 300mm non micro four thirds lens still allow me to shoot the same close ups as I would get with the Panasonic and is there any conflict I should know about???

Canon EF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 III Lens - £100
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 IS USM Lens - £300
Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM Telephoto Zoom AF Lens - £150

Thanks

Laura
 
123val said:
Hi,

I have the Olympus E-PL1 and am looking for a lens to take on safari.

I've seen the Panasonic H-FS100300E Lumix G Telezoom Lens (100-300 mm, F4-5.6 O.I.S, which is £400 and obviously fits with my camera

But, I've also seen these lenses, and am wondering whether, with an adaptor, they will still work as well as the Panasonic. Will a 300mm non micro four thirds lens still allow me to shoot the same close ups as I would get with the Panasonic and is there any conflict I should know about???
Click to expand...
Yes, the conflict is that these lenses are made for a different lens mount. They will not work correctly on your E-PL1, since Canon EF lenses have no aperture control ring on the lens, that means you cannot change the aperture value.

Also, the lenses will not have Autofocus on the E-PL1.

In this range, you have the following options:

Panasonic 45-200mm: €299
Panasonic 100-300mm: €479
Olympus m.ZD 75-300mm: €739

Or:

Olympus ZD 70-300mm + MMF2 adapter: €299 + €149 (it's an Olympus DSLR lens, but works fully compatible with the E-PL1)

The best value with the longest range in my opinion would be the Panasonic 100-300mm. If that's too much, look at the 45-200. The Olympus 75-300mm has the advantage that it's more compact. It is also supposed to be very sharp, but the downside is that it's expensive and with a small maximum aperture.
123val said:
Canon EF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 III Lens - £100
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 IS USM Lens - £300
Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM Telephoto Zoom AF Lens - £150

Thanks

Laura
Click to expand...
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bilgy_no1
 
Get the Panny 100-300. Messing about with lenses with a different mount will just make life very hard. No AF for starters.
123val said:
Hi,

I have the Olympus E-PL1 and am looking for a lens to take on safari.

I've seen the Panasonic H-FS100300E Lumix G Telezoom Lens (100-300 mm, F4-5.6 O.I.S, which is £400 and obviously fits with my camera

But, I've also seen these lenses, and am wondering whether, with an adaptor, they will still work as well as the Panasonic. Will a 300mm non micro four thirds lens still allow me to shoot the same close ups as I would get with the Panasonic and is there any conflict I should know about???

Canon EF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 III Lens - £100
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 IS USM Lens - £300
Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM Telephoto Zoom AF Lens - £150

Thanks

Laura
Click to expand...
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/acam
http://thegentlemansnapper.blogspot.com
 
Panasonic 100-300mm makes the most sense.

Consider buying the 4/3rd Olympus 70-300mm and a used 4/3rds body. I own this lens on my E620 and its perfect for a safari. This gives you a body that fits well with a large 300mm lens, a view finder which is great for telephoto work, and a larger 4/3 body can take more abuse on a trip. If you can find a cheap E3, you get something built like a tank with weather proofing.
 
lasuther said:
Panasonic 100-300mm makes the most sense.

Consider buying the 4/3rd Olympus 70-300mm and a used 4/3rds body. I own this lens on my E620 and its perfect for a safari. This gives you a body that fits well with a large 300mm lens, a view finder which is great for telephoto work, and a larger 4/3 body can take more abuse on a trip. If you can find a cheap E3, you get something built like a tank with weather proofing.
Click to expand...
However, the 70-300mm is NOT weather sealed. While the E-3, E-5 are weather sealed (or splash proof as Olympus calls it), you need to get the weather sealed lenses to get the protection. Otherwise, I would imagine that water will get in the lens, and wick down to the camera, and to get out to roughly 300mm, would call for the E-3, 50-200mm, and EC-14, which is a lot of extra expense.

Before you buy a non-auto focus lens, I would suggest spending some time with the lenses you own, and set the camera to manual focus mode, and take practice shots, to find out whether you want to go the manual focus route.

If you live in the USA, and only will want the long zoom for your trip, and alternative is to rent your lens. I've used Lens Rentals in the past and had a good experience with them. The only problem is if you rent high quality glass, it may cause lens lust, and you will find yourself trying to buy a lens that you might not be able to afford:
 
123val said:
Hi,

I have the Olympus E-PL1 and am looking for a lens to take on safari.
Click to expand...
Where will you be going? I just got back from the Masai Mara in Kenya and had a fantastic trip.
123val said:
I've seen the Panasonic H-FS100300E Lumix G Telezoom Lens (100-300 mm, F4-5.6 O.I.S, which is £400 and obviously fits with my camera
Click to expand...
I used Lumix 100-300mm & GX1. The sweet spot seems to be f8 for this lens. I used aperture priority and limited ISO to 1600 on camera.

http://amphigory.smugmug.com/Animals/Masai-Mara/
123val said:
But, I've also seen these lenses, and am wondering whether, with an adaptor, they will still work as well as the Panasonic. Will a 300mm non micro four thirds lens still allow me to shoot the same close ups as I would get with the Panasonic and is there any conflict I should know about???
Click to expand...
My skills with manual focus leaves something to be desired. Unless you are very good with manual focus I'd be disinclined to use non-AF lenses. Also, in my opinion, it is good to put down the camera and enjoy the experience with with your eyes. The 100-300mm allowed me shoot quickly and leave time to absorb the experience... although, quite frankly, the smell from some of the hippo wallows was an experience I did not really care for. :-)
123val said:
Thanks

Laura
Click to expand...
--
Cheers,
Edward
 
Depending on when you are going, Kenko-Tokina announced a 300mm 6.3 mirror lens (catadioptric), fixed aperture, manual focus, but very small size cf. all the other possibilities mentioned. If you want a compact kit and don't want to shlep other systems (4/3 body, Canon lenses w/adapters) you might consider it. It has not yet been released. How often WON'T you be shooting at the long end of a zoom anyway?
 
PSCL1 said:
How often WON'T you be shooting at the long end of a zoom anyway?
Click to expand...
Quite often in my experience -- unless you are going to be shooting birds exclusively. See EXIF data in my Mara gallery.

Also, in dry conditions, it can be VERY dusty on game drives. Changing lenses can leave one with a dirty sensor. Bad bad bad.

I did not change lenses. :-)
--
Cheers,
Edward
 
baxters said:
Looks like you had a nice tour with good weather and good photos!
Click to expand...
Indeed! I want to go back as soon as I can afford it.
baxters said:
For the OP, I would love to have the 100-300 for a safari. I doubt I would use it anywhere else though,
Click to expand...
I'm hoping to use it a bit more in the next couple of days. At 100mm the AOV is not too bad, but it is a rather large (relatively speaking) lens on a small body. Handling requires some practice.
--
Cheers,
Edward
 
FWIW I work in the dry, dusty Algarve Serra, and on its wet, salty, sandy beaches. I change lenses tens if not hundreds of times a day, and get no problems. The D3 used to need cleaning fairly often, but no problem. The Oly kit - never once.
elherr said:
PSCL1 said:
How often WON'T you be shooting at the long end of a zoom anyway?
Click to expand...
Quite often in my experience -- unless you are going to be shooting birds exclusively. See EXIF data in my Mara gallery.

Also, in dry conditions, it can be VERY dusty on game drives. Changing lenses can leave one with a dirty sensor. Bad bad bad.

I did not change lenses. :-)
--
Cheers,
Edward
Click to expand...
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/acam
http://thegentlemansnapper.blogspot.com
 
I would pick up an extra Epl-1 body (they are cheap) so you can have one camera with a mid-range zoom and an other with a long zoom. This will save you from having to change lenses in dusty conditions.
 
Louis_Dobson said:
FWIW I work in the dry, dusty Algarve Serra,
Click to expand...
Oooo! Portugal? I'm envious.
I was just listening to Amália Rodrigues yesterday. Pure greatness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am%C3%A1lia_Rodrigues
Louis_Dobson said:
and on its wet, salty, sandy beaches. I change lenses tens if not hundreds of times a day, and get no problems. The D3 used to need cleaning fairly often, but no problem. The Oly kit - never once.
Click to expand...
The only difference I see is vehicles constantly churning up the dust on game drives. Even with religious use of lens caps I found myself removing dust from lens on an annoyingly regular basis. I used B+W UV MRC filter to make cleaning easier and to protect lens.

One recommendation I saw was to bring along a pillowcase to change lenses in. I might bring one next time.

--
Cheers,
Edward
 
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