Sharpness Comparison : Olympus 40-150 F2.8 / Nikon 300 F4 AF ED / Canon FD 500 4.5L

Based on my findings I came to the following 'conclusions' :

* Olympus 40-150 : I will shot @ F2.8 without hesitation ('stellar')

* Olympus 40-150 +1.4 converter : very good @F4, back to 'stellar' @ F5.6

* Nikon 300 F4 : pretty sharp( wide open), does improve quite a bit with CA? and bit more sharpness @5.6(very good)

*Nikon 300 F4 with olympus 1.4 converter : usable @ F8 (Ok).

* Canon 500 4.5 : Sharp(very good) wide open , approaching 'stellar' @ F6.3

* Canon 500 4.5+ 1.4A : 'Ok' @ F8, could do @ F6.3 when light is an issue(and max reach needed) .

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*Price/performance ratio the nikon 300 f4 wins hands down, I acquired it for 190$!

*Manual focus operation the canon is a lot smoother than the nikon(which is an AF lens)

*The olympus 40-150 is really really sharp! ( Does olympus do in camera corrections? not sure if this has any effect)

*The nikon actually look usable with the olympus converter when shooting @ F8, making it a pretty lightweight 'affordable' 840mm equivalent.

* The canon @f6.3 approached the 40-150 2.8 in sharpness, which I find quite remarkable given that the design is over 30 years old and they did not take such dense(digital hehe) sensors into account ( remember that the m4/3 16mp is over 60MP FF , when having similar pixel size in a FF sensor)

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-This was hardly a scientific test, but I could not resist trying to compare them.

-First I shot from 6 meters , Target was a photo( not the most detailed one), then I tried to match the framing for each lens to get a comparison for sharpness

-All shots taken with a Em1(5 second timer) and SOOC jpegs @ iso 400

****First sequence are the shots with equal framing , second sequence are the ones shot from 6meters. All shots are 100% crops!

Olympus 40-150 @ 150 f2.8

Olympus 40-150 @ 150 f4.0

Olympus 40-150 +1.4 converter @210 F4

Olypmus 40-150 +1.4 converter @ 210 F5.6

Nikon 300 F4 @ 300 F4

Nikon 300 F4 @ 300 F5.6

Nikon 300 F4+olympus 1.4 converter @ 420 F5.6

Nikon 300 F4 + olympus 1.4 converter @ 420 F8

Canon FD 500 4.5L @ 500 F4.5

Canon FD 500 4.5L@ 500 F6.3

Canon FD 5004.5L+1.4A converter @ 700 F6.3

Canon FD 5004.5L + 1.4A converter @ 700 F8

The next series of Images I feel is somewhat limited by the detail in the photo itself(And it was a bit harder getting 'critical focus')

so it is more useful as a comparison of how much pixels you get on target (taken from 6 meters) with the different focal lengths(than it is to compare sharpness from each lens...)

Olympus 40-150+1.4 converter @ 210 F4 (wide open)

Nikon 300 F4 @ 300 f5.6 ( stopped down 1 stop)

Nikon 300 F4 +olympus 1.4 converter @ 420 F8(stopped down 1 stop)

Canon FD 500 4.5L @ 500 F4.5 (wide open)