Olympus 100-400 - first shots and impressions

Auf Reisen wrote:

Thank you very much for the first impressions, much appreciated!

Sorry to barge in with my pet issues here, but I think you're in a unique position to answer: What is the material of the zoom and focus ring like? I ask because I have both the Oly 40-150 and the 75-300 and the combination of the plastic they both use and the grip pattern is a scratch magnet that just looks awful after a while. The 12-50 on the other hand which features a very similar pattern but uses different plastic, does not suffer from this issue.

In the photos and videos I have seen, the grip of the 100-400 looks much more reflective than that of the 75-300, which makes me hopeful they used a different material here. I see that you have the 40-150 as well. Would you mind comparing?

Unfortunately, I gave my 40-150 to my father and don't have it available anymore. But I spent enough time with it that I think I can say with fair degree of certainty that the material is different (the plastic of 40-150 feels and looks very cheap).

Now, the material of the rings and the rest of the barrel are actually different color and finish (and who knows, maybe different material as well). Like you wrote, the rings are more reflective. From all the lenses I have, the focus ring seems most similar to Oly 60mm macro (only the 60 is more "glittery" and has finer ridges).

On the rest of the shell, the finish on the plastic is completely different to any other lens I own. On the 100-400, it's very "matte" and not smooth to the touch (almost like a super fine sandpaper).

Out of curiosity, I tried to scratch both rings and the lens barrel with my fingernail as hard as I could, but not a slightest mark was left on the lens or the rings. So at least I have no reason to think it would have any scratch issues during normal use.

But only time will tell how well it takes the beating.