The Big White Beast Olympus 150-400mm f/4.5 Pro IS TCx1.25 Thread

1000DTL · Apr 14, 2025

Jeroen1969 said:
I can't complain about my current gear set-up (see below). Both bodies and all of my lenses work miracles and are a real pleasure to use. I get most pleasure from doing telephoto shooting. To that extend I make use of my 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro, my 300mm f/4.0 Pro IS and my MC14 teleconverter that I can put on both of these two. I typically walk about with both bodies, the 40-150/2.8 on my OM1.1 and the 300/4.0 on my OM1.2 (as the latter has one more step IS and slightly better bird recognition that the OM1.1). The MC14 mostly spends time on the 40-150/2.8 but does swap position from time to time to give my 300/4 a bit more reach. So that gives me quite a range: from 40mm all the way up to 420mm.

And yet, there have been occasions where I wished I had a bit more flexibility in the further (beyond 150mm) range. So this 150-400mm f/4.5 Pro zoom lens has kept me awake for a couple of nights already. Because this lens, by definition, offers flexibility beyond 150mm. And. It can also take the MC14 (and MC20, I'm still pondering on getting that one or not), producing even larger flexible ranges. Obviously, it will have more flexibility than my 300/4 with or without MC14 and/or MC20 because of the zoom range of the Big White Beast (that can also work with both teleconverters).

The performance of the 150-400mm BIg White Beast is probably breath taking, based on what I've seen on YouTube so far. Yet so is it's price.... That lens alone costs more than my entire gear together (got my lenses second hand). I can already hear my wife if it ever comes to me buying such an expensive piece of camera gear.....

So I would love to learn more about this lens before spending a kidney on it (and a marital dispute).

Ideally, folk that have had the privilege of having this lens at their disposal for a while, share their experience.

Does the lens live up to your expectations?

If you had the 300/4 before you bought the Big White Beast, did you sell it afterwards or did you keep it? If you kept it: why did you keep it?

Can you share some of your most impressive shots taken with The Big White Beast?

If you have them, can you share comparison shots with other tele(zoom)lenses that you have?

What is your favorite MFT tele(zoom)lens?

Thank you very much in advance for all your contributions to this thread. I've got this feeling that I'm not alone in this curiosity.....

Congratulations, the acquisition cost will soon become a distant memory. The 150-400 is a great lens. I didn’t own the 300 f4 but still do own the PL 200 f2.8 which I kept to use on my G9ii. Plus they don’t make it anymore and it is a great lens in its own right. I did sell my PL100-400 version 1 which I never was impressed with. I have to run some errands today but will try to post some of my favorite photographs with it. Recently we have noticed a Barred owl in our neighborhood that comes out around dusk and has a hunting perch in a neighbor’s tree. I have gotten some good shots of it in low light. The image stabilization with the OM-1.2 is great. My biggest problem was focusing on the face through the branches. I eventually had to turn off subject detection and just use single point focus.

The 150-400 is probably my favorite MFT tele zoom. I haven’t tried the 1.4X TC with it as I find the built-in 1.25X TC enough.

Jeroen1969 · Apr 14, 2025

1000DTL said:
Jeroen1969 said:

I can't complain about my current gear set-up (see below). Both bodies and all of my lenses work miracles and are a real pleasure to use. I get most pleasure from doing telephoto shooting. To that extend I make use of my 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro, my 300mm f/4.0 Pro IS and my MC14 teleconverter that I can put on both of these two. I typically walk about with both bodies, the 40-150/2.8 on my OM1.1 and the 300/4.0 on my OM1.2 (as the latter has one more step IS and slightly better bird recognition that the OM1.1). The MC14 mostly spends time on the 40-150/2.8 but does swap position from time to time to give my 300/4 a bit more reach. So that gives me quite a range: from 40mm all the way up to 420mm.

And yet, there have been occasions where I wished I had a bit more flexibility in the further (beyond 150mm) range. So this 150-400mm f/4.5 Pro zoom lens has kept me awake for a couple of nights already. Because this lens, by definition, offers flexibility beyond 150mm. And. It can also take the MC14 (and MC20, I'm still pondering on getting that one or not), producing even larger flexible ranges. Obviously, it will have more flexibility than my 300/4 with or without MC14 and/or MC20 because of the zoom range of the Big White Beast (that can also work with both teleconverters).

The performance of the 150-400mm BIg White Beast is probably breath taking, based on what I've seen on YouTube so far. Yet so is it's price.... That lens alone costs more than my entire gear together (got my lenses second hand). I can already hear my wife if it ever comes to me buying such an expensive piece of camera gear.....

So I would love to learn more about this lens before spending a kidney on it (and a marital dispute).

Ideally, folk that have had the privilege of having this lens at their disposal for a while, share their experience.

Does the lens live up to your expectations?

If you had the 300/4 before you bought the Big White Beast, did you sell it afterwards or did you keep it? If you kept it: why did you keep it?

Can you share some of your most impressive shots taken with The Big White Beast?

If you have them, can you share comparison shots with other tele(zoom)lenses that you have?

What is your favorite MFT tele(zoom)lens?

Thank you very much in advance for all your contributions to this thread. I've got this feeling that I'm not alone in this curiosity.....

Click to expand...

Congratulations, the acquisition cost will soon become a distant memory. The 150-400 is a great lens. I didn’t own the 300 f4 but still do own the PL 200 f2.8 which I kept to use on my G9ii. Plus they don’t make it anymore and it is a great lens in its own right. I did sell my PL100-400 version 1 which I never was impressed with. I have to run some errands today but will try to post some of my favorite photographs with it. Recently we have noticed a Barred owl in our neighborhood that comes out around dusk and has a hunting perch in a neighbor’s tree. I have gotten some good shots of it in low light. The image stabilization with the OM-1.2 is great. My biggest problem was focusing on the face through the branches. I eventually had to turn off subject detection and just use single point focus.

The 150-400 is probably my favorite MFT tele zoom. I haven’t tried the 1.4X TC with it as I find the built-in 1.25X TC enough.

Although I'm planning to do some comparison shots using both the 300mm f/4.0 and The Big White my self (once the Big White is in), this YouTube pretty recent video probably gives away whatever I'm going to sort out next week. That guy did use the MC14 on the 300, he did not on the Big White.

1000DTL · Apr 14, 2025

Here is the owl I photographed with the 150-400 and OM-1.2. Just a screenshot but it was heavily cropped. f4.5 , 1/400, 400mm and ISO 400. Not sure if the color is correct, I was more interested in getting the shot and used +2 stops of exposure compensation.

F4.5, 1/400, 400mm ISO 400, Auto WB

CarlosU · Apr 15, 2025

Af is not as good with the 1.4 than without ( obviously).

Jan van't Veld · Apr 15, 2025

Jeroen1969 said:
jjbinx said:

an easier option may be to try the MC-20 with the 300mm f/4.
Ask here for comment on the 300/4 x2 performance

I’ve never used either lens

Click to expand...

I’ve used my 300/4 fitted with the MC-14 roughly 33% of the shots I’ve taken with that lens. The Good: tack sharp. The Bad: catching a bird in flight is a real challenge as one has a very small viewing angle. With the Big White Beast, one can zoom out, find&follow the bird and than zoom in.

Have you considered a dot sight?... It certainly helps a lot with birds in flight....

Jeroen1969 said:
Getting a MC-20 on my 300/4 (making it a 600mm slash 1200mm FF equivalent lens) will not make it easier to catch a bird in my AI Bird recognition rectangle. That said, if I would put a MC-20 on a Big White Beast, zoomed out, that would make it just as hard/easy to frame a flying bird as with the “naked” 300/4…..but once framed, with the 150-400mm that has changed to a 300-800mm lens with the MC-20 on, I could zoom in, whilst tracking the bird, to an impressive 800mm, and with some practice, be able to flip the 1.25x TC switch “on the go”, bringing the focal range to 1000mm

Bottom line of all this: I want a MC-20 regardless of wether or not I spend a kidney on the Big White Beast.

(Most of the contributions so far (thanks everyone!) seem to convince me that getting one Big White Beast is justified).

Jeroen1969 said:

jj

Click to expand...

--
Never too old to learn.

Joe Lynch · Apr 15, 2025

Jeroen1969 said:
According to various review clips on YouTube, the Big White should perform very well with the MC14, any personal experiences in this forum population?

I had a 1.4x for years before taking delivery of one of the first 150-400 Pro lenses available in the US. Now it lives on the 150-400, with either an OM-1.1 or G9ii body. Usually the internal 1.25x is also used. It seems to me to work as well with the big zoom as it does with the 300f/4. No complaints at all.

I tend to use the lens to get some distance from skittish insects like damselflies and dragonflies. I use manual focus a lot and find it very easy to operate both the zoom and focus rings with my left hand with the lens plus camera on a monopod and right hand on the camera body operating the shutter.

You are going to love using that lens, with or without the 1.4x.

Joe L

Jeroen1969 · Apr 15, 2025

CarlosU said:
Af is not as good with the 1.4 than without ( obviously).

MEDISN · Apr 15, 2025

Jeroen1969 said:
According to various review clips on YouTube, the Big White should perform very well with the MC14, any personal experiences in this forum population?

Hi Jeroen1969,

You jumped on the BW bandwagon! I have to say it is the best super-tele zoom I have ever used. I use the MC-14 on BW for sports where I just can't get any closer. Examples in this thread:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66153881

I also have plenty of shots with the MC-20 +/- the internal TC. Some examples I remember below. I will search the NAS for more.

Jeroen1969 · Apr 16, 2025

Wauw! Those images make me enthusiastic even before I got the lens in my hands!

Unboxed it a few minutes ago. It feels well balanced, well built. It is highly likely I will enjoy it a lot! Can’t wait till tomorrow to go out in the woods and shoot with and without my MC14 on.

lokatz · Apr 16, 2025

I´d say it is highly unlikely that you won`t enjoy it! ;-)

I am on the final day of a tour in India today where I shot more than 150 new-to-me bird species, as well as a bunch of tigers, with the BW. Didn´t use the 1.4x at all but am happy nonetheless.

Jeroen1969 · Apr 17, 2025

The Big White has arrived. First impression: without built in TC and/or the MC14 a very sharp performance. With either one attached / engaged and blown up on my laptop screen the images seem slightly soft. But heck, I've been shooting 700mm without tripod or monopod and on top of that two dog leashes clamped between my thighs and at least one dog pulling....

Heron, 490mm f/6.3

Heron, 700mm, f/8.0

Blackbird singing, 469mm, f/6.3

Blackbird, 560mm, f/6.3

Blackbird, 700mm, f/8.0

I love the pseudo Macro Function that this Big White encompasses due to its very short minimum focus distance.

Ants, 438mm, f/5.6

It's not entirely sharp, mind you, light was not very optimal and, again, I had two dog leashes clamped between my legs and the largest/youngest was not very patient.

Blue flowers, 150mm, f/4.5

Robin, 188mm (TC1.25 engaged) f/5.6

Robin, 500mm, f/5.6, slightly cropped

Yes, it could be that my 300mm f/4.0 IS Pro produces slightly sharper images. But. I have not nearly the same amount of versatility with that lens nor the reach (with the MC14 on Big White).

Heron, 300mm plus MC14 makes 420mm, f/6.3

Full Moon, 300mm with MC14, 420mm, f/5.6, HHHR 50MP image, cropped

I would not be surprised if I can make an even larger moon shot at 700mm and I bet I could even do that with the HHHR function. It's a petty that we are having a very cloudy sky upcoming days.

Tomorrow I'm on my way for work, to Washington DC. Big White will join me, I will visit the Zoo and practice some more. After only one day of playing around with Big White, my guess is that I might as well put the 300mm on for sale as I don't see it coming that I will drag along both Big White as well as the 300mm.

--Never too old to learn.

Jeroen1969 · Apr 17, 2025

lokatz said:
I´d say it is highly unlikely that you won`t enjoy it! ;-)

I am on the final day of a tour in India today where I shot more than 150 new-to-me bird species, as well as a bunch of tigers, with the BW. Didn´t use the 1.4x at all but am happy nonetheless.

I'm more or less blown away by Big White after only one day using it. The way it feels. The versatility. The smooth zooming. The smooth focussing. Luxury Dilemma: have the MC14 on it or not. Ha ha.

Wauw: more than 150 new-to-you bird species! Sorting all these images is going to take you quite some time!

Joe Lynch · Apr 17, 2025

A fine first day shoot!

The close minimum focus distance is a real strength of this lens. I've shot a lot of dragonflies and damselflies with the Big White, zoomed out to locate and frame, then zoom in to take the shot.

Joe L

lokatz · Apr 17, 2025

Jeroen1969 said:
lokatz said:

I´d say it is highly unlikely that you won`t enjoy it! ;-)

I am on the final day of a tour in India today where I shot more than 150 new-to-me bird species, as well as a bunch of tigers, with the BW. Didn´t use the 1.4x at all but am happy nonetheless.

Click to expand...

I'm more or less blown away by Big White after only one day using it. The way it feels. The versatility. The smooth zooming. The smooth focussing. Luxury Dilemma: have the MC14 on it or not. Ha ha.

Yeah, it is a great lens. f/8 will already put you into diffraction territory, by the way, so I would expect those shots to be less sharp. I usually shoot either wide open or closed down by one stop unless I really need a lot of DoF.

Jeroen1969 said:
Wauw: more than 150 new-to-you bird species! Sorting all these images is going to take you quite some time!

I make it a point to do my culling on the same day if at all possible. Otherwise, the volume of shots would be unbearable .

Sitting at Paris' CDG airport with nothing to do but wait on my way back home, so here are a few of the shots I already edited.

White-crested Laughingthrush

Plum-headed Parakeet

Red-billed Leiothrix

Greater Yellownape

Red-vented Bulbuls

Crested Kingfisher

Speckled Piculet

Grey Treepie

lokatz · Apr 18, 2025

When I still owned both, by the way, I pegged the BW against the 300 f/4 in a systematic test. I found no sharpness differences whatsoever.

Sold the 300 a short while later. Too redundant and not versatile enough (in comparison).

Box Brownie · Apr 18, 2025

Of those who brought the BW and owned, at the time, the 300mm........then sold the 300mm?

Or perhaps sold it first?

Maybe still own both?

Joe Lynch · Apr 18, 2025

Still have both but could let go of the 300 pretty easily.

Joe L

the bluesman · Apr 21, 2025

Jeroen1969 said:
It is done. I've just purchased the Big White. I will put my 300mm f/4.0 IS Pro, that I really enjoyed the past year and a bit, on sale. Because I think the difference in sharpness between the two at 400mm (I had the MC14 semi permanently attached to this lens as I wanted the extra reach, so effectively, my 300mm f/4.0 IS Pro has mainly been a 420mm F/5.6 Pro) is negligible and I don't think I'm going to carry around two bodies, the 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro, the 300mm f/4.0 Pro plus MC14 AND the Big White.

I will probably have the MC14 semi permanently attached to the Big White as well as I rarely find 150mm too long for the shot that I want to take. Besides, I do carry two bodies on wild life trips, one of them has the 40-150mm on it. So there would only be a gap between 150mm and 210mm that I could not cover in the two camera/two lenses set-up with the Big White coupled to the MC14.

According to various review clips on YouTube, the Big White should perform very well with the MC14, any personal experiences in this forum population?

Hi Jeroen1969

Congratulations with your new Big White, this lens is at the top of all the MFT lenses and money well spent, I've used my MC14 quiet a bit with my copy with no problems and super sharp results, anyway I'm late to this thread and it looks like you are putting yours to good use, I just wanted to welcome you aboard the Big White Train and well done

Jeroen1969 · Apr 21, 2025

So Saturday was the day I got to practice with my fresh Big White at the Smithsonian Zoo. There are Panda bears there since recently, I guess they are "on loan" from the Republic Of China, perhaps folk are thinking: "Best go see them now, before the Chinese draw back these bears as repercussion to the tariffs", or it was just because it was Saturday in the Easter weekend, either way: the Panda bear drew a lot of attention (I think there are two of them, but one stayed inside). It was quite a challenge to find a spot to shoot some pictures. I could not be picky here and of course I behave as a civilized person, so I won't elbow myself towards the best picture spot.

Not an ideal spot: a tree blocks the view

There was quite a lot of activity demonstrated by this young panda bear. It moved around quite a bit and played with some balls that were laying around in its habitat. It apparently also likes an occasional shower.

Shower time. Internal TC engaged.

Anyways, as the panda drew attention, some other animals could be photographed with less "competition".

MC-14 on.

Simba.

TC 1.25 engaged.

Red Ibis

On my way back to the crew hotel, I passed by the Washington Cathedral, I had given myself the "Find Darth Vader" assignment. I almost failed there cause Darth Vader is relatively small seen from the ground up and there are many ornaments. I had to go all the way with my potential reach so MC-14 on AND the internal TC engaged.

Darth Vader, 700mm, Hand Held shot

Bottom line, it turns out there is no conspiracy going on where people are hired by OM System to post very positive messages and videos regarding the Big White. Those messages and videos are very likely jus honest opinions and experiences of users of the Big White. Because this amateur photographer is blown away by what the OM-1.2 and Big White combo can do, with and without the MC-14. And all that Hand Held on a cloudy day. I'm really looking forward to the next trip: mini Safari to the Murchison Falls in Uganda, Tuesday 29th of April. I'll share pictures if the are worth wile sharing. Happy Easter everybody.

--
Never too old to learn.

skygardener · Apr 22, 2025

Box Brownie said:
Of those who brought the BW and owned, at the time, the 300mm........then sold the 300mm?

Or perhaps sold it first?

Maybe still own both?

Still have both. There are times I want something smaller than the BW.

The Big White Beast Olympus 150-400mm f/4.5 Pro IS TCx1.25 Thread

Leading Member

Well-known member

Leading Member

Senior Member

Well-known member

Senior Member

Well-known member

Senior Member

Well-known member

Veteran Member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Senior Member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Well-known member

Leading Member

Similar threads

Keyboard shortcuts